Dennis Prager Show - Dennis Speaks About Depression
Aired: 2025-02-28
Duration: 03:20


=== Behavior Trumps Ambition (03:20) ===

[00:00:00]  So my non-professional answer, which might be a really good one and might not be a good one, is first, I'm a behaviorist.
[00:00:13]  I believe that behavior modifies feelings and thoughts and psyche.
[00:00:26]  Therefore, You don't wait to do something.
[00:00:31]  You have to be mind-directed, not animated by a good voice of ambition, just intellectual understanding, rational understanding.
[00:00:45]  I have to do X and Y and Z. That's why one of my...
[00:00:56]  Fundamental beliefs about happiness is act happy, you'll feel happy.
[00:01:01]  Or at least feel happier.
[00:01:05]  So you have to do as much.
[00:01:07]  Get very, very busy.
[00:01:11]  Get with people.
[00:01:13]  Monitor what brings you some relief from depression.
[00:01:19]  And it could be music.
[00:01:21]  It could be a walk in nature.
[00:01:23]  It could be...
[00:01:25]  Having a girlfriend.
[00:01:27]  It could be art.
[00:01:31]  It could be work.
[00:01:34]  There is essentially an infinite number of possibilities.
[00:01:40]  Get involved in whatever brings you some peace.
[00:01:46]  And keep doing it.
[00:01:47]  And keep doing things that you don't even know will bring you peace and try them out.
[00:01:51]  Hobbies.
[00:01:53]  Plus all the things I just mentioned.
[00:01:59]  I don't know how to squash those negative voices in you.
[00:02:04]  So that's another reason I'm a behaviorist.
[00:02:08]  Let your voices be your voices and don't let them direct you.
[00:02:13]  That's where you do have free will.
[00:02:15]  You may not have free will over these inner voices, but you have free will on whether you listen to them.
[00:02:23]  Should you take a medication?
[00:02:25]  I can't answer that.
[00:02:26]  If you try everything that I've just said, and again, having a community, I don't know how lonely you are, but I know that there's a vast amount of loneliness in America.
[00:02:40]  That would depress anybody.
[00:02:45]  All of my broadcast career, I've said to people, you should date for friends.
[00:02:51]  Like you dated for a spouse.
[00:02:54]  That's how important it is to find friends.
[00:02:58]  You have friends.
[00:02:59]  You have a community.
[00:03:00]  You have music or art or both.
[00:03:04]  You have reading or whatever can give you some degree of pleasure.
[00:03:10]  That should help.
[00:03:12]  And if none of that helps, I don't have an opposition to medication.