- With Mayo Clinic psychiatrist
Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.
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Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.
Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.
Dr. Gabrielle Melin, board certified in general psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine, is looking for ways to empower patients and families dealing with chronic mental illness. She encourages patients to commit to working together with their physicians and health care teams.
Dr. Melin completed medical school at the University of Minnesota. She completed both her psychiatry residency and consultation-liaison fellowship at Mayo Clinic before joining the Mayo Clinic staff in 2001. She is medical director of Mayo Clinic Psychiatry Emergency Services in Rochester, Minn. She has special interests in emergency psychiatry, adult psychiatry and addiction psychiatry.
"Instilling hope is one of the most important things we can do for patients and families. Mental illness can be chronic and significantly impacts lives. Our goal is to provide the best treatment and education so that patients can manage their symptoms more effectively," she said.
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Depression blog
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June 25, 2008
Recover from depression one step at a time
By Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.
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Recovering from a depressive episode or managing depression long-term takes energy and planning. You may think, how am I going to find energy or motivation when I feel so poorly?
Depression can strip you of your self-esteem, self-confidence and motivation. Approach this in the same way you would approach a friend, loved one or child. You would approach helping that person in a reasonable, caring manner. Do the same for yourself. The key is to begin with small steps.
Say you want to begin exercising, attending to bills or mail, increasing your socialization or housework. Would you tackle all of these simultaneously? Of course you wouldn't. Pick one that is a priority to you. You then will need to set up a reasonable plan as to how to proceed with accomplishing your goal.
Let's go with exercise first. Overall, your goal may to improve your health. Your goal may be to walk a mile but how would you do this? You would train by walking one step at a time. I had a patient who had been an avid runner prior to having a moderately severe episode of depression. He essentially had given up on running and was not engaging in any exercise. He was ready to begin exercising again. His initial goal was to run 30 minutes 5 times per week. I asked him to rate on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the most likely and 1 being the least likely) the likelihood that he would accomplish his goal. He rated his goal as a 4. We know that a rating of higher than 7 is where we want to be in order to increase our chances of goal completion. After further thought, he changed his goal to stretching for 10 minutes two times in the next week. He then rated the likelihood that he would accomplish the goal as a 9. One week later, we reviewed his goal and he was able to successfully accomplish it!
The idea is to be your own cheerleader, be kind to yourself. You deserve to feel good and to be happy. Set up reasonable goals and then honestly rate them using the 1-10 scale. It is OK if you need to change your goal. Find a support person to share your goal with. Studies show that this will make it more likely that you will follow through. Once you have accomplished your first goal, you will find your self-esteem and confidence are boosted. Don't stop now, set up your next goal. Set your self up for success! You can do it!
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