BehindTheMedspeak: When you're down, pump up the volume

It seems obvious enough that your brain can only deal with one intense sensation or input at a time.

When you fall and hurt yourself, you find that you're no longer hungry.

When you're fatigued and trying not to fall asleep, the last thing you care about is whether or not your car is dirty.

So it would seem to me that when you're feeling very depressed — not down or having a bad day but heading for the abyss — anything that might force your mind out of its one-track, endlessly repeating ruminations on your own misery can't hurt and might very well help.

But when you're down, you have no interest in doing anything: watching TV, reading, working out, anything requiring attention or concentration seems impossible.

So why not try something requiring no active input on your part?

I say put on the headphones and blast music — any music — loud enough to prevent you from thinking or doing anything else.

Just derailing the endless train of internally-centered thoughts for a while has to be helpful.

The more often and the longer you can stand it, the better.

I say it's a no-lose proposition.