Talking therapy, analysis, however you wish to describe the methods employed by mental health professionals to 'fix' the anxious and depressed mind, and my recent explorations into new fields, new topics, new areas, it's all the same really, isn't it?
I mean They train the mind to adopt a more positive and healthy outlook which must mean redirecting the thoughts along new pathways which is precisely what learning does
I don't think I'm explaining this very well...
Look at it this way
When a person is depressed their brain becomes a kind of dead-end and all of their thoughts and energy ends up at The Stop Sign, worse than that, often falling off the edge of a cliff.
They are unable to experience and to enjoy anything new because they are mentally either teetering on the edge or else piled up in a crash
So the trick with counselling is to steer their thoughts away from the edge, the dead end of despair, and to lead them into new paths
Is that better?
Well, art, literature, languages, new areas to explore also open up new pathways that lead the brain away from that edge and dead end
This is probably so obvious to most of you but to me it is a revelation, remember, I have been at the edge for many months.
So, to save the health service money and to cure the country's depressed folk I am advocating a few simples measures:
1. Read a book, not a self-help manual but something absorbing and delightful, one of the many accounts of a new life in another land do it for me everytime...

2. Listen to one of the BBC's excellent radio programmes, you know which one has me captivated right now...
3. Watch one of their iPlayer programmes about chemistry, maths, Iranian food, whatever, it matters not so long as something in it sparks your interest...
4. Pick a subject that fascinates you and explore it in depth, collect pictures, facts, learn more about it, my Delving Deep posts do that for me...
5. Go to a museum, an art gallery and wander randomly, I recommend The Ashmolean, The Natural History Museum and The Louvre which are my favourite haunts...
6. Hug a tree. There is something so solid and reassuring about trees that makes hugging them almost as comforting as a hug from your mother...
7. Learn a new language. Ok that's a personal favourite and not everyone's cup of tea but maybe I should have said learn a new skill ...
8. Keep a blog so that you can reach out to others all over the world
Most of the above can be done alone when you are not feeling sociable, from the safety of your own home when you are not feeling brave and cost nothing (except maybe the air fare to Paris)
Does it all sound a little crazy, or does it make sense?
Well, for one little mouse it is working wonders
When I was burnt-out I fled to France and entered a whole new world and that saved my sanity. When The Someone reduced my self-confidence and trust to ashes I returned to England and a new career and that saved my sanity. When problems here became too much for me to face I turned to books, the BBC, the museums and that is saving me now
So, what's the worst that can happen if you try the above?
You'll become more educated and knowledgeable and if you still need to talk to a therapist your sessions will be livelier and interesting
But I suspect that you really won't need them
Despite everything that has been going on in my life recently the howl of the Black Dog has been replaced by the lovely voice of Neil MacGregor, director of The British Museum.
If only he knew...
A History Of The World In 100 Objects

