It would be then interesting to see if there is a scientific correlation between changing one’s language habits and depression.
I’ve always considered the “start talking positive and things will go well” advice as shortsighted and oversimplistic, but maybe there is indeed a correlation, and a positive reinforcement through language is possible.
Mantras and chants can have a strong influence on our brain waves, so maybe there’s a way to leverage positive language and repetition to ignite a change in the way we feel and the way we think.
My personal theory is that an absolutist vocabulary of thinking ("always", "never", "very/extremely") diminishes the possibilities / opportunities perceived by the person. This leads to a feeling of helplessness, which leads to a lack of motivation, which in turn becomes a self-fulfilling vicious cycle.
It's amazing what people go and achieve when they don't know it's impossible...
I've always wanted to delve more into E-prime, general semantics after hearing about it in a lot of Robert Anton Wilson's lectures. Language definitely has an effect on the way we think and feel. I recently bought a book called 'The Tyranny of Words' by Stuart Chase that I need to find the time to read too.
Keep in mind that general semantics is mostly pseudoscience, or at least ont the fringe.
There's an enlightening discussion interweaved with clinical examples on the power of chanting, synchronised rituals, theatre and Neurofeedback (among many others) in treating trauma patients in The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which I highly recommend for going deeper into the points you mentioned.
As someone who has come out of depressiveness, for me it was mostly about physical factors in the end: routine, sleep, always eating regularly (breakfast!).
I don't know what to think about the mental factors. For me they seem to mostly be symptoms of a bad physical state.
Some approach to both worlds is needed: Also I needed that the absurdly negative voices in my head would shut up, when I was trying to sleep. Some of that was just healing over time, I think.
