In 2011, after having experienced several bouts of mild-to-moderate depression, I was sure I understood it. And I was confident I knew how to beat it. My theory was that it was essentially a malady of egocentricity – i.e., of thinking too much about yourself.

So I wrote an essay laying out my suggestions for anyone suffering from “the blues”:

1. First, do NOT complain about your problems. Instead, write them down. Then review them, noting which are external (“My company is downsizing”) and which are internal (“I’m afraid I’ll be fired”).
2. Try to accept the external factors you can’t control, and think about ways to resolve your internal issues.
3. Smile 25 times in a mirror.
4. Take a long walk, trying to think of nothing.
5. Count your blessings. Write them down. Read them aloud.
6. Do something that requires your full attention – like practicing a challenging piece of music or playing chess.
7. Imagine your funeral. Imagine what you want people to be saying about you. Start doing the things you want to be remembered for.
8. Do something kind or beneficial for someone else.

That was written before I had my first experience with serious depression. Before I realized the huge difference between feeling sad (even very, very sad) and being clinically depressed.

I still believe that egocentricity is a common problem. But I no longer believe that those eight suggestions can work – at all – for deep depression. They may be helpful when you are sad or even moderately depressed. But they won’t work if you are seriously depressed. When you are that low, you won’t have the mental energy to get out of bed, let alone take charge of your thoughts and feelings.

That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything to help yourself. Here are just a few of the things that work for me:

• Be aware of your breathing. Try to breath slowly and deeply, bringing oxygen into your body and brain.
• Keep telling yourself that the depression is temporary. That, eventually, it will pass.
• Notice that the psychic pain you are feeling is not consistent but rises and falls throughout the day. When you are low, know that your mood will rise, if just a little, in a few hours.
• If possible, take a cold shower. As cold and as long as you can stand it. This will give you a temporary lift – from 15 minutes to an hour.
• If you can do it, very demanding physical exercise should help.
• Don’t feel bad about how much you want to sleep. Deep depression exhausts the body, just as any physical disease does. You need lots of rest.

After my third serious episode of deep depression in 2011, I wrote an in-depth essay about my experience with depression and the system I developed to overcome it. If you think it might be helpful for you or someone you know, I’ve reproduced it below…

How I Learned to Deal With Chronic Depression

By Mark Morgan Ford

Most people know little to nothing about mental illness. Ask 10 lay people the difference between psychosis and neurosis and just one or two would be able to give you the right answer. But there are two types of mental illness that most people think they understand but don’t. I’m talking about depression and anxiety.

Before I suffered from clinical depression and anxiety, I believed I understood those terms. Depression was feeling really bad about something. Anxiety was worrying about things you probably shouldn’t.

I thought of them not as mental illnesses but as mental weaknesses.

Depression was caused primarily by paying too much attention to yourself and your own problems. My solution, therefore, was to pay attention to other things.

Anxiety was caused by fearing things you shouldn’t. So my solution was exposure therapy.

But about five years ago, I experienced anxiety and depression at a rather severe level. And that made me realize that there is a difference between the natural depression and anxiety we feel when our brains are “healthy” and the deep depression and panic-level anxiety we feel when our brains are not.

Clinical (or deep) depression is a neurological malady, not mental weakness. It may be triggered by thoughts or memories or feelings. But the extreme pain you experience is the result of what is happening in your brain.

There is plenty of scientific evidence to support this. But two things really convinced me:

1. My bouts of deep depression sometimes came out of the blue, without triggers. I had no troubles. Nothing to worry about. Everything was fine.
2. The thoughts that occasionally triggered a deep descent had no effect whatsoever on me when I was not already depressed.

I endured my first bouts of depression without telling anyone, staying in bed for days and pretending I was physically sick. I did that because I believed my severely negative thoughts and feelings were caused by a weakness of my mind.

But then I came out of the closet to an increasingly wider group of people – my family, close friends and colleagues. I also decided to treat my depression like the illness it is, and began working with a psychiatrist and a psychologist on several therapies that had the potential to heal me.

So I could have a better understanding of what works for me and what doesn’t, I kept a detailed daily journal of not just my thoughts and feelings, but also of everything I was doing in terms of eating, sleeping, smoking, medications, etc.

By reviewing that journal over a two-month period, I was able to create a 10-point system that ranked the “level” of my mental health. Level 1 represented extreme pain and the nearly total inability to function. Level 10 represented euphoria.

In reviewing and refining this system I noticed several interesting things:

You’ve probably heard this story already…

When I was 33 I decided to become rich and made that my supreme and overriding goal. There were plenty of other things that I wanted to do – like reading books and playing sports and traveling – but I made them all distant secondary objectives. The lion’s share of my time and mental energy would be devoted to getting rich.

This one decision radically changed my life. I went from broke to kinda rich in about eighteen months and became a deca-millionaire about six years later.

Having a single supreme and overriding goal gave me laser-sharp focus and shark-like ambition. Day to day decisions about projects and people and protocols – once complicated – were easy to make. I simply asked myself, “Which is the option that will bring me more money?” And presto! The choices were clear.

It was also easier to make other, non-financial decisions. When a conflict arose between my supreme and overriding goal (like working all day Saturday) and something else (like spending the day with my family) I chose the former.

I didn’t abandon all my other duties. In fact I did them as well as I could. But they were always secondary.

And they were always noticed. By my family and my friends and late at night even by the other little selves that still lived inside my heart.

Making “getting rich” my supreme and overriding goal was ruthlessly effective. If I were restricted to a single piece of advice on growing wealthy I’d have to offer that as my suggestion.

But you know – as I did even back then – that there are other ways of being rich. For example:

1. You can be rich in your relationships with other people: friends, family and the community at large.
2. You can be rich in health: having a robust immune system, strong muscles, flexible joints and abundant energy.
3. You can be rich mentally – knowledgeable and skillful but also curious, excited, always eager to learn more.

There are times when I feel smart about my conversations. And there are times when I feel dumb.

I feel smart when I give someone a good idea and they gladly agree to try it.

I feel dumb when a conversation turns into an argument or ends with bad feelings.

As a longtime copywriter, I’m well aware of the “rules” of written persuasion. And when I’m writing or editing copy, it’s easy to follow them.

But when I’m talking with family and friends – or even having informal business conversations (including email exchanges) – I often ignore the rules. I end up feeling dumb. And regretful.

In some ways, writing and speaking are very different forms of communication. When you are speaking, for example, you can convey irony, sarcasm, and a host of other things with a gesture or the expression on your face. You can’t do that in writing.

But when the primary purpose of a conversation is to persuade someone to do something, many of the copywriting rules hold true.

Example: One of the lessons I teach new copywriters is to never begin by directly stating the idea you want your prospect to embrace. (This is especially true when the idea is either unfamiliar to the prospect or one he might disagree with.) Instead, you should lead off with a statement designed to grab his attention. Then say something to entice him to keep reading. Start to build your argument. Anticipate and overcome any objections he may have to what you’re telling him. And continue to build your argument until you have convinced him to take the action you want him to take. (Usually, that means buying the product you’re selling.)

Say you’re selling vitamin D supplements. You’ll turn off your prospect by starting with something he could easily disagree with. Something like: “If you want to reduce your chances of getting skin cancer, you should be taking vitamin D supplements.” A much better opening would be: “Did you know that 9,730 people die each year in the USA as a result of skin cancer?” Followed by something like: “Would it interest you to know that the single best deterrent for skin cancer is easy, available, and free?”

Then you might tell a story or list some facts that gradually convince him to start taking vitamin D supplements. And not just any supplements… the one’s you’re selling.

Well, if you want to be a persuasive conversationalist, you pretty much have to do the same thing.

I know that. But do I do it?

Hardly ever.

And that’s why conversations that I initiate with the intention of convincing someone to do something or think a certain way often turn into arguments. Or end with bad feelings. And I feel dumb.

But starting today, I think that’s going to change. Because I’m going to try to follow nine rules based on what I’ve learned about the art of persuasion from copywriting.

Here are the rules:

How good are you at judging advertising copy? More importantly, do you know how to fix weak copy when you see it?

Test yourself. Read the copy below. It’s a “lift letter,” which is a short letter meant to prompt readers to click on to a longer sales message. After you’ve read it, give it a rating: A to D. Then think about how you would “fix” it.

The Lift Letter:

Dear [NAME],

I hope you’re enjoying the 10 Longer Living Guides you got for free when you joined The Inner Circle (a $150 value).

They’re stored in the Members Only area of our website, InstituteforNaturalHealing.com, for to you read and download to your computer any time. And remember, you can always print them out and share with your loved ones—with our blessing.

I also want to give you another free gift, as a thank you for becoming a member. It’s a special presentation on a very common health concern for older men. Many men tell us this information has changed their lives—and we hope it will do the same for you.

It begins with a plant known as the warrior root. Thousands of years ago, Incan warriors in South America would eat this root before they conquered a city…

Then went home to “conquer” their eager wives.

Now, modern-day scientists are showing that the warrior root helps boost libido, sex drive, energy, and stamina. Turning sexual desire into a swift physical response. No matter how old you are, or how long it’s been since your sex life tapered off.

Today it’s part of a sex-boosting secret that’s making men worldwide declare…

“It keeps me feeling ready at all times—and stronger in action.” –Thom H. in Reserve, NM

“I’m 82 years of age and can still perform when required—and perform satisfactorily.” –Alton W. in Oakland, CA

“It allows me to recharge my body and show my wife how much I care after a long day at work.” –Barry S. in Fish Creek, WI

The details are revealed right HERE. Men, I’ll warn you now: You might want to watch this alone.