Memories that Matter Cover

 

Jefferson A. Singer Ph.D.

Memories that Matter

Sample Chapter : Using Memories to Control Your Moods

Look around your office or your bedroom. Do you have pictures of family or friends on your desk or dresser? Do you have framed photographs from family vacations or posters from favorite art exhibits, films, or concerts hanging on your walls? Have you ever considered that these photographs and posters are ways to control your mood? When you look over at them during the course of your day, you are sparking positive memories associated with the people, places, and events depicted in their images. Work may be slow, the kids may be driving you crazy, but for the one moment that your eye makes contact with those sunlit orange canyons in Utah or takes in a circle of loving smiles from your wedding day, your mind transports you to a different place and time. You can live for just that instant in a serene place or a joyous celebration, and your spirits are lifted.

Psychologists call this exact experience the process of mood regulation. How mood regulation works and the role that memories play in sustaining good moods and repairing bad ones are the subjects of this chapter. We look at how individuals learn to draw on memories to control their moods and why depressed individuals have so much trouble doing this effectively. We meet Carolina, a woman suffering from depression, and learn how she gained better control over her memory in order to improve her mood. Finally, you will learn how to build your own "mood-memory repair kit" to maximize the positive and minimize the negative moods in your life.

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