Explanatory Style - Permanence

Your Explanatory Style is how you normally interpret the cause of the events in your life. The positive or negative twist you give to occurrences. Permanence is one of 3 dimensions of this. The other two dimensions are: Pervasiveness -does this happen in all areas of life or is it specific to this one area or person? and Personalization - is it my fault or someone else's? If you are habitually negative in any other these dimensions you can be subject to bouts of depression. The more dimensions that are negative the more likely you are to be depressed.

The Permanence dimension of Explanatory style refers to your belief that the cause is temporary (I had a bad day, I had a good day.) or permanent (I always have a bad day, I always have a good day).

The different dimensions overlap a great deal, so it is hard to pull out thoughts that pertain to only one aspect but I will try to concentrate on Permanence for this article.

If your explanatory style is or leans toward being permanent, you feel that this will always happen. That it will never change. That it cannot be changed. This is a good thing when the event is a good thing. like, winning a race, getting a promotion, having a great time at a party.

You want those good things to be permanent. To happen over and over again. To never stop happening.

On the other hand, having a permanent explanatory style is a bad thing for negative happenings: You got a flat tire. You came in last place in a race. You boy friend dumped you.

You want the bad things to be temporary. To be a rare occurrence,. To never happen again.

Here's a chart to illustrate the differences for the different type of events. I've highlighted in green the more positive way of explaining the cause of the event.

Event	Permanent	Temporary
Winning a race	I'm a good runner	I ran a good race. I trained hard.
Losing a race	I am no good at running. I can't win anything	I didn't train hard enough. The others had a better day than I did.
Getting a promotion	I am good at my job. I am a hard worker	I worked hard to get the new position. I was lucky.
Missing a promotion	I'm no good. My boss hates me. I never have any luck	This boss doesn't appreciate me. The other guy tried harder.
Got a flat tire	Nothing ever goes right for me. I have the worst luck.	I should have gotten new tires last week, like I planned.
Boy/girl friend dumped you	I can't keep anyone. No one will ever want me.	It just didn't work out. She doesn't know what she's missing.

Do you understand the differences? If you explain the bad things in a permanent, non-changeable way, you can't help but become depressed, because things will always be bad. They won't change. If you explain those same occurrences in a temporary, changeable way, you can feel hope for the future and move on.

If you find yourself thinking about a negative event in a permanent way, change it into something temporary.

Conversely, if you find yourself thinking about a positive event in a temporary way, try attributing it to something more permanent. Follow the examples above.

As I said in my article Explanatory Style, your Style is closely linked to your Self Concept and therefore Self Esteem. Which is all part of your personal beliefs. Beliefs are VERY powerful and this is another aspect of this power.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy has been shown to be the most effective in combating depression and a negative explanatory style is one of the biggest contributors toward depression. Improve your Explanatory Style and you improve your life.

Read the articles on each of the dimensions then read about Changing Your Thoughts to become more optimistic.

Let me know what you think about this article by submitting a Comment. I'll post appropriate comments. Maybe your comment will help someone else.