Coping With Depression Tip : Reach Out And Stay Connected
Getting support plays an essential role in overcoming depression. On your own, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy perspective and sustain the effort required to beat depression. At the same time, the very nature of depression makes it difficult to reach out for help. When youre depressed, the tendency is to withdraw and isolate so that connecting to even close family members and friends can be tough.
You may feel too exhausted to talk, ashamed at your situation, or guilty for neglecting certain relationships. But this is just the depression talking. Staying connected to other people and taking part in social activities will make a world of difference in your mood and outlook. Reaching out is not a sign of weakness and it wont mean youre a burden to others. Your loved ones care about you and want to help. And if you dont feel that you have anyone to turn to, its never too late to build new friendships and improve your support network.
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Keep In Touch With Family And Friends
It is not unusual to withdraw from loved ones during a depressive episode. However, removing yourself from social situations can make your depression worse.
If you are wondering what to do during a depressive episode, try to make a conscious effort to socialize. Spending time with friends and family members is one of the best ways to improve your mood.
Track Your Depressive Triggers And Symptoms
People going through a depressive episode can feel overwhelmed and alone.
If youre trying to get out of a depressive episode, it might be useful to keep a journal of your feelings. This will help you identify potential triggers for feelings of sadness as well as spot the signs of depression early on and do something about them.
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Or Spend Time With Loved Ones
Depression can tempt you to isolate yourself and withdraw from people you love and trust, but face-to-face time can help wash away those tendencies.
If youre unable to spend time together in person, phone calls or video chats can also be helpful.
Try to remind yourself these people care about you. Resist the temptation to feel like youre a burden. You need the interaction and they likely do, too.
Research has shown that keeping a journal can be a beneficial add-on method for managing mental health conditions.
Writing down your thoughts can help you express what youre feeling more clearly. It can also help you keep track of what symptoms youre having each day and identify what causes them.
You can make a goal to write for a few minutes each day or week. Most importantly, what you want to write about is completely up to you.
When you do the same thing day after day, you use the same parts of your brain.
Research shows doing new things can feel rewarding improve your overall well-being and strengthen your social relationships.
To reap these benefits, consider trying a new sport, taking a creative class, or learning a new cooking technique.
How Can I Find Help
If you think you may have depression, start by making an appointment to see your doctor or health care provider. This could be your primary care practitioner or a health provider who specializes in diagnosing and treating mental health conditions. Visit the NIMH Find Help for Mental Illnesses if you are unsure of where to start.
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Depression Trauma And Ptsd
Depression is a common problem that can develop after trauma. When you are depressed, you have feelings of sadness or low mood. And those feelings are longer lasting and can get in the way of your daily life. Learn about the relationship between depression and PTSD, and what you can do to get help.
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Thorough Detoxification Helps Achieve A Bright Outlook On Life
As the Narconon program progresses for each person, she will discover more ways to build a drug-free life that she can look forward to after graduation. There is a thorough detoxification program that uses more nutrition, moderate exercise and time spent in a low-heat sauna to flush drug residues out of the body. Once these toxic residues are gone, its very common for recovering addicts to achieve brighter outlooks on life and a greater ability to think clearly.
Next is the Objectives Course which enables each recovering person to recover his ability to perceive the environment as he once did, without the haze of drugs. The exercises in this course help each person leave the addictive mindset behind and get ready to repairing relationships and start setting goals for a sober future.
Life skills courses and practical application guide each person through the restoration of family relationships and a return of personal integrity. These processes may not be the easiest tasks in the world to tackle, but each person has staff around him or her who know what its like to go through this recovery and are willing to help every step of the way.
Series of articles explaining drug addiction
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Depression: What You Need To Know As You Age
If youre one of the more than 14.8 million American adults who experiences major depression, you may feel so bad that you cant get out of bed, be around the people you love or participate in activities that you usually enjoy. Actually, there are more than 50 different symptoms of major depression, ranging from the well-knowncrying and sadnessto those you might never associate with depression, such as anger, workaholism and back pain.
Depression is a disease that affects every aspect of a persons life, not just mood, says Johns Hopkins expert Andrew Angelino, M.D., Chair of Psychiatry at Howard County General Hospital. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second-leading cause of disability in the world, just behind cardiovascular disease.
People who are depressed are far more likely to have other chronic medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease, back problems, arthritis, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and to have worse outcomes. Untreated depression can even affect your immune response to some vaccines.
Depression is not just debilitating it can be deadly. An estimated one out of five people with depression will attempt suicide at some point.
When To Get Professional Help For Depression
If youve taken self-help steps and made positive lifestyle changes and still find your depression getting worse, seek professional help. Needing additional help doesnt mean youre weak. Sometimes the negative thinking in depression can make you feel like youre a lost cause, but depression can be treated and you can feel better!
Dont forget about these self-help tips, though. Even if youre receiving professional help, these tips can be part of your treatment plan, speeding your recovery and preventing depression from returning.
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Volunteering Can Be A Great Way To Do Both
Knock out a few birds with one stone spending time with other people and doing something new by volunteering and giving your time to someone or something else.
You may be used to receiving help from friends, but reaching out and providing help may actually improve your mental health more.
Bonus: People who volunteer experience physical benefits, too. This includes a
Overcoming Resistance To Change
Our mind loves the status quo. Doing what youve always done, believing what youve always believed puts the mind at ease.
Makes it feel safe.
Any deviation from a familiar routine could expose us to unidentified risks and dangers. Venturing in the unknown may result in misery, injury, or death.
So, to protect us, the mind will discourage change at all cost. Even change for the better. Because you never know, right?
Whenever we embark on something new, our mind will therefore resist. It will do everything in its power to stop us.
This is especially true if we try to leave our comfort zone or challenge existing limiting beliefs.
So, if you introduce a new paradigm, such as I AM worth or The Universe loves me, when before you believed the opposite, the mind will rebel. If you try to change your diet, add unfamiliar workouts or start any new project, the mind will pull the reins.
Because it cannot predict the outcome. And it wants to protect us from potential harm, failure and humiliation.
As such, the minds resistance usually starts with self-doubt and fear of change. They are both obstacles the mind tosses in our way so we reconsider and stick with what we know.
If we crush these hurdles, the mind will then try to distract us. Suddenly, a myriad of other things seem ever so important or fascinating. Siphoning our attention away from the intended change.
TAKE THE TEST: Is your depression caused by resistance to change?
How to neutralise resistance to change
So, you quit.
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Breaching Your Narrow Focus On Inner Turmoil
Any living beings main focus revolves around their personal wellbeing, needs and wants. Because its imperative for survival to have food, water, shelter.
But nowadays, for most of us, these primary needs are met. We dont struggle for physical survival every day. We have a roof over our heads, we eat regularly. We are safe.
And so, our emotional needs have taken centre stage.
We worry about our happiness, fulfilment, worth. Are concerned about our emotional balance. And zoom in on every feeling that may indicate a threat to our emotional health.
Nothing wrong with that.
But, at some point during our evolution, we started to identify with our emotions. So, we cling onto them, hoard them in our energy body. Because we believe they are part of us.
The problem is now that e-motions are energies in motion. They must flow. If we trap them in our energy body, they dont just stop.
They wont go inert.
They still move whichever way they can within their crowded containment. They swirl in endless circles, whirl unproductively, bump into each other.
Causing constant turmoil, emotional chaos. And pain.
And our life becomes dictated by the inner mayhem. We concentrate on every excruciating bang, knock and crash of sadness, resentment, anger within. And the more we focus on the pain, the worse it becomes.
Until it is unbearable, jeopardises our mental health. And to save our sanity, we have to numb our emotions.
How to expand your consciousness beyond pain
Now, isnt that ironic?
Tip : Get A Daily Dose Of Sunlight
Sunlight can help boost serotonin levels and improve your mood. Whenever possible, get outside during daylight hours and expose yourself to the sun for at least 15 minutes a day. Remove sunglasses and use sunscreen as needed.
- Take a walk on your lunch break, have your coffee outside, enjoy an al fresco meal, or spend time gardening.
- Double up on the benefits of sunlight by exercising outside. Try hiking, walking in a local park, or playing golf or tennis with a friend.
- Increase the amount of natural light in your home and workplace by opening blinds and drapes and sitting near windows.
- If you live somewhere with little winter sunshine, try using a light therapy box.
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Exercise Helps Treat Depression Without Medication
No article about evidence-based depression treatments would be complete without mentioning regular exercise.
Exercise is a powerful, natural method of treating depressive disorder that rivals both antidepressants and psychotherapy in its efficacy. Consider the chemistry: exercise causes the body to release chemicals called endorphins. Endorphins not only make us feel good but also act as an analgesic and reduce the feeling of pain.
Exercise also supports brain plasticity. A 2021 study in Germany found that physical activity enhances neuroplasticity in non depressed people and improves clinical symptoms of major depressive disorder.
Why does exercise feel so good for the brain?
How can simple walking be so beneficial for the brain and just as effective as medication for treating depressive symptoms? Neuroscientists Dr. Julia C. Basso and Dr. Wendy Suzuki explain that when you exercise, chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin are released in your brain. These chemicals make you feel happiness and pleasure. And working up a sweat isnt limited to its immediate effects. Long-term, thanks to all that improved plasticity, exercising actually creates new brain cells, making your brain more resistant to depression and other diseases.
So how much exercise is enough to treat depressive symptoms?
- 30-40 minutes of exercise 3-4 times a week is enough to get out of depression
Watch: the benefits of exercising for treating depression without medication:
Whats The Difference Between Grief And Depression
Given that the primary symptom associated with depression is sadness, it can be easy to think of grief or bereavement as depression. But grief is a natural response to specific experiences, such as the end of a relationship or the death of a loved one. While you might feel regret or remorse, and you might withdraw from usual activities if you are experiencing grief, youre unlikely to feel the overwhelming sense of worthlessness, thoughts of self-harm or suicide, and other symptoms of depression. Another important difference is that in grief, painful feelings usually come in waves and are often mixed with positive memories.
American Family Physician
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Gratitude And Getting Out Of Depression
Depression zaps joy. It washes away positive feelings. It makes the world, inside of you and outside of you seem bleak and pointless. That is only a faulty perception, clouded by depression. Training yourself to notice and appreciate things in life helps pull you out of the depression perspective.
The field of positive psychology offers this exercise, often called Three Good Things , for how to get out of depression the gratitude way:
- Set aside a time each day to reflect on things for which you are grateful, good things that you noticed during the day. Jot them down in a journal. This will help you notice the good in yourself and the world even when depression wants you to see only the bad.
- Next, reflect on this question: Why did these good things happen? You soon notice a pattern good things arent arbitrary. You, and others, make good things happen. You are the one appreciating beauty. You arent your depression.
Depression can be so strong that it feels impossible to figure out how to get out of depression. Getting out of depression doesnt have to be difficult or fancy. It can involve simple actions and different ways of thinking. Identifying and using your talents and strengths, learning to listen to yourself, the real you, and developing a grateful mindset all work together to help you get out of depression.
Meditate To Protect Yourself From Depression
Sometimes meditation can replace medication
Another invaluable tool that will help you treat depression without medication, is regular meditation exercises. Regular meditation practice can help you out of a depressive episode and prevent you from falling back into one a second time.
One study reveals that63.6% of the subjects say regular meditation was helpful in moving out of mental health crises and negative thinking.
Meditation is a mind-body health practice that has multiple benefits beyond improving your mental well-being.
Think of meditation as maintenance for your mood. It can help you handle emotions better, spot signs of depression earlier and stop your symptoms from worsening.
Meditation essentially involves three simple steps:
This is great exercise for your brain and it will help you treat depression without medication.
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Looking After Someone Who Has Depression
If you’re close to someone with depression, their condition can affect you too. Your relationship, and family life in general, can be strained, and you might not know what to do or how to help.
Talking about the situation can help. Finding a support group, or talking to other people in a similar situation, can make it easier to cope. If the condition is causing difficulties in your relationship with your partner, you could contact a relationship counsellor who can talk things through with both of you.
When suffering from depression, men are less likely to ask for help than women. They’re also more likely to turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with the symptoms.
How To Pull Yourself Out Of Deep Depression
Depression is categorized according to its mildness and severity. Talking of deep depression, it is the form of severe depression or major depression or clinical depression. The chances of deep depression to occur in women are more than men. These are some of the common symptoms noticed in most of the patients suffering from deep depression. But, these are not the only symptoms that a deeply depressed person exhibits. Treatment of deeply depressed person depends upon the symptoms of depression entirely. Symptoms may vary person to person. A deeply depressed person generally exhibits following signs:
1. Deeply lost in the Sadness all the time.
2. Stays alone in his own imaginary world
3. Fatigue or loss of energy.
4. Inability to concentrate.
5. Poor or imbalanced diet.
6. Absolutely no room for social activities.
7. Tiredness or restlessness
9. Inferiority complex starts developing in you.
10. Sexual problems, such as rejection, erectile problems etc.
11. Negativity becomes part of you.
12. Sufferer may develop suicidal tendencies.
13. Significant change in the weight.
14. May face difficulties in hearing or visioning.
15. Plenty of stress.
The exact cause of deep depression is still unknown however it is believed that it has something to do with genetics and chemical imbalances in the human brain. Other reasons might involve
3. Environment is also one of the biggest causes of deep depressive state of a person
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