I M Depressed With My Life

Actions To Take When We Think I Hate My Life:

There are many actions we can take when we feel turned against ourselves and our lives.

Practice mindfulness Mindfulness is a practice that teaches us how to let go of thoughts that are destructive or undesirable. It has been proven to reduce stress, fight depression and lead to overall benefits in health and well-being. Mindfulness meditation can help us to acknowledge these thoughts as momentary feelings that will pass like clouds over a mountain. Learn more about mindfulness.

Conquer your critical inner voice Voice Therapy is a method developed by Dr. Robert Firestone. The five steps of this therapeutic process allow people to identify, respond to and challenge their critical inner voice, while recognizing where this inner enemy comes from. Learn more about Voice Therapy.

Spend time with a family of choice Oftentimes, people feel obligated to spend time with the family they were born into, but old dynamics and remnants of past hurts can cause family time to be times of pain or stress. Its important to create for yourself a family of choice. Of course, this may include people youre related to. Whats most important is choosing to be around people who support you and the things that light you up and make you who you are.

Realize your personal power No matter what life throws at us, taking a victim mentality only makes us suffer more. By realizing the ways we have power over our lives, we can feel stronger and more resilient in any obstacle we face.

How Can You Get Yourself Out Of A Funk

Although depression can become a very clinical subject, many of the ways to help yourself through this mood disorder are very simple and practical. Self-care is a key component to living a happy, healthy life and between your diet, exercise, daily routines, and social interactions there are plenty of steps you can take to influence your mood. As you move through your depression, be open to trying new approaches and understand that it might take a combination of these self-care practices before you notice a change in your mood.

Confusion And Lack Of Direction

Sometimes it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly when you started feeling unfulfilled or why you may be struggling with a lack of purpose.

Feeling like you have little direction in life may have slowly built up over time, and you may find it difficult to identify a specific reason for these experiences. This can be confusing and upsetting, especially if you feel that everything in your life is how you envisioned and planned.

Because of this lack of clarity, you may feel inclined to avoid sharing your feelings with others, and fear that you will be misunderstood. This can cause you to isolate yourself and bury yourself deeper into your thoughts.

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Lifestyle Changes For Depression

Lifestyle changes, such as making art, journaling, exercising more, and practicing yoga or mindfulness, can also alleviate depression and the stress that can heighten it. Alternative treatments like massage, acupuncture, and light therapy may also help.

Diet changes, too, can uplift your mood by reducing inflammation and helping to ensure your brain gets the nutrients it needs to function at its best.

One randomized controlled study, published October 9, 2019, in the journal PLoS One, found that self-reported symptoms of depression dropped significantly in just three weeks in young adults who changed from a highly processed, high-carbohydrate diet to a focused on vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, unsweetened dairy, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and the spices turmeric and cinnamon. In contrast, the depression scores didnt budge in a control group of people who didnt change their diet.

Asking For Help Is The Strongest Thing You Can Do

Asking for help does not make you a weak person. In fact, it makes you the exact opposite. My depression manifested itself through a serious uptake in drinking. So serious, in fact, I spent six weeks in rehab in 2017. Im just shy of 17 months of sobriety.

Everyone can have their own opinion, but all three sides of the triangle of my mental health stopping drinking, talk therapy, and medication have been crucial. Most specifically, the medication helps me maintain a level state on a daily basis and has been an intricate part of my getting better.

Kate, travel agent, New York

If the depression is greatly impacting your quality of life, if you think that you should be feeling better, then seek out help. See your primary care doctor about it many are trained in dealing with depression and seek a referral for a therapist.

While theres still considerable stigma attached to having mental illness, I would say that we are starting, slowly, to see that stigma abate. Theres nothing wrong with admitting you have an issue and could use some help.

Daniel

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What Its Really Like Going Through A Deep Dark Depression

I thought everyone Googled suicide methods from time to time. They dont. Heres how Ive recovered from a dark depression.

How we see the world shapes who we choose to be and sharing compelling experiences can frame the way we treat each other, for the better. This is a powerful perspective.

In early October 2017, I found myself sitting in my therapists office for an emergency session.

She explained that I was going through a major depressive episode.

Id experienced similar feelings of depression in high school, but they were never this intense.

Earlier in 2017, my anxiety had started to interfere with my daily life. So, for the first time, Id sought out a therapist.

Growing up in the Midwest, therapy was never discussed. It wasnt until I was in my new home of Los Angeles and met people who saw a therapist that I decided to try it myself.

I was so lucky to have an established therapist when I sunk into this deep depression.

I couldnt imagine having to find help when I could barely get out of bed in the morning.

I probably wouldnt have even tried, and I sometimes wonder what wouldve happened to me if I hadnt sought professional help before my episode.

Ive always had mild depression and anxiety, but my mental health had rapidly declined that fall.

It would take me close to 30 minutes to coax myself out of bed. The only reason I would even get up was because I had to walk my dog and go to my full-time job.

My spark just seemed to fizzle.

The Lived Experience Of Depression

A person who is in good physical health, is employed, has a safe home to live in, enough money to care for themselves and their family, supportive friends, and hobbies may struggle to comprehend why they feel persistently sad, angry, or irritable.

In the absence of a clear trigger such as the death of a loved one, a divorce, or the loss of a job, they may feel that it doesnt make sense for them to feel depressed.

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Depression Rears Its Ugly Head At The Strangest Times

I am a mental health professional thats the hardest part of this whole article to write. Actually, this whole article is hard to write because Im in the midst of a depressive episode, and everything that I try and do is like an uphill battle. I am a mental health professional. I

You Feel Like Youre Constantly Faking It

We hear a lot now about imposter syndrome, where people feel that they are just faking it and arent as together as people think. Theres a form of this for those who deal with major depression and other forms of mental illness. You become quite adept at playing yourself, acting the role of the self that people around you expect to see and experience.

Daniel, publicist, Maryland

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The Good Days Are Relatively Normal

A good day is me being able to get up before or right at my alarm, shower, and put on my face. I can push through being around people, as my job as a software trainer calls me to. Im not crabby or anxiety-ridden. I can push through the evening and have conversations with co-workers without feeling total despair. On a good day, I have focus and mental clarity. I feel like a capable, productive person.

Christian, software trainer, Dallas

What Is Lack Of Purpose

If you feel like your life has no meaning and direction, you may be struggling with a lack of purpose. Lack of purpose can affect all aspects of your life, and can cause you to ruminate on anxious thoughts that cause you distress.

Having a purpose in life is important for your mental wellbeing and can help you live a more fulfilled and content life.

On this page, you can find out more about what lack of purpose may feel like, why you might be struggling, and how psychotherapy can help you find your purpose in life.

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Ways You Can Look After Yourself

If youre depressed, there are steps you can take to lift your mood and help your recovery. These steps can help if youve been depressed in the past and want to stay well.

• Talk about how youre feeling. Talking to someone you trust, or finding peer support, can help you feel better and less alone.
• Eat well. A healthy diet can lift your mood and maintain your mental health.
• Stay physically active. Exercise may feel like the last thing you want to do, but it can ease the symptoms of depression. Research suggests it may be as effective as antidepressants in helping you feel better.
• Spend time in nature. Research shows that being in nature can make us feel happier, feel our lives are more worthwhile, and reduce our levels of depression
• Avoid cigarettes and alcohol. They may feel like theyre helping at first, but they make things worse in the long run.
• Try talking therapy to stay well. NICE guidelines recommend CBT or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy if youve been depressed in the past.

What Causes Depression

Although some peoples depression can be influenced by major life events, the truth is that depression can happen to anyone without cause or warning. In fact, depression is one of the most common mood disorders 8.7% of women and 5.3% of men experience depression every year. Research has suggested that factors such as genetics, biology, environment, and psychology can all play a role in depression.

Its important to note that depression exists on a scale from mild to severe, but even in mild cases it should be taken seriously. Depression is not simply a bad mood or something that someone can snap out of, but luckily it is very treatable.

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What To Do What To Do

Ive posted another entry about how creatives heal from walking depression, and here are the highlights:

• Rest.
• Develop a meaning practice.
• Change your life.

These steps are simple to say, not easy to do, so make sure you get as much support as you can.

Important: If you are in dire straits, please contact your doctor or visit the International Suicide Prevention Wiki to find a hotline near you.

What Can You Do If You Experience Depression

It may sometimes feel as though, out of nowhere, that you are hit with depression, and this is true for many people who have a biologically based depression. However, I would argue that whenever there is something like depression or anxietywhich are defense mechanismsthere is something in your life that is not 100% congruent with who you are and where your life is at or going.

This essentially means that its time to take a step back and reassess a few things in life. It doesnt mean that you will be able to wright the ship entirely. However, you might be able to make some small changes that will help you feel more in control of your life and the direction that you are going in.

1. Consider Therapy

Therapy will help you take stock and think about what is happening in your life and where you might be able to make some changes. Needless to say, you will also have the support you need to embark on making those changes. It could also be a chance to identify what it is in your life that is causing the depression. A therapist can also help you connect to other supports that might help you as you work through this period in your life.

2. Group Support Network

3. Self Assessment

4. Take Some Time Off

5. Are You Bored?

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Signs And Symptoms: How To Identify Depression

If sadness alone isnt a good gauge of depression, what is? According to the American Psychiatric Associations current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , which is the diagnostic guide used by most mental health professionals, if youve experienced at least five of the following symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks, you may be , also known as clinical depression.

Do you:

• Constantly feel tearful, empty, or worthless?
• Have little interest or pleasure in your work, hobbies, friends, family, and other things you once enjoyed?
• Notice dramatic changes up or down in your appetite or your weight not related to dieting?
• Often feel listless or fatigued for no obvious reason?
• Have trouble concentrating or making decisions?
• Find yourself wringing your hands, pacing, or showing other signs of anxious restlessness or the opposite, moving or speaking more slowly than usual?
• Struggle with or sleep too much?
• Have recurrent thoughts of suicide or death?

To be diagnosed with MDD, one of your symptoms must be a persistent low mood or a loss of interest or pleasure, the DSM-5 states. Your symptoms must also not be due to substance abuse or a medical condition, such as thyroid problems, a brain tumor, or a nutritional deficiency.

Of course, its normal to have any or all of these symptoms temporarily from time to time. The difference with depression is that the symptoms persist and make it difficult to function normally.

Allow Yourself To Use Up Sick Leave

In an office setting, employees who feel unwell frequently call in sick and use their PTO. Among the work-from-home crowd, you see a bit of difference. Lots of ailing virtual workers force themselves to slog through the day because they dont feel good about using up their sick leave.

According to a poll released in November 2020 and evaluated by Study Finds, two-thirds of remote workers remained hesitant to use up sick leave on anything less than Covid.

In other words, you might feel compelled to plug on despite aches and pains. After all, youre home so it doesnt matter, right? Wrong, as it turns out. Presenteeismthe act of being on the job but not being mentally focused on your responsibilitiessoars among the sick. It doesnt do anyone any good to press ahead if your body and mind require much-needed rest.

If getting as close to a stress-free existence is your goal, do whats necessary for your health. PTO is meant to be usedeven when youre a WFH team member.

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Your Thoughts And Feelings Affect Everything You Do

Not feeling right can cause you to think and act differently and this can affect all aspects of your life, sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

When somethings not right you could experience it in different ways. You might get sick or just feel generally run-down. You may feel like youre not your usual self – you dont want to be around anyone when usually you love company. You may cry a lot for no apparent reason or easily lose your temper, or even wonder what your life is all about.

Getting an overall picture of yourself helps to make sense of whats happening in your life, and what can help you feel better. One way to do that is to think about whats happening in different aspects of your life your body , your spirit , your social circle and your mind .

• Physical : Thinking about your tinana means focusing on how you look after and care for your body.
• Mental : Thinking about hinengaro means focusing on emotions and how you communicate, think and feel.
• Social : Thinking about whnau means focusing on the relationships you have with people who support you. Their support might be physical, cultural or emotional.
• Spiritual : Thinking about wairua means focusing on things that give your life meaning. That might mean your religion. It could also mean thinking about your links with the environment , your heritage, and your connections to ancestors .

Know and understand those unseen things that can cause worry, anxiety and fear – Mori proverb.

Perceptions Can Affect Treatment And Outcomes

Looking at the causes helps people understand that being depressed is a medical condition, not a choice.

Depression can be, needs to be, and deserves to be treated. However, there are many different ways to treat the condition. What works for one person may not work for another, and some people have to try many different options before finding something effective.

Its also not unusual for people to need to try different treatments throughout their lives to manage depression, as the condition can change and evolve in response to changes in a persons life .

If you are depressed but dont understand why, you may recognize that you need help and may want it, but may also be struggling with the feeling that you dont have the right to ask for help.

Know this: Every person with depression deserves treatment.

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