What To Do When You Feel Stressed And Depressed

What To Do When You Feel Depressed

When feeling depressed, most people want to sit around the house and do nothing, but this can actually worsen depression. Knowing how to feel better when depressed involves learning about depression, knowing yourself and understanding what works for you.

The important thing to remember when trying to feel better is to make reasonable goals. Anything has the possibility of making you feel more depressed if you set an unrealistic goal. For example, exercising is positive, but setting the goal for yourself to run five miles a day might make you feel more depressed if that’s not something you’re able to accomplish. Small goals and small steps forward work best. You can always set bigger goals as you start to feel less depressed.

Schedule A Worry Break

It may sound counterintuitive when looking at strategies to help you find relief from anxiety, but allowing yourself a short worry break each day can free up your energy to focus on the task at hand. How you set this up depends on your routine. One way is to schedule a chunk of time later in the day, maybe 15 minutes after dinner, to go through your worries for the day.

Earlier in the day, you can write down any worries or anxieties that creep into your mind. Then, give yourself permission to deal with them later. This allows you to go about your day while still acknowledging that something is bothering you.

Later, when you go over the worry list, make sure to set a timer. Review what you wrote, identify any thoughts that are still causing anxiety, and cross off those that dont seem important anymore. Allow yourself a few minutes to sit with each concern.

A Variety Of Reactions Are Possible In The Context Of A Covid

The current COVID-19 pandemic is a particular and rare situation. It can affect people physically, but also psychologically. In this type of context, many people will experience stress, anxiety and depression reactions. This page is intended as a tool to help you to deal with these reactions and minimize their impact on your life.

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Make Time For Rest And Relaxation

Mental health conditions like depression and anxiety can affect your energy and motivation, which often only adds to feelings of guilt and worry.

Remember, though: Depression and anxiety are health conditions. If you had the flu, youd need time to rest, right? Mental health symptoms require recovery time, too.

Instead of fixating on the things you think you should be doing, honor your needs by taking time for activities that soothe and relax you. Maybe this includes things like:

• watching a comforting movie or TV show
• re-reading a favorite book

Complementary And Alternative Treatments

Complementary and alternative treatments have developed outside the mainstream of modern western medicine or psychology and some people find them helpful. Most of them, such as homeopathy and many herbal remedies do not have a scientific evidence base. There is some evidence that acupuncture reduces anxiety and that St Johns wort is effective for depression. If you plan to try a complementary or alternative treatment, you might want to talk to your pharmacist, doctor or nurse first.

“Acupuncture really helped me recover from depression and anxiety. I felt better after the first treatment but after several treatments over three weeks I had gone from being severely depressed back to my baseline happiness.Anonymous

Tohunga and other Mori healers provide rongo Mori healing that offers:

• Whitiwhiti krero .

“I had to first connect with the wairua, through karakia, waiata, and also regular visits to the awa. The main thing I had to do was krero, talk and unload.Jamie

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Take Care Of Yourself

• Be attentive to your feelings, emotions and reactions and allow yourself to voice them to someone you trust. Write them down or express them through physical or other types of activity.
• Make use of physical activity to let the stress out and eliminate tension.
• Practice healthy living habits like proper nutrition and sufficient sleep.
• Limit your access to stressors.
• Allow yourself lifes little pleasures such as listening to music, taking a warm bath, reading, etc.
• Remain in contact with people that do you good.
• Remind yourself of winning strategies you used in the past to get through difficult times.
• Count on your own strengths.
• Set limits for yourself, such as refusing a task that you do not want to do and that is non-essential.
• Learn to delegate and let others help you .

How To Tell If Youre Stressed Or Depressed

Feeling stressed out? Youre not alone. Seventy-two percent of adults surveyed by the American Psychological Association reported feeling stressed out at least some of the time during the past month.

Regardless of what youre stressing about, stress can quickly turn into a problem when it builds and starts to cause wear and tear on your bodyand your overall mental state. In fact, if left unmanaged stress can actually lead to depression.

Chronic stress leads to physical changes in your brain and body, changes in the way youre thinking, and ultimately to changes in the way youre behaving.

Stressed out people are more likely to engage in unhelpful and unhealthy behaviors like overeating, smoking, drinking, and dropping out of important activities like exercising and socializing. And all of this can increase the likelihood that your stress turns into depression.

So how can you tell if youre just stressed out or are suffering from depression? Essentially the answer lies in the severity and the duration of your symptoms.

Feeling stressed out is usually associated with feeling overwhelmed or under pressure. As you know, I believe the term stressed out is a generalization we use to really just say that were having a hard time coping with distressing emotions such as fear or sadness.

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How Can We Stop Stressing Out Over The News

When Christopher Hebert, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, decided he needed to reduce the amount of news he absorbed, he cut it out completely. From the night Donald Trump was elected in 2016, Christopher implemented a news blackout and maintained it for a full year.

At the time he said, Ignorance is far easier than I thought. I finished two or three audiobooks a week. I read novels instead of newspapers. Five months into my blackout, I was happier than I ever was back in the days when I was informed.

• Three 5 minute meditations to help you relax and connect with nature

It may sound like a charmed life but ultimately, he wasnt sure that a complete blackout over a sustained period of time was the right answer to the stresses of a life in the know. Some news is useful but when it causes you to feel angry, stressed, low or upset, it can damage your wellbeing. Plus, it is useful to bear in mind that just getting upset doesnt change anything.

Suzy Glaskie took a different approach. Rather than cutting out news media entirely, shes become more mindful about what she consumes. She says, I prefer to read a daily newspaper where I can choose which pages to read and which to gloss over. That way, I sit down to read it once rather than constantly getting news updates on my phone which pull on my attention and stoke anxiety.

Whats The Difference Between Sadness And Depression

Depression is about being sad, surebut its more than that. Depression is a mental illness that involves a lot of symptoms, like feeling exhausted all the time, losing interest in activities you normally enjoy, or thoughts of death and suicide. Episodes of depression last at least 2 weeks at a time. They can be triggered by a sad event or they can seemingly come of out of nowhere.

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Spend Time With Your Pet

Having a pet may help reduce stress and improve your mood.

When you cuddle or touch your pet, your body releases oxytocin a hormone thats linked to positive mood .

Plus, studies show that pet owners especially those who have dogs tend to have greater life satisfaction, better self-esteem, reduced levels of loneliness and anxiety, and more positive moods .

Having a pet may also help relieve stress by giving you purpose, keeping you active, and providing companionship.

Summary

Although stress is an unavoidable part of life, being chronically stressed takes a toll on your physical and mental health.

Fortunately, several evidence-based strategies can help you reduce stress and improve your overall psychological well-being.

Exercise, mindfulness, spending time with a pet, minimizing screen time, and getting outside more often are all effective methods.

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.

PLoS One

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Laugh And Cry Together

Richardson says laughter can help relieve stress. However, she says, not just a half-laugh though, you need a big belly laugh. To try this, you can take your friend to see a comedy show or watch a funny TV show or film together.

Crying can be another way to relieve stress, since it may release cortisol from the body, says Richardson. However, more research is still needed on this topic.

To try this approach, you can switch the movie or show to a tearjerker or just offer yourself to your friend as a shoulder to cry on.

Additional ideas for helping someone who is stressed include:

• providing random acts of kindness, like buying them flowers or food
• offering to help in any way you can.
• validating their feelings.
• distracting them with something enjoyable, like a movie, walk, or game.
• suggesting deep breathing exercises.

Take A Test To See How You Feel

If youre unsure about the way you feel, take our anonymous online test to check whether your levels of stress, anxiety, or depression are within a healthy range, and see if one of our online programs could help.

What causes depression?

No one knows exactly what causes depression. Genetic factors are important in many cases of depression, where depression seems to run in families , and about 30% of the vulnerability for depression is due to genetic influences.

Stressful life events also play a part in depression. Ongoing conflicts with others can take their toll on our wellbeing, as can other social and environmental stressors such as financial difficulties, retirement, unemployment, childbirth, loneliness, or loss of someone or something important. In vulnerable people, these stressful life events may be enough to cause or worsen depression.

Personality styleis another important factor. When people are depressed, they usually have a very negative view of themselves and the world. They do not appreciate good things, and bad things seem overwhelming. Some people have a tendency to view themselves and the world this way even when they are not depressed. In other words, they may have a depressive personality style.

How can I deal with depression?

Psychoeducation is also important when learning to manage your depression.

Take a look below to find out more about each option:

ECT is an effective form of treatment for depression, especially if:

What is CBT?

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Meet Yourself Where You Are

Depression is common. It affects millions of people, including some in your life. You may not realize they face similar challenges, emotions, and obstacles.

The key to navigating depression is to be open, accepting, and loving toward yourself and what youre going through.

Every day with this disorder is different. Its important to take your mental health seriously and accept that where you are right now isnt where youll always be.

Do Something You Enjoy

Depression can push you to give in to your fatigue. It may feel more powerful than preferred emotions.

Try to push back and do something you love something thats pleasurable or meaningful. It could be playing an instrument, painting, hiking, or biking.

The byproduct of engaging in meaningful activities can be a lift in your mood or energy, which can further motivate you to continue to engage in helpful activities that help with navigating symptoms.

Research suggests that walks in nature may improve depressive symptoms in people with clinical depression.

Time in natural spaces may improve mood and cognition, and lower the risk of mental health disorders. However, theres only limited research on the direct effect of nature on those with clinical depression.

Consider taking a walk at lunch among the trees or spending some time in your local park. Or plan a weekend hike. These activities can help you reconnect with nature and soak in some rays at the same time.

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Keep A Thought Journal

During the moments when you are feeling lonely or depressed, write down your exact emotions and the reasons behind them. This can help in the following ways:

• It can act as a release. Jotting down your thoughts and feelings can feel as though you are transferring them from your brain onto the piece of paper
• Seeing your thoughts and feeling written down can help everything to seem a little more clear and manageable
• A thought journal can help you to gain clarity as to why you have these strong emotions. You may start to see patterns or common triggers that cause you to feel lonely and depressed

Within your thought journal, also write about when you feel happy and connected. Then, as you become more aware of what causes you to think and behave positively, start doing even more of the activities that make you feel good.

When Should You Seek Help

Talk to your doctor if you experience sadness for longer than two weeks. And call emergency services to receive immediate medical help if youre having suicidal thoughts.

Note if your feelings interfere with your ability to function, take part in life, or experience enjoyment. Speaking to a professional, like a therapist, clergy member, or other trusted person, can be a powerful first step toward recovery.

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When Should I Get Support For Loneliness

If your feelings of loneliness and isolation are leading to severe symptoms of depression, the extent that it is inhibiting your ability to live your life normally, then it might be time to consider reaching out for professional help.

Seeking specialist support for the difficulties you’re having is not a sign of weakness. There are plenty of options out there for you. Your first port of call might be to speak to your local GP, you can recommend treatments or next steps.

As an alternative, Priory offers outpatient, inpatient and day care treatment for depression, as well as online therapy via Priory Connect. We will work closely with you to decide on the right direction for your recovery. Use the details below to get in touch with a mental health professional today and being your journey to overcoming loneliness.

For more on how Priory can help put you on the path to recovery from difficulties with your mental health, call 0800 840 3219 or get in touch via email and our compassionate team will be in touch.

What Causes Child Depression

Different things can lead to depression. There is no single cause. Some children have genes that make them more sensitive to depression. They may have other family members who have been depressed.

Some children go through stressful things. Some have faced loss, trauma, or hardships. Some go through serious health conditions. These things can lead to sadness or grief and sometimes to depression.

Having extra support during and after hard times helps protect children from depression or lessen the effects. But even when they have good support, some children get depressed. Therapy can help them heal, feel better, and get back to enjoying things.

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What Else Can I Do To Help Myself Better Manage Emotional Stress

In terms of your general health, which affects your ability to manage and cope with stress, you need to take care of yourself the best that you can.

• Get quality sleep. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Relax before bedtime with a soothing bath, some reading time or warm cup of chamomile tea. Learn other ways to sleep better.
• Maintain a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet.
• Exercise regularly.
• Connect with others. Keep in touch with people who can help support you, both practically and emotionally. Ask for help from family, friends or religious or community groups you are associated with.

What Are The Warning Signs And Symptoms Of Emotional Stress

Symptoms of emotional stress can be both physical, mental and behavioral.

Physical symptoms include:

• Heaviness in your chest, increased heart rate or chest pain.
• Shoulder, neck or back pain general body aches and pains.
• Grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw.
• Shortness of breath.
• Losing or gaining weight changes in your eating habits.
• Sleeping more or less than usual.
• Gastrointestinal problems including upset stomach, diarrhea or constipation.
• Sexual difficulties.

Mental or behavioral symptoms include:

• Being more emotional than usual.
• Feeling overwhelmed or on edge.
• Trouble keeping track of things or remembering.
• Trouble making decisions, solving problems, concentrating, getting your work done.
• Using alcohol or drugs to relieve your emotional stress.

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