HOW TO GET OUT OF A DEPRESSION
You're depressed for whatever reason, you're tired of coping, and you want to get out. Getting back on track can often appear impossible, but with the right attitude, you can recover,as long as you know how. However, bear in mind that depression is commonly a symptom of a medical condition, such as mineral deficiencies (magnesium deficiency is quite common), hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism, vitamin deficiencies and more. Chronic overdosing on sugar is now being recognized as a major factor in depression. If this is the case for you, whatever you try is simply not going to cure your depression except from addressing that condition itself. If your depression shows no improvement over time, it's very likely caused by a medical condition. Always consult your doctor and do your research online! If you are deficient in vitamins/minerals, a daily multi-vitamin could do miracles with your mood.
Steps
- Make yourself get out. Many people remain depressed simply because they lack the will to go out. It certainly can be difficult to push yourself when you're feeling down but it is an effort well worth making. If you don't feel up to socializing as such but feel the need for company, get out of the house and do whatever it is you were going to do at home, somewhere else. For example, rather than staying home and doing a crossword, take it to library and do it there in the company of other people. Exchanging a few pleasantries with the librarian might make a difference to your day. When you don't want to do anything is when you need to the most.
- Establish a clear understanding of what made you depressed. Was it the break up? Are you unsure about your career? Self-worth? Many people remain unhappy because they attribute their unhappiness to the wrong things, or to nothing at all. Social pressure can often keep you from even questioning your happiness about certain things. Be honest with yourself, or you wont even know what to move on from.
- Change your state of affairs. If you're unhappy, and want to become happy, something about your life clearly needs to change. For many people, this means their surroundings. Are you still living in the small town that caused your feeling's of rural inadequacy? Move. Are you still working at the company that gives you no sense of meaning whatsoever? Quit. Are you still in the relationship that is making you feel manipulated? Break up. This may seem trivial, but it's often the most overlooked obstacle between you and your satisfaction.
- Gain some perspective. You have access to the internet. That places you well above the social circumstances of the majority of the world. There's a point at which you simply have to accept that your happiness is your own responsibility, and it's comprised of the decisions you make. Everything in your life capable of breaking is going to at some point. You've got hands. Fix them.
- Seek help from a mental health professional. Many studies prove that talk therapy helps with depression. To get the most out of talk therapy, you need to find a therapist that you like and trust, and work with him or her over a longer period of time. It doesn't have to be years, but don't expect that serious depression will evaporate without some consistent work on your part. Cost doesn't have to be a barrier: most cities have reduced-fee clinics and many universities offer help through their psychology training programs.
Tips
- Wake up earlier or later. Your problem might just be the way you're managing your day. Waking up earlier might make you feel more productive and clear. Waking up later may make you feel freer and more alive. Figure out which one you need and adjust your alarm.
- Go outside. Especially during a sunny, warm day. Staying inside for too long can make depression worse.
- Get a pet. Having someone alive depend on you can make you feel needed and valuable. It also provides you with someone to love, which, though not a surrogate, can do a lot for you if loneliness or rejection is the cause of your depression.
- Improve some aspect of yourself. Learn more about a field of knowledge, language or instrument, go to the gym, help out in the community, go to school. Even if these things don't work you'll at the very least become a better person because of it.
- Don't take yourself too seriously. there may be more important and interesting things in the world than yourself. Chill out. You might be missing a good joke.
- Try to find the happiness in small things.
- Allow friends and family to help.
- In some women, depression may be caused (or worsened) by low hormone levels, most commonly progesterone. Progesterone helps keep serontonin levels from dropping too low, and low serotonin can cause depression. Doctors can test for low progesterone and prescribe it (though many doctors are unaware of the link with depression); it is even available without prescription.
Warnings
- Let a doctor decide if your depression is clinical and requires medication.