This won't get a lot of votes, but it ended up as diet and exercise for me. When I dropped caffeine and alcohol my anxiety went away. When I exercised my depression went away. I tried a lot of things, but it ended up figuring out that I wasn't eating well or working out. Now I do crossfit. I know, I know. It's a cult blah blah. But go try it. You need to be exercising every day to get all that endorphin goodness and…
Agree. I am now doing LCHF and exercising every day. It made a HUGE difference. If you don't believe that it will work for you, try it anyway for a few weeks and see what happens.
Before medication try Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Read: Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David B. Burns
Seconded--actually I highly recommend The Feeling Good Handbook by the same author (David Burns). I've found it very helpful for dealing with procrastination as well.
This won't get a lot of votes, but it ended up as diet and exercise for me. When I dropped caffeine and alcohol my anxiety went away. When I exercised my depression went away. I tried a lot of things, but it ended up figuring out that I wasn't eating well or working out. Now I do crossfit. I know, I know. It's a cult blah blah. But go try it. You need to be exercising every day to get all that endorphin goodness and…
how do you deal with being injured?
I've gotten really into running and enjoy the high, but right now I have an (unrelated) injury and can't run and I feel like I'm going stir crazy :(
Very strong evidence now exists, including a mouse model of bipolar illness controlled by light exposure, that extending your photoperiod is the principle driver of depression. You require total darkness (but red light is okay, see last line.) And rigid hours of darkness. Sleep is important for depression, but only affects the aldosterone cycle. If you sleep into the morning light, you're still killing your melatonin-controlled cycle. The pRGCs that control our clock were only discovered rather recently, so it will be perhaps a generation before you hear this from a front line doctor.
It was hard at times: when you hit a slump you want to stay in that slump - it was hard fighting my way out, but it can be done. "Stop and smell the roses." Take the time to notice the beauty in things around you: both nature and concrete. I'm talking about the most sublime things. I first noticed it one night when I was driving home - the lights were reflecting off this dirty little dam of no significance, but for s…
What a bunch of hooey. Just 'deciding to be happy' is nonsense for someone with major depressive disorder (the medically accepted name of the disorder, as opposed to the term 'clinical depression', which people without experience tend to use...) I'm glad things worked out for you but this is not helpful advice for someone who is actually depressed. It's like telling someone who's short to just decide to be taller.
Atleast some of them have that skill. I remember a friend at school, who used to be very depressed because one of her parents passed away. This was early in her childhood, but the effect was still there in college. She often had mood swings and except those who were very close to her, no one understood her. Then she was reading a few self-help books. I dunno if it was the books, or something within her but by the fourth year, she was out of her depression without any outside help and had a lot of friends and enjoyed life in general. She also volunteered for a few responsibilities in college. But do note that this was very gradual and happened over a two years. I can only imagine the kind of journey she would have had.