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Tips for the depressed

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Re: Tips for the depressed

#21

Post by allendoerfer »

pmoriarty wrote: post #15

Things that help me when I feel depressed: - Listening to upbeat, energetic music and avoiding depressing music, which tends to make me feel worse - Walking outside on a clear, sunny day - Eating my favorite food - Playing a good game to get my mind off whatever it is that I'm obsessing about - If I am able to concentrate, reading something by a favorite author, listening to a good podcast, or watching a non-depressi…

When you are actually depressed and not just feel a bit down, those things seem unreachable.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#22

Post by jsjddbbwj »

Someone here recommended David Burns' "The Feeling Good Handbook" and it was a very, very good read. I'm not going to say it turned my life around, but it taught me how to spot and disarm all kinds of cognitive distortions, defeat laziness, better align my expectations of others, assess my self worth positively...

It's also well written, fast paced, and sometimes even funny. It includes lots of exercises that are practical and easy to do.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#23

Post by magduf »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #13
jotm wrote: post #5

I hope they work for some, but for me, SSRI's are frankly, trash. All the downsides with none of the upsides. The only thing that worked was Imipramine, and I can't get it anymore because it's "old" and "not recommended". The newer focus on psychedelics and drugs usually used for recreational purposes seems more encouraging. If you're anti-depressant resistant, I'd recommend you try Gabapentin, a seemingly overlooked…

> I hope they work for some, but for me, SSRI's are frankly, trash. All the downsides with none of the upsides. They absolutely work for many people. Unfortunately, many people deprive themselves of SSRI trials because they read too many negative anecdotes online. If you're seriously depressed for an extended period of time, it's worth a trial of an SSRI medication. If it doesn't work, just taper off and be done with…

>Please don't recommend Phenibut. It's not an antidepressant. It's highly addictive and has severe rebound and withdrawal symptoms. Drugs that make you temporarily feel good should not be confused with antidepressant drugs.

This kinda sounds like drugs like clonazepam or lorazepam. They're also very addictive, and are not antidepressants at all, however they are anti-anxiety drugs and they work very quickly. And anxiety and depression seem to go hand-in-hand for many sufferers, so they do seem to really help some people, at least initially.

I think a big problem is the medical establishment really doesn't have a good handle on what depression really is (biologically) or how to treat it.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#24

Post by rjkennedy98 »

I would love to finally see an article that has tips for a society on how to prevent depression, instead of the constant stream of self-help BS that is constantly directed at people who may have real reasons to be depressed.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#25

Post by htk »

AFTER FIFTY YEARS, billions of dollars of intensive marketing campaigns, and tens of billions of dollars of profits for pharmaceutical companies, it is still far from clear that antidepressant drugs are any more effective than placebo. The only group of people who have demonstrably benefited from the widespread use of antidepressants are pharmaceutical executives and investors.

I don't think this is accurate or helpful, and I hope people who benefit from medication don't stop taking them after reading things like this.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#26

Post by econcon »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #3

One of the biggest force multipliers in overcoming depression is accepting that you can modulate your condition by taking small, deliberate actions. It's also one of the most difficult and delicate ideas to communicate to a depressed person. Depression notoriously clouds peoples' judgment and makes simple tasks seem impossible. Depression also encourages a lot of binary thinking, where people tend to give up because…

I used to workout 2 hours everyday in gym.

When I stopped supplements, I couldn't get myself to lift for even 15 minutes. I lost all my stenght and got depressed.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#27

Post by allendoerfer »

I like the tip about paying someone else to clean your house.

When you are truely inside of a depressive episode, all those tips probably won't help you. By definition, you cannot think straight.

Think of it more like a computer game: As long as everything is okay, you should make sure to save your progress. While you are feeling good, try to minimize the effect of an episode. This way the episode itself also becomes less bad.

This could be: Getting a cleaning lady (edit: or cleaning gentleman), setting up your bills to be paid automatically, saving money. Stuff you should do anyway, whether you have had depressive episodes or have not. Just setting up your life, so it can be slowed down a bit once in a while without catastrophic outcomes.

For me the logical consequence is to adopt minimalism, so there is less stuff potentially dragging you down with it, once things turn bad.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#28

Post by cgriswald »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #3

One of the biggest force multipliers in overcoming depression is accepting that you can modulate your condition by taking small, deliberate actions. It's also one of the most difficult and delicate ideas to communicate to a depressed person. Depression notoriously clouds peoples' judgment and makes simple tasks seem impossible. Depression also encourages a lot of binary thinking, where people tend to give up because…

For me, doing those small things did seem impossible and even when I managed to achieve it, I didn't feel the reward. There didn't seem any point in making the bed if I felt the same whether the bed was made or not. Eventually I reached a mental place where I could turn that around: If it doesn't make a difference in how I feel, why not make the bed? I had to more or less take it on faith that eventually the rewards would come, and they did. Anyone out there dealing with this: Keep fighting, but don't kick yourself if you have a set back. You wouldn't kick someone else when they're down, so don't do that to yourself.

Edit: Just want to plug Allie Brosh here. This comic is maybe the best description I've ever read on how depression is experienced: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-par...

Re: Tips for the depressed

#29

Post by kwhat4 »

ditonal wrote: post #19

I largely agree with all the advice here. I dropped out of college due to depression, then I torched my tech career with a manic episode that led me straight from a FAANG SWE job to an involuntary psych ward patient for a month, which was followed by a half year brutal depression. I’ve done a lot of research and I think psychiatry is pseudoscience and antidepressants are largely placebo. I’m really on the mindfulness…

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have had a similar experience where the endless stress and burnout culture in the tech field led to total mental collapse about 5 years ago and I can't say I have fully recovered. How have you dealt with employment post meltdown? I have found better jobs since then, however, they all seem to introduce some level of anxiety to my life and I am contemplating leaving tech after 20 years but find that I am not "qualified" to do much else. Just curious if this is a just me issue or if you or others have found a way out of this mess.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#30

Post by econcon »

I was depressed for sometime till I found I've low T, once I supplemented it depression disappeared. I wonder why doctors don't ask you to get your T level checked when they find you depressed instead of prescribing antidepressants.
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