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Tips for the depressed

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Re: Tips for the depressed

#31

Post by Swizec »

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…

As s as formerly depressed person I can attest that this is the only thing that worked. DO stuff. Even if you feel you can’t, even if it feels hopeless. Do it anyway.

Somehow through the act of forcing yourself you find you’re actually enjoying yourself, are making progress and feeling better.

Saying this is also the quickest way to get shunned out of the room by anyone with depression.

Fun fact: research has shown that cognitive behavioral therapy is more effective at changing brain chemistry than drugs. Tricking yourself into doing things is a lighter form of CBT so I heartily recommend it to everyone.

Or as my psychiatrist once said: Drugs don’t mean you’re broken or that this is outside your control. They just give you the space to fix it. CBT is the actual long-term solution.

https://www.nature.com/articles/4001816

Re: Tips for the depressed

#32

Post by 7177Y »

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…

I think that self-care has become shorthand for treating yourself, when sometimes it means being responsible as well.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#33

Post by 7177Y »

allendoerfer wrote: post #27

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…

it could also be getting a cleaning person, regardless of thier gender. :P

Re: Tips for the depressed

#34

Post by Trasmatta »

jsjddbbwj wrote: post #22

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 pra…

As far as I'm concerned, this (and its predecessor, "Feeling Good") is the best self help book ever written. It's helped me tremendously with moderate depression and anxiety. For anyone suffering, I'd highly recommend just giving the book and its exercises a try.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#35

Post by isoskeles »

irishloop wrote: post #9
durpleDrank wrote: post #2

Drink more water. Sleep more. Exercise. Stop listening to depressing music. Listen to happy music. Focus on the good things in your life. Force yourself to think about them at least daily. Stop comparing yourself to others. Stop feeling envy. Be creative and do something that's fun. Buy a note book, write all your problems down and work them out that way. In fact, write everything in your notebook. Journal. Plan. Dra…

I don't know if it's me but having dealt with depression most of my life, I find "happy" music irritating and grating. Pharrell's "Happy" has to be one of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life. Sad music tends to be more beautiful to me but I don't know that it necessarily affects my mood. But I could be wrong. Either way though happy music is not happening.

There is happy music that isn't pop. I agree that "sad" music sounds more beautiful, at least to me, but I also see it as affecting my mood if I listen to it constantly.

So I often choose either to not listen to music at all or to listen to "happy" music that doesn't suck, even if it's not so easy to find something I like.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#36

Post by Tade0 »

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've known several depressed people who spiraled deeper into depression when they could no longer perform their regular 60 minute gym sessions multiple times per week.

This part is hard. I've met people who have difficulties coming to terms with the fact that they're (even temporarily) unable to do something which used to be part of their routine.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#38

Post by newestThrowaway »

This came at a good time, thank you OP. I just lost my job -- excuse me, 'parted ways from my employer' or 'joined the gig economy', whatever euphemism is in fashion -- and without a clear place to go in the morning, it's been hard to do simple ADL (Activities of Daily Living) https://www.care.com/c/stories/15077/activities-of-daily-liv.... -- I think I will try the alarm clock thing, firts of all.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#39

Post by [deleted] »

allendoerfer wrote: post #21
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.

[deleted]

Re: Tips for the depressed

#40

Post by majos »

Related, but not exactly on topic: what do people make of the word “depressed”? I am unsure whether people use the word to mean “a deep lack of any enjoyment that persists for a long period of time (weeks?)” or something stronger, which adds on “and whose source is not easily explained”.

In my head, depression means the latter, but I’m unsure what the popular conception is.

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