I have observed when i am alone for 3 or more days without talking to anyone i get depressed. Even if i have conversation with anonymous people on the internet over text chat, depression gets reduced a lot. Are there any scientific research on human contact over text and depression ?
Tips for the depressed
81–90 of 224 posts
Re: Tips for the depressed
#82I had some health issues starting from age 40: untreated sleep apnea that I didn't know about for at least 10 years -> led to (combined with?) low thyroid -> led to IBS and something like a food allergy to legumes and nightshades (leaky gut). Which resulted in the worst burnout I've ever had in my life and a falling out with my favorite job I've ever had.
I finally started climbing out of the hole I was in around October or November of last year, and got "back to normal" around February of this year after taking an online survey and realizing that I had most of the symptoms of ADHD. My steps:
* Started eating bacon again and more meat in general, because tryptophan is converted to serotonin in the gut. There are also vegetarian options for this which I've listed below (this was the single biggest factor that led to my recovery).
* Started taking iodine, I immediately had energy again and my eyebrows grew back (for thyroid).
* Started taking syllium husk powder (Metamucil) 1-3 times per day and drinking kefir to feed good bacteria (for gut health).
* Starting keeping todo lists so I could separate the planning and doing of tasks (for ADHD primarily, to overcome task anxiety and executive dysfunction).
* Started saying no and slowing down in general, to provide time for meditation, daydreaming and seeing myself from the outside/being grateful like the visualization exercises of astral projection (for ADHD, depression and anxiety).
I could write at length about this because the journey has been difficult, frustrating, but enjoyable and rewarding as well. I think that western culture discounts mental health to such a degree that we sacrifice our lives for inanimate things like money and responsibility. I also think that a substantial part of mental health issues are physiological and environmental. Carrying a chronically high load of cortisol our entire lives is just not natural.
Here are some products that should help with depression if you don't want to be on medication. I'm not a doctor obviously, nor affiliated with NOW (they just make affordable supplements):
https://www.amazon.com/NOW-L-Tryptophan-500-Veg-Capsules/dp/...
https://www.amazon.com/Now-Foods-L-tryptophan-Veg-Capsules-2...
https://www.amazon.com/NOW-L-Tryptophan-1000-60-Tablets/dp/B...
Iodine and supporting minerals, take 1-2 weeks to start, then as needed:
https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Supplements-Tyrosine-Selenium-Cap...
I've tried tons of other things like zinc for weightlifting and omega 3, B vitamins, iron, etc to boost mood and the immune system. Everyone should try seeing a few nutritionists and holistic medicine healers to find what works for them. Hope this helps someone.
Re: Tips for the depressed
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The somewhat similar Phenibut also works, but it's a direct GABA agonist with terrible withdrawal symptoms and an extremely fast tolerance buildup Some antidepressants can have terrible withdrawal symptoms too - I went through the worst couple of weeks of my life after tapering off dosulpine, and I know someone else who had it rough after tapering off a tricyclic.
> Some antidepressants can have terrible withdrawal symptoms too - I went through the worst couple of weeks of my life after tapering off dosulpine, and I know someone else who had it rough after tapering off a tricyclic. Apples and oranges. Not all withdrawals are equally bad. Savvy healthcare providers will switch you to Fluoxetine, which has an extremely long half-life, and then taper the Fluoxetine. Phenibut's wi…
Dosulpine, and tricyclics, have SNRI effects, rather than SSRI effects, so I don't think fluoxetine would work here.
In my case, I had only been taking it for a few weeks, and tapered off slowly until I was only taking a quarter of a pill - I was not prepared for what ensued.
You are right though, not everyone experiences the same things with these kinds of medicines - presumably it all comes done to genetics.
But I think it's worth mentioning that SNRIs and SSRIs can have awful side effects, especially since this often seems to be downplayed or even downright ignored by doctors (mine didn't even mention it as a possibility, and had even told me it was OK to stop without tapering).
Re: Tips for the depressed
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there anything else where you do see a purpose that needs doing? Maybe folding laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc. That usually makes you feel more comfortable at home. Whatever it is, you can start small. Fold one pair of socks. Clean one dish. Vacuum one room. I think a lot of people don't see any purpose in making a bed.
I fold laundry after ironing so that I can store it unwrinkled in the closet. I clean the kitchen after I cook, as otherwise it would quickly become messy (a biohazard). I don't see a point in making the bed though - I can lie typing this just as well in a bed that's unmade. I feel similarly about cleaning up the dust in the apartment - it just doesn't bother me. I don't know if it's depression or nirvana...
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Re: Tips for the depressed
#85One 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 struggled with this quite a bit in my own life. I find the "No Zero" mentality to work well for me. Treat every weekday as a "No Zero" day. What does that mean? It means if my goal is to go to the gym, even if I literally walk into the gym, do a pushup, and leave, that counts. It's more than Zero. Consistent non-zero days eventually help break me out of my depression. And when I miss a day... well forgive myself and keep going.
All easier said than done of course, and sometimes a no-zero goal is just to get out of bed... but it has helped me.
For anyone interested I got the idea from here: https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_ju... The style and language of the post are not really my cup of tea, but the ideas behind it have really helped me.
Re: Tips for the depressed
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there anything else where you do see a purpose that needs doing? Maybe folding laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc. That usually makes you feel more comfortable at home. Whatever it is, you can start small. Fold one pair of socks. Clean one dish. Vacuum one room. I think a lot of people don't see any purpose in making a bed.
For that matter, is there a link between depression and feeling overwhelmed with tasks all the time? Does one cause the other, is it a two way feedback loop, or is there sometimes a separate common cause?
> "For that matter, is there a link between depression and feeling overwhelmed with tasks all the time?"
If you're talking about work tasks, that seems more likely to be from occupational burnout. Here's a comparison chart that might be helpful: https://mdedge-files-live.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/files/s...
Re: Tips for the depressed
#87>It has been said that we are as far advanced in the understanding of depression at this moment as was the European conquest of the Americas when Columbus first set foot in the Bahamas in 1492.
Comparing the fight against mental illness to the genocide of native Americans is unfortunate.
Re: Tips for the depressed
#88AFTER 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 helpf…
it is accurate. i don't know if it's helpful to the antidepressant drug user, though. placebos work better than nothing, but not if you know they're placebos
Actually, the crazy thing about placebos is that they work (albeit not as well), even if you know they're placebos.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/placebo-can-work-even-kn...
Re: Tips for the depressed
#89One 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 struggled with this quite a bit in my own life. I find the "No Zero" mentality to work well for me. Treat every weekday as a "No Zero" day. What does that mean? It means if my goal is to go to the gym, even if I literally walk into the gym, do a pushup, and leave, that counts. It's more than Zero. Consistent non-zero days eventually help break me out of my depression. And when I miss a day... well forgive myself…
The article on FiveThirtyEight "If You Stop Thinking Of Exercise As A Way To Lose Weight, You May Actually Enjoy It" [0] really helped me realize something similar.
I think virtually any doctor would agree that my half-ass, crappy exercise at the gym is still almost certainly better than me sitting at home and watching TV, even if it's not the most optimal way of doing it.
[0] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/if-you-stop-thinking-of...
Re: Tips for the depressed
#90One 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…
> 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.
I tried this approach. The "you find you're actually enjoying yourself" part never came. It left me profoundly exhausted, disappointed, and hopeless to the point of being suicidal.
I'm glad that you found an approach that worked for you, but depressive disorders are highly complex and poorly understood phenomena that aren't suited to neat little explanations of "the actual" solution.