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Tips for the depressed

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Re: Tips for the depressed

#211

Post by Swizec »

cairo_x wrote: post #190
Swizec wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Depends. In the short term (12 months) CBT has been shown to be very effective. However, over two years it has been shown to be just as effective as doing nothing. The problem of time turns up in multiple kinds of treatments, and I believe it has simply to do with how long the depressive episodes last. Usually by the time people seek treatment that will be at the peak of the episode. Regardless of the treatment, a co…

I’ve found it effective to develop circuit breaker mechanisms. It took a while and it seems to help long term.

When I see myself slipping into a depressive episode, I circuit break it before it gets bad. Remind myself that overall life is pretty good, distract myself with work, take a break, or whatever else seems like it might help.

And most of all: dont follow the spiral. Jump out while I still can.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#212

Post by sstangl »

g3t1nmybelly wrote: post #193
sstangl wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two options I'm familiar with: 1. Without wondering if you sincerely mean it, make a point to say "thank you." Typically if you are depressed you will be alone, and so it is possible to recognize situations where you took an action now to make something easier for yourself later: for example, doing the dishes now instead of waiting for them to pile up. When that happens, verbally thank yourself on behalf of…

The problem with that though is I perceive nuetral as negative. Neutral is registered same as negative because it's not positive. This is why gratitude is hard because people like me can't find the positives nearly enough to start recognizing and changing how I think. In fact, I find it difficult to think that people are okay with neutral because how is that any better? You arguably still failed at whatever you were…

I'm talking about neutral perceptions, not thoughts. An example would be something like the visual perception of a sidewalk. Presumably you don't get an emotional reaction about the sidewalk one way or the other, it's just a sidewalk.

The majority of your sensory experience is neutral perceptions like that. Once you notice them, negativity seems small in terms of proportion of sensory experience. What actually happens is that negativity occupies the majority of attention, meaning that your mind is latching onto things you perceive as negative. Broadening the scope of awareness to include neutrality means that definitionally the mind is not as latched-onto the negative, therefore negative things seem smaller, therefore they are slightly more tractable to deal with.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#213

Post by hippich »

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…

Regarding just "bad feelings is ok" part. I have a similar belief currently with one difference - bad feeling resulting from something bad happened is normal in my opinion - just like physical pain it helps the body to identify problem and adjust. Chronic bad feelings are not normal - just like chronic pain or inflammation.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#214

Post by retonom »

etherdoc wrote: post #202
retonom wrote: post #128

I have struggled with "depression" for decades. Now I'm healed. I went to countless psychiatrists, took drugs and everything. I didn't really help much. I told them I feel bad, they labeled me "depressive" without trying to find out what is really going on. In the the end I had to find it out by myself. The depression was just a symptom. The main cause of it was a social phobia. None of the therapists ever addressed…

how did you improve your social phobia?

it's not so hard when you know how. so when a person looks at you and you feel insecure the normal reaction would be to look away. now just don't look away being conscious of this feeling that makes you want to look away. the key to overcome social phobia is body language. change your body language and the feeling will follow and slowly the phobia will get less and less. then after enough practice you become more and more open and inviting. people will start to like you because you seem to be an easy going guy always ready to talk, share and laugh. then being in company will not be a burden anymore but something to enjoy. it is so different now. I was so miserable because of this and couldn't enjoy fellowship for more than 20 years.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#215

Post by retonom »

bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #207
retonom wrote: post #128

I have struggled with "depression" for decades. Now I'm healed. I went to countless psychiatrists, took drugs and everything. I didn't really help much. I told them I feel bad, they labeled me "depressive" without trying to find out what is really going on. In the the end I had to find it out by myself. The depression was just a symptom. The main cause of it was a social phobia. None of the therapists ever addressed…

How did you discover these facts about yourself?

good question. of course I got older which helped in bringing the inhibitions down which made me more aware of myself and of my own feelings. then going after those feelings and trying to figure out what they mean I slowly discovered what was behind them.

for example, one day I was in a course and I felt miserable even before I was there. then suddenly it dawned on me that this is my aversion to the whole thing. it's not rational but irrational. once I knew what was going on the bad feeling went away quite quickly when as before I'd just suffer without end.

before I was helpless, now when a negative feeling comes I try to guess what it could mean and often I find the answer quite quickly. once the source is identified, the bad feeling dissolves and I'm back to normal.

and another important factor was that I started trying to live by the golden rule: "do unto others as you would have them do to you". the problem was that not to do this often caused a lot of the confusion in my life and my feelings. I don't think it would have been possible to figure it out while I was in this chaos caused by not following the golden rule.

oh yeah, and the last thing that helped a lot is that I stopped going to therapists and took on responsibility, not relying on what others say about how I feel.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#216

Post by ncmncm »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #118
syndacks wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I’ve done a lot of research and I think psychiatry is pseudoscience and antidepressants are largely placebo. Care to link any of them? I have a hard time believing they are placebo, as they fundamentally alter neurochemistry.

Parent probably doesn't mean that they don't do anything, only that they do not actually treat depression.

Wrong either way.

If one doesn't work, try another. Depression is a lot of different illnesses with one name. What helps one might make another worse. The only way to know which you have is which med helps. If any. Some of them (nobody knows how many) don't have a working treattment yet. Others absolutely do, and if it's the one you have, lucky you.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#217

Post by ncmncm »

blackflame7000 wrote: post #139
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 in many ways antidepressants can actually make things worse because of the emotional blunting side effect that can make it hard to connect with others.

Please don't generalize about things you know little about.

There are many depression treatments that have no "blunting side effect" at all.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#218

Post by ncmncm »

benevol wrote: post #93

A close friend of mine suffered from clinical depression for approximately 8 years and after all conventional medical approaches it was 1 dose of approximately 125 micrograms of LSD that solved that depression within minutes for several months completely. Obviously, he had to continue to work on the underlying issues as well so as not to fall into a negative cycle again.

Just don't ever give LSD to somebody borderline schizo, if you don't want them to spiral down the drain. Little life lesson there.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#219

Post by failrate »

rdlw wrote: post #170
failrate wrote: post #119

Do not use the snooze function. First, once you're out of bed at an appropriate time, you want to stay out of bed. Second, the minimum interval of sleep you need to actually rest is 15 minutes. Snooze alarms, even on mobile devices, are currently 9 minutes. Third, tangentially related, do not use an obnoxious-sounding alarm, because you will make a negative association with your necessary tool. Use pleasant or inspir…

For me, even not depressed, "[d]o not use the snooze function" means "turn the alarm off and sleep in another three hours." Obviously if it works for you it works for you, but if you don't have the willpower to stay out of bed, as I generally don't, at least the snooze button gives you another chance to wake up at a reasonable time, which puts the day on the right track.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't adjust your standard waking time, if you feel the urge to snooze.

Sleeping for me means the same time to bed and to rise as I can make it to avoid disruption.

Re: Tips for the depressed

#220

Post by ta999999171 »

nikofeyn wrote: post #196
blackflame7000 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also misinformation to assume SSRI's work the same way for everyone. For my mother, antidepressants made her suicidal.

> It's also misinformation to assume SSRI's work the same way for everyone. the person you replied to didn't say that. the point is to defer to professionals and not your own hunches.

Professionals prescribe these long-term to people, even though something like 5/7 cases never get good results.
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