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Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

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Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#41

Post by 0tiger1 »

AndrewMock wrote: post #20

1. Get medicated. 2. Set one small baby-step goal each day. (set an appointment today, etc.) Change the goal every time. 3. Change your environment. Move cities or schools if need be. 4. Exercise. Start with one rep on day 1, two reps on day 2, etc. Baby steps. 5. Ask for feedback on stuff. Any positive feedback helps motivate you to learn and do more projects. 6. Seek a healthy relationship. 7. Be vulnerable. Let so…

Sure, you shouldn't rush to get medicated, but you should be open to medication as an option. I believe depression is often chemically caused, and if you've tried healthy living, meditation, etc., there are many good, relatively benign, well tested medical options out there.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#42

Post by Strom »

AndrewMock wrote: post #20

1. Get medicated. 2. Set one small baby-step goal each day. (set an appointment today, etc.) Change the goal every time. 3. Change your environment. Move cities or schools if need be. 4. Exercise. Start with one rep on day 1, two reps on day 2, etc. Baby steps. 5. Ask for feedback on stuff. Any positive feedback helps motivate you to learn and do more projects. 6. Seek a healthy relationship. 7. Be vulnerable. Let so…

1. Get medicated.

12. Never do drugs. This just amplifies your problems.

Your points #1 and #12 are a nice big contradiction.

Anti-depression drugs in particualr tend to have rather significant side-effects, which can last for a decade after you've stopped taking the drug.

Going to drugs to help against depression should be a plan C kind of a thing. Changing your environment and activities should be well tested before that.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#44

Post by theanti9 »

rosser wrote: post #35
AndrewMock wrote: post #20

1. Get medicated. 2. Set one small baby-step goal each day. (set an appointment today, etc.) Change the goal every time. 3. Change your environment. Move cities or schools if need be. 4. Exercise. Start with one rep on day 1, two reps on day 2, etc. Baby steps. 5. Ask for feedback on stuff. Any positive feedback helps motivate you to learn and do more projects. 6. Seek a healthy relationship. 7. Be vulnerable. Let so…

There's definitely a place for medication, but for the majority of people, it's probably not number 1 .

Having spent a long time on medication for depression in the past, I can verify this. There's a lot you can do to help yourself before trying medication. Exercise and learning to manage your emotions are a great place to start and can help a lot more than most people think. It definitely has a time and place, but the side effects can be a lot more drastic (and sometimes detrimental) than a lot of people expect.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#45

Post by danmaz74 »

> Sadly I live in a 3rd world country, where mental illness is not an illness. I can get little help from people. Our healthcare system simply doesn't work at all

My first suggestion would be to try and find professional help there, even if it's difficult. Did you search? Even if the healthcare system is bad, this doesn't mean that there are no good psychologists at all. If you've got nobody to ask, you can search for a professional association or for a college where clinical psychology is taught, and start from there.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#46

Post by Smushman »

I am family of a psychologist. This comes from latest research.

Usually skipped but most critical, is simple trace minerals and vitamins.

Our food is entirely missing so much in the current day, because the same plots of land are farmed over and over (think 25-50 years for the same land).

Himalayan Sea Salt has the trace minerals, and supplementation with Vitamin D, Magnesium, and B-12 have specifically helped mood and energy.

You can get blood tests for these levels, but even in cases where levels are normal supplements have been shown to help.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#47

Post by izolate »

Truth be told, I'm forever 2 weeks of inactivity away from a depressive episode.

I have to keep moving (exercise; running 2 or 3 times a week) AND keep my mind occupied by not concentrating on myself too much, otherwise I begin to shut down.

This is my trick, YMMV. I do believe you can do this without medication, and it does get easier to control as you get older. Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#48

Post by justintocci »

throw_away_555 wrote: post #10

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…

i'm not a big alcohol person and had been paleo for many years. one day i get a gift from a friend, some special coffee. i don't drink coffe but i gave it a try. wow! it was great, i had a cup a day for a few days and then bam!

i was in bed with a rage-depression ten times worse than a normal bout. i couldn't work for three days. i can't describe my thoughts because they are still so embarrassing. on the forth day, i figured out, well, the whole time i was depressed i thought the 'trigger' was a text from a friend. i re-read the text. it didn't even say what i thought it said.

the next day i had another coffee followed immediately by a panic attack. then i put it together and tossed the coffee. i stopped all caffeine, which for me meant no chocolate, for two weeks. i was dieing for some chocolate. so i had some with the kids on a sunday. two days later i was depressed and on a very short fuse.

now i've gone about two months with no chocolate. i sleep much better. i don't snap at people. i don't get angry. in a sense, i miss the highs very much but not enough to want to go back. i've just accepted that my brain doesn't react to caffeine like most people.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#49

Post by rubicon33 »

I'm going to start with a fact that you likely won't want to hear: There is no magic bullet. Non-situational depression is something you will wrestle with your entire life. There is no cure, only treatments. That said, you can do a lot to alleviate the symptoms. Ranked in order of importance:

1. Sleep

Get good sleep. Research circadian rhythms, and try to understand your own 'sleep physiology'. Within the constraints of your work, try and sleep at optimal times for YOU. For me, going to bed late, waking up late, is best. I feel more rejuvenated on 4 hours of sleep within my 'sleep window' than I do of 8 hours of sleep outside of it. Find what works for you.

2. Intense, social, exercise.

Other's have mentioned cross fit, but boxing is great too. It has to be INTENSE and there needs to be a SOCIAL component to keep you motivated. You should leave your workout feeling completely destroyed. In my opinion, just going to the gym doesn't work. You need to be part of a fitness community. The social aspect, combined with the intense workout, can work wonders. Go regularly.

3. Diet.

Avoid junk food. Cut out hard drugs, obviously. Cook for yourself, if you can.

4. Purpose.

Find something in life that excites you, and pursue it. Find a community of people that are also interested in that and join that community. Contribute to that community, whenever you can. Form relationships with others in that community, as you pursue your passion.

----

Discipline, and regularity, are vital to success. If you do these 4 things, you'll find with time, that your depression weakens it's grip on you. Be patient with point number 4. Don't be discouraged, if right now, you don't have a calling, or a purpose. Let life happen, and go where the wind blows.

Re: Ask HN: How did you deal with depression?

#50

Post by lucd »

AndrewMock wrote: post #20

1. Get medicated. 2. Set one small baby-step goal each day. (set an appointment today, etc.) Change the goal every time. 3. Change your environment. Move cities or schools if need be. 4. Exercise. Start with one rep on day 1, two reps on day 2, etc. Baby steps. 5. Ask for feedback on stuff. Any positive feedback helps motivate you to learn and do more projects. 6. Seek a healthy relationship. 7. Be vulnerable. Let so…

Rather than taking medication, you may want to take some supplements with 5-HTP, a precursor of serotonin. IE: Griffonia Simplicifolia.. It does have far less side-effects, no dependency.. Far less popular with the pharma industry because not patentable..
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