How I Beat Depression
hackerhmb.tumblr.com
How I Beat Depression
1–10 of 152 posts
Re: How I Beat Depression
#2Cognitive behavioral therapy is also very effective in many cases (and can work on its own without medication, depending on the situation).
Re: How I Beat Depression
#3These can be very hard things to do when you're depressed. It helps if you have someone motivating you. I'm on my way out of a pretty serious slump and the same things have helped me as this article has described. I've been surrounded by positive family members, I've been on a generic of Lexapro, I've been running/jogging/fast-walking two miles a day and I've been reminding myself that I didn't feel this way a year ago and that in a year I might feel completely better again.
Anyone who's ever been depressed knows that even on a good day, just thinking about your depression can evoke panic and sadness and a "relapse". I'm using the Seinfeld calendar system. I try to keep up a streak of good days and use that to motivate and reassure me. (Frankly, the fact that I even clicked on this topic and wrote a comment means I'm feeling better. I had to skim and mentally skip over much of HN during the weeks after Aaron's suicide. :( )
Re: How I Beat Depression
#4this is the biggest misconception when it comes to clinical depression... that you can or did beat it. You can never or will never beat clinical depression, only suppress it. Beating something is finite and means that it can never happen again. The author gives great advice in the article about what steps he did to suppress this bout of depression, though if he doesn't stay the course chances are it will come back. The scary thing about clinical depression is, even if you continue to do the things that worked in the past to suppress it, it can still come back.
The one piece of advice that he doesn't give (or he might have and i'm just not catching it) is realizing that you have to listen to the people around you when they tell you that you look depressed. At that point, you need to get help immediately so you don't fall further down the hole.
btw... I'm not a doctor or anything. Let's just say that I have extensive experience with clinical depression and bipolar disorder.
Re: How I Beat Depression
#5What if you're depressed because you're afraid of death?
(I wouldn't say I'm depressed -- not in the clinical sense anyway; but I do spend what I imagine is an abnormal amount of time thinking about it because of mother's passing away when I was younger).
Re: How I Beat Depression
#6What if you're depressed because you're afraid of death? (I wouldn't say I'm depressed -- not in the clinical sense anyway; but I do spend what I imagine is an abnormal amount of time thinking about it because of mother's passing away when I was younger).
what you describe is emotionally based, not chemically based. There is a HUGE difference.
Re: How I Beat Depression
#7Exercise is incredibly important b/c of all the positive neurochemical effects it produces.
But if you're exercising by yourself, it's easy to skip it, especially if you're already feeling down.
It's better to take part in some kind of team or class activity where there's a little bit of social pressure to show up.
There will be mornings when you think, "I don't want to go, but I don't want to let those guys down," and so you wind up doing it.
Re: How I Beat Depression
#8Cognitive behavioral therapy is also very effective in many cases (and can work on its own without medication, depending on the situation).
`and can work on its own without medication, depending on the situation`
nail on the head! many people don't realize when they need to go to a doctor and get the meds they need.
Re: How I Beat Depression
#9I'll agree with the working out regularly being good for your health, both mental and physical. Exercising has gotten me through some tough spots in my life and it has always been a major coping mechanism.
Another thing that has always worked for me has been laughter. Whether it's watching a classic movie like Dumb & Dumber, reading reddit/r/funny, or catching The Colbert Report, laughing eases all the little things that otherwise might eat you up.
Re: How I Beat Depression
#10What if you're depressed because you're afraid of death? (I wouldn't say I'm depressed -- not in the clinical sense anyway; but I do spend what I imagine is an abnormal amount of time thinking about it because of mother's passing away when I was younger).
what you describe is emotionally based, not chemically based. There is a HUGE difference.
That's a false dichotomy. Ultimately all thoughts / brain function rely on "chemicals". The idea of purely "chemical" mental distress is also severely strained - consider "there is a 0% chance your current feelings are influenced by your environment / past".
It's all a bit more of a spectrum.
There is serious money behind the chemical mental-distress-as-an-illness interpretation. If it's a medical problem then you need a medical solution. Anti-depressants anyone? They are being taken in such vast quantities they are starting to poison the water. [1]
[1] http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21882-antidepressants-...