Have do any of you deal with depression?

[Amethystgirl]

I feel depressed because I don't have a job, only a few friends I see in person rarely and I don't like being overweight. I will be 40 in a month and I'm not exactly a happy camper. Have do any of you deal with depression?

 

[Tired]

I never had depression, but I do have depressive episodes sometimes. Last time I got very hard episode, I went to therapies. It helped me immensely.

 

[Amethystgirl]

If I did see a psychiatrist or therapist I wouldn't want them telling me to feel good about myself or for them to have sympathy or encouragement. I've had low self esteem for years and It won't change. And I'm sorry for the depressive episodes you have Tired Anna.

 

[Fino]

If it won't change, what do you even want?

 

[Jumpinbare]

I have had a basic default level of depression since my teens. I'm just used to it. Same way I'm used to my life-long tinnitus. Sometimes they are more obvious and annoying than other times.

 

[Amethystgirl]

It would be nice if I could get a paid job. Then I would feel somewhat better. But I have my doubts.

 

[Fino]

You have doubts that you can get a job? Anybody can get a job, depending on what you're willing to do.

 

[Outdated]

For me depression comes in waves. Eventually it goes away again but I know it'll come back again too.

I tend to put on quite a bit of weight when I'm feeling flat too, and that makes a huge difference to how I feel about myself. I refuse to buy bigger clothes, when they get uncomfortable is a trigger point for me, that's when I start to take control of myself again. I stop buying take away and start eating properly again.

 

[Fino]

Oh as for depression, I never have it for very long because I know of an antidepressant that consistently works for me (Wellbutrin).

 

[Au Naturel]

I feel depressed because I don't have a job, only a few friends I see in person rarely and I don't like being overweight. I will be 40 in a month and I'm not exactly a happy camper. Have do any of you deal with depression?

Most of my life I've been depressed, back to my earliest memories and was suicidal through a lot of high school and college. It was a very up-and-down thing. After leaving home, I worked my way out of most of it. Very little therapy - couldn't afford it - mostly thinking about philosophy.

I got a decent job, married, had two kids, and then the next ten years were the happiest years of my life.

It kicked in again when I became an unemployed 40-something with a wife and two kids for almost a year. Then I got counseling and therapy, which were useless, but I also got a prescription for Prozac that took the edge off. It never fully went away, always a low-level sadness in the background.

My last bout with major depression was in the last couple of years that I worked at a particular telecom company. What had been a good job turned into a soul-suck. Then I took early retirement, and the depression went away, and even I got off the Prozac.

 

[Fino]

mostly thinking about philosophy.

Found the cause of your depression (just kidding, mostly)

 

[Shevek]

Exercise is my best panacea. It goes better with fresh air, sunshine, lots of water, and healthy food. If I don't feel like doing anything, what I really need to do is drink a liter or two of water to get over a medium dehydration. Other winners are finding a project I think I can make a good contribution to, or finishing a half-done job. Tidying up can improve both mood and daily life. Some healing routines can help, too. Every day, I add one item to my list of amusing things that have happened to me, and the list seems endless. Reading it makes life seem less bleak.

 

[The Pandector]

I think my depression began at 7yo, with insomnia. Never diagnosed, I just always knew, and that it was pretty serious. Not until my 30’s did I find anything that helped.

Depression causes me to hunker down and life catches up then overwhelms. I feel like doing nothing. So I do whatever I really dread; sweep the floor, do the bills, go outside. If I just do one dreaded thing a day, two good things happen. One, things that were overwhelming me get accomplished and two, I feel like I took charge of my life. That may go on for a week, totally wimpy, but the worst things get done and I get the critical morale boost.

 

[Aspychata]

Spend time exercising myself out of depression. Or l spend time in denial. Or l spend time trying to refocus on good things like great food, talking to friends, learning a new language.

 

[Rodafina]

If I did see a psychiatrist or therapist I wouldn't want them telling me to feel good about myself or for them to have sympathy or encouragement.

I do find my therapist and psychiatrist sympathetic and encouraging, but they are so much more than that and the way they've helped is not to tell me to feel good about myself. Seeking mental health support is not about finding cheerleaders, it is about tapping into others' knowledge and training to help you understand yourself better.

I've had low self esteem for years and It won't change.

I don't think having low self esteem for a long time suggests that it can't change. It just tells you that you may have to really work at it. I am just a singular case study, but my life is sure evidence that 30+ years of low self esteem can change and a more comfortable and confident outlook is possible. I think there is hope for change if you really want it.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

The best way I deal with depression is to have a goal-oriented mindset and help others. I have financial goals, I have vacations planned, I have creative goals, I have gardening goals, etc. When I was competing in weightlifting years ago, I had a log book and kept track of every lb/kg and every rep/set. I would push myself, "one more pound or one more rep" and then it became every bit a mental exercise as it was physical. I also work in a hospital helping people. I am an educator/mentor. I give of myself. The other part is to make it a series of short-term goals leading up to long-term goals. If you make the goal "too lofty", then it becomes too intimidating and people give up, however, if you set a series of smaller, more attainable goals, something you know you can achieve, then when you do achieve them, you feel good from the "shot of dopamine" you just gave yourself.

A person could set weight loss/fitness goals. One could volunteer. There are ways to get those little dopamine hits.

 

[TBRS1]

I'm bipolar, so my depression can be epic.

When I am under stress, the depression (and all my other weird Aspire traits) escalate.

Exercise, something to do, etc., all help, but, when the depression gets bad, pushing oneself self to do those things is like trying to lift a car with one hand - might wanna, might tryta, but it's not gonna happen.

Meditation helps. Meds have helped, but the side effects are dismal.

Knowing, intellectually, that it is depression, that depression is a brain fault and the bleak outlook has very little to do with reality, that it is transient and will eventually end, helps.

 

[jsilver256]

I wish I could help, but the only time I’ve not been depressed was when fixating on something constructive. But if I knew how to fixate at will, I’d write a book on how and be rich…

 

[Xinyta]

I think there is hope for change if you really want it.

THIS. This right here.

Improvement in one's mentality, is in the bases of the desire to get better. If you constantly hide in your darkness by default, it means you are not ready and willing to try. Maybe you don't see your own wallowing as bad or abnormal. You like it, in some way, out of a sense of comfort. There could be many reasons to not want to help yourself.

But there is only one reason to help yourself. Because YOU desire to change. No one else can bring on the change other than the self.

I find the dark hole is complacency in the idea that things will never change. This mentality is extremely damaging. Outside some obvious constants, things change all the time. People spiritually evolve into better beings. Change is an inevitable part of all life.

To try and stop it, is what causes harm. To believe you cannot be better as a person. To deny the life you are given to evolve. This is what we do when we decide to place ourselves in this dark place and start believing the opposite of the truth.

The world ebbs and flows. So do we. So does every Flora and Fauna on earth.

To see the self, is to see the world. The world you desire for yourself.

 

[Dagan]

I second that many people mistake a lot about therapists. They are not like going to a support group clinic or the like. They are one on one with you and you alone concerning your deeper, personal needs...and therefore figuring out "with you" how you will best handle achieving what you need (and whatever ongoing formula will work). Be advised, too, that a legit therapist isn't going to just butter you up, tell you to just feel better and/or even tell you great things the whole time. They will be blunt and tell you what really stands out to them as problematic but then very much make it clear that you are tasked with the remedy "overall." Yes, they help you figure out and realize some things, but for any good revelations to work out...it's because you are working on yourself (for yourself) and working harder than anyone else is working on you. A legit therapist is going to find the right way to relate to you and also figure out how to get you to challenge yourself...and therefore get you to take on that challenge, even if it's baby steps at first.