I Am Depressed, What to Do? The Ultimate Skills

Everyone, once in their lifetime, goes through a difficult and depressive phase in their lives. Some people can handle depression well, but others need help, and may even need to be treated while being watched. Despite having been feeling low for a long time, experts advise that it is better not to use the clinical term “I am depressed.” What if some of us are overthinking, feeling guilty, and feeling victimized but aren’t depressed? To figure out if we have depression, anxiety, or situational stress, we need to talk to an expert. Despite how hard your life is, know that self-criticism and labelling would not help you but instead make things worse. Knowledge of how maladaptive thoughts affect your health can motivate you to give up on negative attitudes.

Symptoms of depression

Symptoms of depression include “persistent low mood for more than one week” along with significant changes in a person’s appetite, sleep, weight, work or academic performance, and leisure activities. Although the symptoms of depression are universal, there are different things to consider for adults and children when making a diagnosis.

Treatment and Strategies to Manage Depression.

Typically, depression is treated with a combination of psychotherapy, lifestyle changes, and medication. Talk therapy, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT), assists individuals in identifying and altering depressive-related negative thought patterns, behaviours, and relationships. Lifestyle changes may include regular exercise, healthy eating practices, adequate sleep, and tension reduction. Antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), can help balance the substances in the brain that contribute to depression. Other interventions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), may be recommended in certain instances.

Apart from the above well-researched treatment methods, below are a few strategies to manage depression, that can aid in speedy recovery from depression.

Depression and Medications

Many believe that using self-help activities such as journaling, sharing their feelings, exercising, and eating healthy food will help them recover from depression, but this is not scientifically true. There is evidence-based data that everyone doesn’t recover from depression without medication. The medication has been promising in restoring sleep and appetite and in reducing body aches and low mood in depressed people. Medicines have enabled depressed people to maintain their grades and sustain their jobs.

It’s advised to everyone that they never skip their appointment with their doctor and don’t stop their medicines unless a doctor does it for them.

Self-criticism and depression

There is a saying “doubt kills more dreams than failure” and I use it as self-criticism makes you more dysfunctional than your skills.

According to psychology today “Depression can emerge with diverse symptom profiles, including harsh self-criticism. Depression that is caused by a lot of self-criticisms tends to respond to treatment differently than other types of depression, and Compassion-based approaches can significantly reduce self-criticism and associated distress.”

Some of you learn to feel guilty or victimised because of excessive criticism. Criticism is also a kind of negative thinking style. According to a cognitive and behavioural approach, self-criticism among depressed people is a learned behaviour and is not always a consequence of present or past events. It is a fact that if a behaviour or thinking pattern can be learned, it can also be unlearned.

With a little alertness, you can learn to be wise about your perception and look at life and experience differently than with regret. Instead of looking at black and white only, looking at grey areas will change a lot for you.

Mindfulness and Depression

1. Recognise that a situation or whatever happened to you was not in your control.
2. Accept it; you can’t change the outcome of everything in your life. Accepting that you have no control over others or situations can save you from unnecessary worries. Gradually, you learn to mind your own business.
3. Move on; try to change how you see things, and you will feel better. Changing your thoughts will not always work, but CBT combined with medicine works well. In the end, separate yourself from stressful situations and their meanings. It lowers your stress and anxiety as your senses can focus on other stimuli in life. Although it’s not easy, you practice a lot to live with these changes. Moving on is not easy but learning a few positive coping strategies can help you in this process.

Meditation and Depression

Meditation and exercise can play a vital role in grief and depression recovery. Studies show meditation and exercise help depressed and low-mood people stabilise their moods. Exercise combined with medicine was effective in stabilising the mood and increasing focus in depressed people compared to those who did not do any exercise.

Social Support and Depression

A stronger social support network helps depressed people in difficult times. How? Community members, family, and friends help you by reminding you to take your medicines and following up with your appointments. In some cases, when people live alone, they might miss the appointment, especially when they are not motivated. Social support helps you to maintain your recovery from depression.

Summary

Your past does not bother you once you adopt healthy coping skills and accept that whatever it was, it was not your fault. Taking care of yourself by enjoying singing, walking, taking deep breaths, going out, doing meditation, thinking positively, hoping, believing in yourself, practising mindfulness, making a list of people who support your positive self-esteem and meeting with them regularly, adopting a healthy lifestyle, and ceasing self-criticism and judging yourself or others. Simply breathe and live in this very moment right now, and never miss an appointment, medicine, or socialisation.

Everyone, once in their lifetime, goes through a difficult and depressive phase in their lives. Some people can handle depression well, but others need help, and may even need to be treated while being watched. Despite having been feeling low…