The Not-So-Great Depression
Exercise helped Brooke Stanford* from New York, who was diagnosed with depression last year. “There have been days when getting out of the house was the last thing I wanted to do,” she says. “Having a family member suggest we go for a walk or some other activity really helped.” Meditation, massage therapy and light therapy (wherein she spent an hour each day in direct sunlight) also helped Brooke in dealing with depression.
Consult your doctor before trying any natural treatments for depression.
Dealing With Depression: The Power of Positive Thinking
Luciani knows firsthand what it’s like to be depressed. Even as a child he experienced symptoms of depression, constantly worrying about his parents dying at a young age and fretting about his schoolwork. As an adult, he continued to lack self-esteem and constantly worried about what might go wrong in his life.
“I remember driving home from work one evening and thinking how there was absolutely no rational reason for me to be so miserable,” Luciani says. “I realized that I was tired of feeling bad and that I had the power to choose how I felt and to help myself feel better.”
Today, Luciani gets depression patients to feel good again by working to change reflexive, habitual, negative thinking. “I believe the answer to our doubts, fears and insecurities can be broken down into two words: control and habit,” he says. “I teach patients how to use self-talk strategies to turn their negative inner critics into positive feedback. You need to believe in yourself and in your abilities.”
Though it may feel like a long, uphill battle, remember that seeking professional help and trying different treatments are the best things you can do when it comes to dealing with depression. As long as you are your own healthcare advocate and are determined to find the right treatment, this first 30 days will be the start of reclaiming your life!
* name has been changed.
Probably the one single thing that is most consistently helpful to my depression is movement/exercise. Even so, I don't follow that advice as often as I should and I still have depression, but after many years I've learned that it's almost like magic; rarely do I get a bout of depression that doesnt respond to even the briefest walk. I guess if I'm deep enough in depression, it only takes a little walk to bump things up. When I walk regularly, it's like a Force Field against depression; I never get down. When i let things get in the way of the daily walks, I get depressed again. I think if I win the lottery I'll hire a personal trainer to make me get out and walk every single day and see if I can go depression-free for a whole year or something.
Deepak Chopra says that 90% of our thoughts daily are negative. I discovered that volunteering will take away quite a lot of that negetive thought. I volunteer for the Animal Welfare and during this holiday season, I took away at least 20% of my negative thoughts.
(Somehow I hit the wrong button, so now I'll finish my comment.)
The meditation really helped calm my anxieties & thoughts.
I am so thankful that I was guided through this painful time, with the easiest experience it could have been. I kept telling myself that "this too will pass" & it has.
Occasionally I will have a day or two when I feel "down", but on the whole, I continue to climb toward the sun.
Hope this helps somebody else.
Take care of yourself!
In Nov.'06 I went into a deep depression. My best friend was moving to an independent living senior facility & needed help packing boxes, moving furniture & possessions. It was the coldest, wettest, rainest winter in years, & then a wind storm uprooted trees blew off roofs, and I lost electricity (for 10 days). Because I had promised to help my friend move, I HAD to help. She lost power only 2 days, so she had heat. It took all my energy to get up, get over to help her. We finished the move Jan. 15. That hard work, tho' it was difficult under the circumstances, managed to MAKE me come out of the depression. To this day, I don't know what caused it but since then I've been told that hard labor was the best thing I could have done. It was during that time when I did daily meditation.
I've been depressed forever and have dealt with it through medicine. The last few years have brought so many changes and "crisis" to my life that I spiraled into deep anxiety. I'm having a tough time just getting through the days, doing what needs to be done (go to work, care for my son), let alone caring for myself. The scariest part is feeling so alone, I literally have no friends or family here, and like Mollie says, 40 minutes a week in counseling doesnt help much. The days I feel strongest is when I do talk to my one friend (she lives 800 miles away and is currently going through her own crisis, and how long can you bother someone with your ongoing problems anyway without becoming a burden?) If I at least knew I was on the right path - I'm not sure the medicine I'm taking is helping, I dont have that network of help... and I'm not sure I'll even have a job at the rate I'm going. I'm so flustered I can't remember how I got here this morning...or what I should be doing...its like reading a page 20 times and it doesnt stick. I am trying to be my own advocate, but when you need help, even that seems hopeless.