Depression is a funny thing as it afflicts absolutely anybody. It may have many different root causes. And the fact that you might think it will not happen to you - is bull. I didn't think it could happen to me, but it did, and out of all things that put me into a depressive state, was one that I did not suspect - stress. Essentially my depression was brought on by a working too hard and burning out.
My depression felt like I lost all hope and did not see a way out. I think that is a typical characteristic that a depression presents. Even though there are more or less severe cases of depression, and I do not think that mine was a very severe, this is what I did to help me slowly get out of that state:
- I wrote.
Mostly about how I felt, and even more about how I wanted to feel. I literarily took a piece of paper and spilled my guts about how crappy I was feeling. There is something about putting your feelings on paper that makes you feel better. I call it a controlled release of emotions.
- I also used a trick that an old psychologist taught me once.
If you get into that "Hopeless" "I see no future" frame of mind, the thing to do is to think of something pleasant. Doing that will take you mind of thinking of despair. I found that it would come in waves, and whenever I would use this technique it would break the negative thought pattern I was in and give me a break. Eventually these "breaks" got bigger and bigger, until finally I snapped out of that depressive state completely.
- I also think that what helped immensely was that I tried to keep as active as possible.
Granted it is pretty hard to motivate your self to do anything when you are depressed, but I found things that I really liked or felt passionate about and did more of those. It is hard to think of how depressed you are while you are doing something that you love.
Will any of those things be a cure for depression if you are ever in that situation? Probably not! But will some or all of those things help you be one step closer to recovery - absolutely.
