How do you get yourself out of a depressive episode?

25 comments

  5. Isolating from excessive social interactions (this is since I’m an extrovert) and taking out time to figure out my emotions help me a lot.

    Do not set a deadline that you have to be fine within a month or two. Give it time. Accept, live and process the grief as it comes.

    If you’ve had a depressive episode earlier, do not compare the present one with the past. Each experience is unique and makes you rich in it’s own way.

    Seek help from your loved/trusted ones and get to therapy if you have access to it. Cultivate your passions, give your self time and it will get better. It takes time but it will. Sending lots of love to y’all <3333

  6. I ask myself what is it in my heart that I want to do. Usually it’s something like, “spend the last ten dollars on an ice cream cone that I eat alone, in the middle of the woods, having slipped out of the house unseen by any person who might recognize me” and that’s a start. Once I am perched with the cone, things get a little bit clearer and I can see what other failings are occuring in my life and what steps I need to take to right it. See depression isn’t like a sinking ship, it’s like a ship with no sails. Sails are cheap. Or you can row until you find yourself in a windy space. or better yet now you see that your only problem was you were stuck in a windless place and it was a minor fix. Or worse yet, having made yourself get out of that bed you realize you were only stuck because you were caught on a rogue seaweed patch. Now it s laughable that you were so down in the dumps, there’s so much more movement just over here, really good thing I didn’t throw in the towel, sell the boat, and become a boring milkmaid. So to reiterate: knowing it is possible to escape a depressive episode, doing something nice for yourself today, while in the same hand fighting for yourself to keep struggling and keeping it moving. All of these things at the same time. See just because your brain says “I should stay in bed and eat like crap” doesn’t actually really mean you have to listen to it. You can make the better choice today. Those small, small choices add up. See if you only made bad choices for the rest of your life, it would lead to loss. But at the very least, even if it isn’t the top of the world”, making boring small healthy choices will absolutely propel you into some vaguely positive direction. This is basic. So it is possible to continue to make good choices even despite horrible thoughts. You do not have to believe the thoughts. You are not your mind. You will never know if you will feel better in five minutes from now just by allowing yourself to go through the motions just long enough to catch some wind in your sails. The world is so much bigger than you at the end of the day, how can you be sure you know what’s even at the end of the dark path?

  7. I just talk about it to anyone who is willing to listen. I figure the less I bottle up my feelings the better. And if I’m lucky, some of those people will have genuinely good ideas on how to fix a certain situation that I’m in. Therapists for some reason don’t really help though. I think it’s the lens in which they talk to me about my issues. I feel like I get more help from random people on the internet.

  8. I have a “depression checklist” that helps me run my days. It’s straightforward self care stuff like take shower, take meds, bed time, walk/exercise time, mealtime, etc. I also set out 1-3 things I have to do at work each day. Anything outside those daily checklists I consider nonobligatory.

    It’s kind of neurotic, but it takes the edge off of making decisions and planning every day. I can be sludge for however long I need to be while my life is on cruise mode.

  9. &#x200B;

    I kind of isolate myself out of any social environment. All my life I’ve been the one that stands myself up. I take my time to get what’s going on with my mental state because that’s what allows me to reassure myself.

    Ig the loneliness’s the one that actually calms me down. Don’t try to make urself feel better out of false hope. Really just try to search for something to hold onto, not in and unsafe/unhealthy obsesses way, you don’t want that, because that’s what I did with K-pop.

    You can look into the past, but not in an unhealthy way, just try to forgive yourself for anything and let your soul breath, cry if you need to, scream and do whatever you got to do.

    And ik I make it sound so easy like… But just see for help, talk to your friends and else, but just know that no one goes to bed with your problems in mind even though it can hurt… But that doesn’t mean there’s people out there that wouldn’t do it for you, Hun.

  12. Had a much easier time when I lived in a warm place. I would make myself walk to the beach and sometimes pack sneaky booze or a joint. Now it’s -20°F with wind chill, and I’m in a mighty funk with no escape 🙁

  14. I try to force myself to do stuff I’d normally kinda enjoy. Like reading or playing a game. Often I’ll stop after 5 minutes because I can’t really focus on it. But sometimes I can distract myself a bit.

  15. Journaling, yoga, meditation. If I could just do them all regularly the depression might stay away

  16. None of the following always works, but it’s good to have those tools:

    1. I have a playlist of songs that are triggers for a better mood.

    2. I force myself to go see people.

    3. I try to identify the triggers. Awareness is half the battle.

    4. I don’t – some days just accepting and embracing my depression is better than fighting it.

    I either stay in bed if I can – or I drag myself and try to distract myself with work.

    I find that trying to work is often good. Even if my productivity level is 20% out of 100% it’s better than zero, and I’m a little less anxious about dealing with the works that piles up.

  17. Go into survival mode.

    Priority #1: take my meds every day, at the same time. Priority #2: sleep, if I can. Priority #3: eat, doesn’t matter what. Priority #4: shower.

    After checking all those off, I watch comfort tv I’ve seen before to pass the time while I wait for the urge to do literally anything to return.

    I have FMLA paperwork on file at work to protect my job when it gets the worst and I have to take (unpaid) time off work.

  18. Take time for yourself to figure out what you want to change. Remember the things that make you happy and set a few small goals

  19. Being in one now, talking to my bestest friend and family helped. I was ignoring them for days, and when I talked to them they really cheered me up. They told me they loved me, were praying for me, sent me gifts, and made me laugh. I love them. My family also checks in on me and tells me they love me. I don’t respond every time but it’s nice to know they really do have my back.

  20. I felt myself going dark the last couple days. The one day I wasn’t really able to go out and do anything, so I literally grabbed a Dr Pepper and was like “this is a nice soda that I enjoy and don’t drink often” and that was just a nice little self care treat for me.

    Today my mom took my newborn for a few hours so I got take out, took a long shower and passed out for like 3 hours.

    I’m trying to remember to enjoy little things. Even if it’s just going for a drive to be able to see past my tunnel vision and remember that there’s a much bigger picture.

  21. I have good friends, so i just curl into a ball and they help me with pats, invitations and just, give me strenght to keep on going and not fall into crumbs, i think i’m very lucky.

  22. Lower my expectations for myself. My mindset is “I’m being kind to myself today,” meaning I won’t punish myself for faltering in routine and falling short of productivity requirements. I celebrate every minor accomplishment. I made my bed, that’s fantastic. Threw a load of laundry in the dryer, look at you go. But the main thing is getting back on track with exercise. Without fail, the strongest predictor of my mental health is how consistently I exercised this week. It’s so rough getting back into it, but it’s the only thing that works.

  23. Don’t resist it. I lean into it. Follow the wave of the depressive episode and eventually it will recede.

    I also make sure if I am doing everything I can to biologically support getting myself out of it. Take meds. Take vitamin D. Make sure my iron levels are okay. Eat bananas/almonds/other foods that are the building blocks of serotonin and dopamine. Take a multivitamin if that is easiest for you. I am just not the same person in the winter months that I am in the summer – I need sunlight; vitamins D and a sad lamp. I’m like a dying plant sometimes without sunlight, food, and water.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like