Women who’ve struggled with depression, how did you regain an interest in the world and your life?

7 comments

1. Allowed my depression to unfortunately get really bad.

   Then forced myself to go to therapy.

   Starting to get a little better.

2. Therapy and meds… It’s still not all rainbowy, but I feel much more interest to the world around me than before

3. I’m currently struggling but I can feel my mental state is on the mend (having more good days than bad). The method that I’m using now is what my dad used to call the 3 Rs in my language: rust (rest), reinheid (cleanliness), regelmaat (routine).

   I do what my brain tells me I’m capable of, but I rest when I feel I’ve overdone it, which can be as fast as getting out of bed.
   On my bad days, cleanliness can be as simple as moving a cup from the table to the kitchen counter (and then rest because I did a thing and now my brain is mean).
   With routine I started with waking up every day at the same time and I do the same thing every day before I go to sleep at night.

   As time went on I was able to expand my moments of rest from being in a vegetative state on the couch for hours to playing games or doing a little work out, my cleanliness now also includes keeping my surroundings tidy and brushing my teeth in the morning, and with routine I’m now able to slowly go back to my uni project because I scheduled it in. It took babysteps, therapy, and I’m not completely there yet, but I’m getting there and I hope my experience can maybe help you a little.

4. I went to therapy when i didnt feel like being alive anymore

5. Therapy helped me more than medications. I just had to start forcing myself to get out of bed every day and after a while it became much easier. I actually was able to stop my medications a couple months ago and I’m feeling even better than when I was on them.

6. Meds and going low contact with abusive people

7. I’ve dealt with it on and off all my adult life. It comes and goes. I’ve medicated a few times, but I hate being on antidepressants, so only when things have spiralled completely out of control. I’ve been to therapy, didn’t find it terribly helpful except as an avenue to vent to someone who doesn’t have a personal stake in me.
   Honestly, mostly I just tough out the bad times and try to remember that things will pick up sooner or later. They always do