DEPRESSION
WHAT’S IS DEPRESSION?
Depression is the feeling of severe despondency and dejection.
Depression is a very commune disorder, 1 on 4 people in the uk suffer from depression.
The symptoms are commonly:
Depressed mood,
Swinging moods,
Disturb sleep pattern or appetite,
Feeling of being restless,
Sadness that doesn't go away,
Thinking about suicide and death,
Loss of energy,
Avoiding people, even close friends,
Self harm,
Aches and back, stomach pain,
Loss of sex drive/sexual problem,
Poor concentration,
Loss of confidence,
Low self-esteem,
Lost of interest of pleasure,
Very strong feeling of guilt,
Helplessness.
Being depressed is far different from having a depression. Being unhappy or feeling low sometimes is a natural feeling, especially if the feeling is due to a particular cause.
A person experiencing depression will experience intense feeling of anxiety, and disturbing swinging mood for no particular cause.
Depression can happened very suddenly as a result of a life-changing event as unemployment, a loss, financial adversity, or even because of experiences dating back to childhood. Depression is a condition harming your mental health but also your physical health, many chronic disease as back pain, cancer and heart disease a dramatically connected to depression and anxiety.
Not everyone is able to identify the reason of his depression, therapy and pear group are the first step to diagnose the pain, groups helps to confront your inner emotions and thoughts in a safe zone with other sharing similar experiences and professional giving you advice.
There is different type of depression:
Major depression:
Major depression is when a person’s life is dramatically changed to the point that eating, sleeping and socialising become hard work, and relationships become very difficult to maintain in the personal as much than at work. Every morning waiting for the day to end and every night for another to start, it’s a loss of lust.
Mild depression:
Mild depression is when the negative effect of your depression is limited to only some area, you are having depressive episodes, difficulty concentrating at work but still able to manage some other part of your life.
Bipolar disorder:
It is a difficult condition to manage as the world around you seems constantly changing, your intellectual potential seems to be switching up and down, the world can feel very odd or senseless. One moment you are elated and confident, then low, in complete despair, restless, suicidal/death thoughts.
Postnatal depression:
Feeling completely inadequate, overwhelmed, having insomnia, feeling restless, having anxiety or/and panic attack. It can be stressful even distressing sometimes to give birth and to take care of a baby, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed but if theses feelings last longer than a couple of weeks you could be experiencing postnatal depression.
SAD:
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is associated with the start of the winter, it’s a depression connected to the lack of daylight, the shorter Winter days. It can make you suffer of anxiety, feeling stressed and helpless, it will also interfere in your sleeping pattern, your appetite, and your mood.
What can you do about it?
Step of improvement:
1) Acceptance:
Accept where you find yourself right now, take you bad mental health seriously and keep in mind that you won’t stay like that forever.
2) Let yourself having a break:
If you feel like doing nothing and need a break, take it! But fix yourself a deadline, let yourself feel the emotions, avoiding negative thoughts is highly unhealthy, but do not stay in this place!
3) Today is not Tomorrow:
You need to work on the fact that your today mood/mind is not indicative of your tomorrow.
4) Don’t think about your situation as a whole:
Not everything is going wrong, try to find some positive area of your life that you can separate from the negative one. Divide the part of your life.
5) Everything the voice said is just the opposite of what you are and should do.
Avoid argument with friends instead talk calmly about your doubts and feeling. Don’t isolate yourself, you need the noise of your social life to cover the one of the voice.
6) Set realistic goals and enjoy the feeling of self-satisfaction.
Every little thing you did today is a victory! Did you clean your room? Take the trash out? Babysit your friend kids? Made your own green detox juice? Well done!
7) Reward your effort:
You finish you to do list? You write down a to do list and did half? get out of bed? You deserve a bath, a bit of self-care, this coffee full of toffee… Be nice to yourself as you will to a friend.
8) Have a little routine:
Plan to exercise two days a week, to see friends for drinks once a week at least, try to eat at the same time and work on your sleep pattern, a bit of organisation will help you see clearer and writing everything in your diary will show you how much you are capable to accomplish.
9) Do something you like:
Go to see this play you wanted to see, have a shopping afternoon, laydown and read your book, listen to music, enjoy your time on your own.
10) See loves one:
Family, friends, in the case relationship are not at best why not meeting new people?
11) Do something you always wanted to do:
Try to open yourself to the world around you and try something new! Painting, running, a course…
12) Meditation:
20 min meditation a day improve mental health significantly, low down anxiety feelings, help you to control your breathing, help you against insomnia… Meditation exercise you to get out of your own head and feel the world around you, help you to get back in the Present time instead of running negative prediction about what’s bad is going to happen to you.
13) Run, Jump, Lift, Dance!
Physical exercises are one of the pillar of your recovery, you need this dopamine, you need to breathe and move, you need this rush of oxygen. Sport is one of the best fighter of depression and also prevent against future depressive episodes.
14) Eat, Sleep, Repeat:
Eat healthy and sleep minimum 7 hours/night, try to go to sleep before midnight, and try to not wake up too late, you will feel less nauseous and will be able to accomplish more during the day which will boost your self-confidence or feeling. Your nutrition has a massive impact on your mood (90 percent of our serotonin resides in our guts).
15) Seek help:
It is difficult to fight alone against depression, if you need to talk or have some more support and information you can contact some of these organisations:
On Meetup there is different group that you can join, some are very specific.
https://www.meetup.com/topics/depression-support-group/gb/17/london/
links to sites and organisations that may be able to help with some of the issues on this site. http://www.breathingspacelondon.org.uk/about-breathing-space/links/
To get help finding a therapist and have access to new information about therapy, and alternative to fight depression: https://www.depressionalliance.org/