5 Ways To Rid Yourself of Depression

First, a definition. By depression, I don’t mean sadness. Being sad is a part of being human. It can be a deep and beautiful emotion, no matter what the drug companies’ ads tell us. Depression, for me at least, was more like apathy. I didn’t care, and I didn’t care that I didn’t care. The only problem was that not caring hurt, and sometimes I thought that I couldn’t take the hurt anymore.

Second, a qualification. I used to suffer from extreme depression. I was first diagnosed at the age of 22. My various diagnoses over the years included Bipolar Disorder, Dysthymia, Major Depression (both with and without psychotic episodes), and lazy bastard syndrome (not all of those came from doctors). Some of the incidents that led up to the diagnoses got me hospitalized (yes, that kind of hospitalized), some just got me kicked out of homes, relationships, and jobs. I no longer suffer from any of them (ok, sometimes the last one), and I no longer take prescription medication. It sometimes helped when I did, but I learned how to think and live so I no longer have a need for it.

Third, a non-qualification. I’m not a doctor – I don’t know your situation, but I do know mine. I figure that if you are reading this, you’re a human being like me, and maybe this can help.

I thought about the things that help me most when I feel the black monster creeping back in, and the things that I did to first push it away.

Move

If I had to turn this article into just one way, this would be it.

MOVE!

Depression is characterized by immobility – the picture of the person lying in bed, unwashed and motionless, not caring if he or she lives or dies. And yes, it can be difficult. When we are depressed, it can seem like even a short walk is overwhelming. If so, don’t worry about a walk – just put one foot on the floor. Then the other. Then put the first in front of the second. If that’s all you can handle, then just do that, and go ahead and take a break.

Get in the Light

Natural sunlight does wonders for our moods. If you are able to take those first couple of steps above, ideally try to move yourself into the light.

Call Someone

Sometimes, we just need to get whatever is stuck in our heads out of there. Having an ear to bend to get the virus out of our mind helps. I was extremely lucky to have made a few good friends in AA (alcohol and drugs can do wonders for depression, at least temporarily) who I could call anytime I felt myself slipping into the darkness.

Question

I’ve found that for me, the majority of my depression came from a skewed perception of reality. In other words, it was the way I seeing things. Questioning my own thoughts can do wonders for me. One of my favorite questions comes from Tony Robbins:

“What would I have to believe in order to feel this way, and what can I believe instead to change it?”

works wonders. The Work of Byron Katie is another wonderful resource for questioning our thoughts and emotions to bring them into perspective.

Meditate

Sometimes we may not even be able to move. Meditation can help in that case, or as an adjunct to the movement in the first place. My personal favorite is Vipassana (Insight) meditation. There are traditional postures with a purpose behind them, but just learning to quiet the mind and anchor to the breath is an awesome way to shut down that chatter that can doom us, and see beyond it.

I know that there are more than these five ways, and believe me, it took much more than simply saying “Oh, OK, I’ll do that stuff,” and I was all better.  I would practice for a while, then stop, then start again… then stop, then start again.  Sometimes reading an article like this can make it seem easy.  It’s not, but if we can just keep getting back up when we fall down, we do get better.

One final note on medication.  Again, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know your particular situation.  I’ve been on quite a few different concoctions, with varying degrees of success and different side effects. If you already are on a medication, do not just stop it without talking to a doctor first… some of them can have nasty withdrawls.  And there’s no rule that says that you can’t move while taking Prozac.  For some, medication may always be a part of their lives.  And that’s OK – try telling a diabetic that they should just eat right and stop taking their insulin.

The bottom line is that you have to do what’s right for you.

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• Antidepressants
• How to “Make It Great!”
• How to Know if Fear Has Infiltrated Your Body

Tagged as: depression, exercise, medication, meditation