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How do I shake myself out of depression?
Hi everyone, 29/f.
The long and short of it is, despite my meds, it's dreary and I'm feeling depressed. The biggest problem is I have no energy (and caffeine triggers my anxiety) to DO anything to get rid of this feeling. Otherwise I'd clean my apartment, or something...
How do I shake myself out of the blahs? How do YOU shake the blues?
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Maybe give some free advice about: Mental health?
Most of solidadvice4teens advice is very good. Having suffered with depression myself I am going to add to the advice in a different manner.
TO start with who is administering your medications? If it is your family doctor this is not the right doctor to be treating your depression. Family doctors are like a jack of all trades the know enough about everything to evaluate and initially treat you. At some point they need to send you to a specialist. With people like us that specialist is a Board Certified Psychiatrist who is also a medical doctor who has done a fellowship in psychiatry and past all the requirements to be certified by the College of Psychiatry.
Most depression is not mental disease but a medical disease best treated by a Board Certified psychiatrist because it is caused by a lack of chemicals secreted into the brain causing a chemical imbalance. There are a number of different medicines to treat this problem. The one my family doctor shoes didn't help much. The one my psychiatrist chose worked miracles.
The next problem with depression is that it is circular in nature. Anxiety causes pain, pain causes depression and depression causes anxiety. Until you break the circle even with medication you will continue to suffer some form of depression to some degree.
How do you break the circle? With talk therapy with a qualified psychologist to find out the trigger for the anxiety. If you can find out what triggers the anxiety you can break the chain because you can learn to deal better with what the triggers is. What is important here is finding a psychologist you are comfortable with for the psychologist is your new best friend someone you are willing to tell your deepest darkest secrets to comfortable in knowing no one else will know of them.
I went through three before I found a lady I was comfortable with. It's not easy baring your sole but together we worked hard and the trigger was found. She also saw something else that I had buried deep in my subconscious and she kept at me until I gave it up. I won't go into what it was just that when she finally got it out of me the light at the end of the tunnel turned into the light of day.
I am a much happier person today and off the meds. When I started talk therapy I didn't know what to expect. I knew I was hurting but didn't know how this worked for just where did you put the bandaid?
I will tell you that it does work if your willing to put the effort into it. The proper meds take about 2 to 3 weeks to fully restore the balance of chemicals though you start to feel better after about 5 days.
My advice is as follows.
1. Make sure you are seeing a Board Certified Psychiatrist. If you are not then make an appointment to see one. If need be call your local hospital Patient referral line for a referral to one. If you are seeing the right doctor then make an appointment and tell the doctor the meds aren't working and they will be adjusted.
2. If you are in talk therapy you need to be. Your Psychiatrist can recommend one or you can go through the hospital patient referral line if you wish. If you are in talk therapy decide how comfortable you are with the therapist. You might want to try a different therapist someone you can connect with better. Possibly a women.
Depression is not something you can treat by yourself you need to professionals I have recommended.
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You cannot shake this off. It's part of your depression. The only way to feel better is to tell your doctor exactly how you are feeling and how long this has been happening with shift in mood. Does it fluctuate ever?
Keep a log book. The thing is maybe your medications need fine tuning and dosage changes slight as they may be for you to feel better. That can and does make a huge difference if you feel sluggish and lack energy to get up.
You absolutely must have some kind of structure in a day too. If you aren't working or at home alone the urge to sleep and do nothing is great.
Perhaps there are support groups, classes, moves, theater, libraries or places you can do and rotate around just so you are out and about as much as possible. Also, you need to exercise daily as that will get you your energy and focus back quicker.
You don't need a gym and walking or hiking will help. The pills will help only so much but once you add the physical it balances out and you feel better. Having a routine works. Talk to yur physician about how you feel mentally and physically. It's all related to each other.
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