Anxiety support 10/30/23: Anxiety and Depression

Today me and @darkerplaces discussed Anxiety and Depression. It was a lovely session, here's my post-session post, with a recap, some reflection, an activity, and some resources.

For those who are interested but missed the session, here is a quick recap of what we discussed: 

• What is depression?
• What are its symptoms?
• How do anxiety and depression affect one another?
• What should you ask yourself when getting anxious?

Feel free to comment below <3

Further self reflection, for attendees and non-attendees: 

• What do you usually do to stop depression-spirals/episodes?
• What do you do to stop anxiety episodes?
• What would you say if a friend told you they were having a hard time with anxiety and/or depression?
• When was the last time you had an anxious-depressive episode, and what fixed it?

Please feel free to post your responses!

Some activities you can try!

• Most people say music help calms their anxiety, try making a playlist of at least 5 songs that you enjoy listening to when anxious.
• Some people enjoy eating comfort food when depressed. What is your go to comfort food? (for the chat it was chicken sandwiches) I found it was helpful to make a list of my top 5 comfort foods

Resources/Real World Application- Mental Health Kits:

Often times when we feel depressed and anxious, we just want some self care. What i found helps is having a mental health kit like this site explains: https://guardiansmh.org/mental-health-kits

My mental health kit contains some of the following, but here are some ideas. If you make one try putting it in a tin of some sort by your bed. These are quick feel-good grabs. 

Ideas: 

• stress toys
• coloring supplies
• chocolate
• nice scented lotion
• a stuffed animal you love 
• a book to read
• a DVD
• a craft 
• letters from friends
• a letter to yourself
• pictures of baby animals because why not hehe

If you have or made one, tell us whats in it!

People who attended the session: @communitymodiris @communitymodfinn @creativefarm5925 @darknesssystem @decisivebanana7177 @kkbigfan @thelagoonsystem @sunnyskies1236 @kylersartspace 

People who are interested but unable to attend : @lovemymoonflowers @teenmorgan16 @powerandsunset25 @cielsyvin @healingtalk @gymdionrowan @yesimesen @eddieflwwrboii 

Want to join in? we host every Monday at 3pm est in anxiety support! and for adults and members unable to attend we do a forum afterwards. Post on this thread or any of my other anxiety support threads or pm me to be added to our tag list!

Want to have a say in what we host next? fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSctUueJcBvSOkCUkEtOk8XyJ01OIPOfC0su1wAL7kWSk52nKQ/viewform