Tricks & tips to stop focussing on depression
Hi all,
I'm pretty new here, nice to meet you. I hope I'm not going over and over old ground, but I could really do with some suggestions. My depression is dragging me down so hard at the moment, any moment or micro-second that I'm not expected to be engaged in conversation with someone my head shoots straight into problem solving mode - analyzing, chewing, churning and ruminating on the dark cloud that seems to surround my life at the moment. (In fact even half the time when I am in a conversation I'm not really present).
I'm hoping some of you out there might have some suggestions on things to do try and break this cycle, to tear my thoughts away from scrolling through article after article looking for the "answer" to this state, or just going round in circles about how hard life seems.
I'm all ears, anything is worth a shot!
Cheers and hope you're doing OK.
BW
I feel like I should add some more details of what I'm talking about. I mean when you're sat at your desk and just driven to google recovery stories or coping strategies, or on a bus and you do the same on your phone, or at dinner with some friends and instead of being focussed on the conversation you're in your head mulling over why you feel this way and nobody else does.
I haven't found anything that works yet. Mindfulness sounds promising but definitely not a quick fix and I'm desperate to break this spiralling.
@braveWater9466
*Hugs* (if you're okay with that)
I struggle with this too so I know how hard it is. I'm sorry you're going through this. I try to distract myself as much as possible. Throw myself into things and do as much as I can so that I can focus on that instead. Alternatively, try acknowledging your feelings opposed to immediately fighting them. I'm still working on that but it's helpful. I just say to myself "you are sad but you have been sad before and you have been happy again after that. nothing is forever. you'll be fine." It's hard but it's better than constantly trying to fight it or feeling guilty or anger of how you feel. Hating yourself for something you can't control (your feelings) only ever makes things worse. I hope this feels and of course, you're never alone!
Hello
It is quite easy to find a "good socially acceptable" coping strategies as in general public coping strategies are mostly seen as bad. (my personal experience, your may vary)
From personal experience there are few I'd say are good and are not doing harm (I myself have a lot of them - most of them hurt me or my wallet - good example of these bad ones can be selfharm, nicotine, "building a defence" (ignoring absolutely anything that makes you feel uncomfortable) and the exact opposite - using depressive, suicidal and black humour as a way to acceptebly vent off your emotions - so if possible I'd suggest staying away from these)
The best thing for you to combat your depression is to realize you have a problem (which you did - thumbs up for that ! :) ), hardest part over :)
The next thing is to try to describe to yourself how severe your problem is. Opinion of others aside, you are the affected.
If you think the severity is low (no suicidal or selfharming toughts, no agressivity etc.) you can try lifestyle change. Sunbathing, workout and eating are the most promising. You don't have to become fitness fanatic, in reality eating more can actually help you.
Let me explain what I mean : Even healthy person will feel overwhelmingly depressed if starving, opposite can help you. I do not mean to say you should eat a lot of junk food but what about eating a lot of "healthy" stuff? You would get triple benefit - eating can make you feel less depressed (regardless of what you eat), eating healthy can lead to being healthier which by itself can make you feel less depressed and eating a lot of "healthy" stuff can provide essential building blocks and nutrients for your brain (vit. D3, vit. from B family, tryptophan etc.)
If this fails I can suggest two more options - a good therapist (be careful with them, there is a lot of "styles" and some may not be for you, so if you think your therapist is not helping you, just seek other, it is trial and error game) or St. John's Wort - this has proven efficacy on mild affective ilnesses (like mild depression)
If you think your problem is big one (being suicidal - just a little is enough, agressive etc.) then I can say only this :
Try what I wrote and at the same time seek medical proffesional (psychiatrist or any other doctor which may help you in this - GP etc.) as coping strategies would not be effective enough in this case.
