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when you're depressed what makes you feel better:
- Thread starter netean
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Depends on the severity of the depression, when it's very bad I can't function, so the only thing that really helps is being around supportive and caring people and giving myself time to come through it.
Mild to moderate depression, the same as above in terms of being around supportive and caring people. Distractions help to keep my mind occupied so I don't dwell too much. Things like cooking, doing something creative, keeping on top of chores, exercising, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, getting enough sleep, keeping up with meds, watching movies or TV programs I enjoy, eating healthily, being around nature or anywhere coastal and sunshine.
Mild to moderate depression, the same as above in terms of being around supportive and caring people. Distractions help to keep my mind occupied so I don't dwell too much. Things like cooking, doing something creative, keeping on top of chores, exercising, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, getting enough sleep, keeping up with meds, watching movies or TV programs I enjoy, eating healthily, being around nature or anywhere coastal and sunshine.
Nothing but time. My psychiatrist and I agree that there is not a mental hospital, at least in DFW, that would be helpful for me. So we have an agreement that I will take meds to make me sleep. I sleep all the time for a few days, if I can, and eventually the black dog steps off my shoulders.
When I am in that black abyss, I have no interest at all in taking a walk, watching a movie, etc. I am not even capable of some of those things. My husband once asked me what I thought about when I was depressed. I truthfully answered "Nothing." He says that he can tell before the depression comes on, just by a "for away" look in my eyes. Sometimes it comes on so fast it feels like I have been suddenly hooked up to an IV.
What is dangerous for me during a black cloak, black abyss depression is that I feel I must do something about it. I feel that something is wrong and that I must fix it. I don't think rationally at all. I feel that it would be better off for everyone if I were dead. I am convinced of that. Firmly convinced. I don't leave the house, and I will tell any lie to avoid doing so. I don't answer the phone.
When that fog lifts with time, maybe just three or four days, rationality comes back. I really think my type of experience with this is different from others who are able to keep a sense of presence and rationality when they are depressed. It is not better or worse, just different.
I do have what I call a "more normal" depression. I am sad and feeling hopeless off and on for two or three weeks, but at least I can function. I wonder if that kind (for me) is depression without psychosis.
Writing this self-indulgent tripe has helped me analyze the phases of my mental illness. Perhaps some of you recognize a bit of this in yourselves.
When I am in that black abyss, I have no interest at all in taking a walk, watching a movie, etc. I am not even capable of some of those things. My husband once asked me what I thought about when I was depressed. I truthfully answered "Nothing." He says that he can tell before the depression comes on, just by a "for away" look in my eyes. Sometimes it comes on so fast it feels like I have been suddenly hooked up to an IV.
What is dangerous for me during a black cloak, black abyss depression is that I feel I must do something about it. I feel that something is wrong and that I must fix it. I don't think rationally at all. I feel that it would be better off for everyone if I were dead. I am convinced of that. Firmly convinced. I don't leave the house, and I will tell any lie to avoid doing so. I don't answer the phone.
When that fog lifts with time, maybe just three or four days, rationality comes back. I really think my type of experience with this is different from others who are able to keep a sense of presence and rationality when they are depressed. It is not better or worse, just different.
I do have what I call a "more normal" depression. I am sad and feeling hopeless off and on for two or three weeks, but at least I can function. I wonder if that kind (for me) is depression without psychosis.
Writing this self-indulgent tripe has helped me analyze the phases of my mental illness. Perhaps some of you recognize a bit of this in yourselves.
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I recognize more than a bit of this in myself. It frightens me how quickly I can go from 'normal' depressed to suicidal. And how rational it feels, how absolutely logical I think those thoughts are - of course my family would be better off without me, they might not see it straight away but they will eventually. I'd be doing something good for once.
Like you, I find the safest thing for me to do is to sleep through it. I'm not really capable of doing much else anyway.
Like you, I find the safest thing for me to do is to sleep through it. I'm not really capable of doing much else anyway.