5 Must-Knows for Those Seeking Help with Depression

By Carl Clark

You need not suffer from a terrible loss to enter a state of depression. As a matter of fact, the cause of depression is subjective. What could seem to one like a silly reason for depression may be regarded by another as something serious. Saying so, the reasons as to why people get depressed can practically be anything that can cause a certain individual emotional pain. Some of the most common reasons are the following: a broken family, financial difficulties, breakup with boyfriend or girlfriend, a fight between best buddies, death of a loved one, bad grades, being incapable of meeting expectations of family, insecurity, and being bullied by classmates. If you are among those who need help with depression right now, continue reading for there is help for you.

First, you must nurture supportive relationships. While you might feel that reaching out to your family, relatives or friends, even those who are really close to you, is embarrassing, do not forget that they love you, care for you and want to help you feel better. Share to them what you are going through. You will be surprised at how much comfort you can feel by just having someone there who will sincerely listen. Remember that you really need help with depression. Do not be ashamed to ask for their advice. This is the time when you really need some support.

Next to cultivating supportive relationships, you must also cultivate yourself. Do not neglect your responsibility to yourself. This may not be easy, since it is natural for a depressed person to forget everything else except the depression itself, but loving yourself may actually contribute considerably to the help with depression you are after. Forcing yourself to be happy with something will never be possible so why keep on trying to force yourself when you could GENUINELY be happy? Yes, it is possible for a depressed individual to be happy if he or she would do something that he or she sincerely loves. Do YOUR thing. Play the piano. Read detective stories. Paint and experiment with colors. Bake some lasagna. Go shopping. Go out with your BFFs and dance the night away. Fill in your schedule with as much fun activities as you can. If you do not find any motivation to go out, push yourself instead. Once you are out there in the open and has gotten some fresh air while seeing your friends supportive faces, you might forget why you were depressed in the first place.

Third, even if physical activity may be the last thing you would feel like doing when you are depressed, find and make time for exercise. Research has shown that regular exercise caused the energy levels of individuals who needed help with depression to increase and their feelings of fatigue lessen as how they would if antidepressants were taken. Of course, do not overdo it. Exercise but begin small and be progressive slowly.

Fourth, eat a healthy and hearty meal. Your diet has a direct impact on your feelings. A good diet is one with a balanced amount of foods under the go, grow and glow categories. Also, keep in mind that breakfast is the most important meal because this is where you get the energy for the day. Make sure to eat well during this time. It would be best to not skip meals too. Ideally, you should eat every four hours. Avoid comfort foods. This may provide temporary consolation but afterwards, the melancholy will just come back in addition to a crash in energy and mood. They can only help with depression for so long.

Finally, counterbalance negative with positive. A state of depression entails a negative outlook in almost everything. You begin to feel worthless. You think your dreams will just stay as dreams. You lose all hope. You become sensitive to criticism and begin to hate everything about yourself. You start to withdraw from family and friends. You think that every event or situation that happens is bad and will always be bad. Stop thinking negatively. This cannot be achieved by just thinking positively, though. Instead, give a positive cause of a positive effect for every negative thought you have. For example, your employer gave you a very difficult task which you must accomplish within a very short period of time. Instead of hating your boss, think that your boss did that because he or she believes that you are competent enough that he or she entrusted to you such an important task. Furthermore, if you can manage to indeed carry out the task, your boss will be impressed, trust you more, or even give you a promotion while you feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. It is also helpful to spend time with positive people. If you can see how they can be so optimistic in just about everything and realize the happiness they have because of it, you might be motivated to adopt their optimism as well. - 29881

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