You Can Beat Your Depression: Here's How

 

Depression can cripple you mentally and physically. There may be times in which you feel alone, but never give up. These tips can provide the peace of mind you need and help you realize that depression really can be handled.

Eating a balanced diet and making sure you take in the right amount of vitamins and nutrients is also essential to living a well balanced and healthy life. Fruits and vegetables are an essential part of one's diet, and what you healthengagement.org eat has been proven to have much to do with your mood.

Do not depend on herbal alternatives to medication like St. John's wort. trials of herbal remedies show that they are far less effective than pharmaceuticals, especially for moderate to severe depression. If you are wary of using medication to treat your depression, try talk therapy as a first-line treatment.

Stop the bad and negative behavior when you are with others. Crying, complaining, and talking about your problems will elicit sympathy from your friends and family, but this sympathy also maintains the depressive behavior. Change the behavior and receive the rewards.

Avoid caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea, and soda. Caffeine has been shown to decrease the amount of serotonin in your brain, which can depress your mood. Caffeine will also make you jittery and anxious, adding to your depression. Finally, caffeine can affect your sleep schedules, causing further problems with an already disrupted system.

Stop rewarding bad behavior. Many times someone who is depressed will wallow in self-pity, allowing others to coddle them and take care of their responsibilities. Others abuse drugs, alcohol, sex, and food as a way to feel better temporarily. All of these behaviors do not help the depression in any way other than a temporary fix. Take away the rewards and the depressed person can focus on the root of the depression.

Have realistic expectations. Often depressed people fixate on some unrealistic goal that they believe will cure their depression. For some it is money, for others it may be longing for an idealistic Mr. or Miss. "Right" to spend the rest of their life with. While having a goal is good, keep it realistic. Instead of being unhappy with your current job and longing to win the lottery, take college courses or a vocational program to increase your income potential. If you are lonely, get out and get involved with activities you enjoy. Even if you don't meet someone, you will have fun; and if you do meet someone, they are much more likely to have similar interests to you unlike a random stranger in a bar.

Beware, although alcohol can feel like your best friend when you are fighting depression it actually may just be your enabler. If you feel yourself drawn to alcohol in your hardest moments - then you should avoid it completely! Alcohol and depression are very close cousins and love to team up on the unsuspecting!

Experiencing depression when you have a small child can be health exceptionally difficult. This is because they are unlikely to understand why mommy or daddy is so sad all the time. While you don't want to hide your problem from them you also don't want to expose them to your negativity.

Talk to your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents to find out if anyone else is suffering from something similar. If it turns out that they do you can ask them what they have used to combat it. Often they will have the same type of depression as you and be able to help you.

Utilize these suggestions immediately. It will leave you feeling in control of your disease. Now that you have many different choices to choose from, you can tackle your depression from many different angles.