Treating the cause, because depression is not a symptom illness but a consequence symptom (eg unknown mental issues, chemical imbalances etc). It's not trivial.
(thanks for helping me out with the wording, got confused)
Yeah sorry, I was just correcting you on the symptoms part. Symptoms are the consequences of source reasons. A fever is a symptom caused by an infection, for example. Hope that helps.
None of these are a cure. Clinical depression is a real thing and you should see a mental health professional. But here's my list.
Go outside and get some sun
Exercise
Drink water
Get enough sleep
Eat healthier
Form meaningful social connections
Reduce screen time
Only use your bedroom for sleeping(and sex), use different spaces for different activities
Journal
Write down 3 things that need to get done today, and then do it
(bonus edit) Meditate for 10 minutes
Most importantly. You don't have to do all of it. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. If all you can manage today is drinking a glass of water, then start there. This random Internet stranger believes in you.
+1 zillion on sleep!!! It's so under rated while it solves so much. Physical and mental. I could never repay my coach who tought me relaxing is an important part of training. 40+ years later i can still get to sleep in minutes. Often even seconds. Invaluable.
The fall of a fascist regime and its replacement by an actual democracy, based on the needs of the people and prioritizing them over corporations and billionaires?
Utopia. I agree. That should be societal progression but we've been taken over by a whole system of people that are taught to own things and fight to the death for those owned things using tokens that represent false value. So much false value that they throw even more tokens at you called "points". Now they are even letting the masses trade for free now that the stock market is a rotting husk.
And no, i'm not kidding. I knew one who got the choice his therapist : take medication or start running. He took the advised solution and found running really works. A co-worker started running a few years back and later admitted the feelings of depression went away.
i don't run, but i walk a lot. it definitely helps. i went cold turkey on my antidepressants two weeks ago because my doctor is incompetent and thought that was what triggered my mania (it wasn't, i just got a new computer). i tried explaining myself to him but he just said (in his limited english) "YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN"
Therapy, seriously. I am not a mental health professional, but from what I have read, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be just as good as chemical antidepressants.
If you are struggling with depression, please do yourself a favor and see if your health insurance covers therapists. If not, at least read up on therapy techniques to deal with depression. I have been recommended Feeling Good by David D. Burns as a book to follow.
Dogs. Very difficult to stay depressed when you've got this warm fuzzy cheerleader who is happy just to see you and completely loves you for who you are AND keeps you active with play and walks. Not impossible mind you, but as close to it as you can get without drugs.
Highly depends. If you’re depressed because of lack of brain chemicals, due to things like ADHD or whatever, then medication can be the cure (with therapy).
Don't be afraid to go to a psychiatrist (the kind of doctors who deal with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders) and ask them about alternatives to perscriptions. I did that when I was frustrated with trying so many different medications and combinations of medications, and I learned about TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and so I underwent that and it was life-changing for me.
Major positive changes in your environment and removing any stressors, coupled with effective, active weekly psychotherapy. The whole exercising, eating well, self-grooming etc things will come naturally as things get better and easier.
Don’t get me wrong, doing them will also help tremendously, but no need to beat yourself up with not being able to do them while in full crisis. Your mind just can’t cope with it at this point.
At least for milder forms of depression, it can help to pretend that you're not depressed. Do stuff, get out, meet people, feel the rain, try to be in the moment, etc.
In my experience that's like pressing on the wound to relief the pain briefly after letting go. Sure you go out and pretend everything is fine, but then afterwards when your alone, depression hits back even harder. It's only a short term solution.
The insidious problem with depression is the vicious cycle it generates. In many cases, whatever started a person off on that cycle is long gone, and doing things which make you happy, or even just make you feel normal, is enough to with some persistence break the cycle and get well again.
But not always. It's just as possible that the cause is still there, or the cycle is too strong to break out of like that.
And whenever somebody yells at you or hits you, you should quietly and stoically internalize that pain and bottle it up deep deep inside. /Sarcasm /DoNotRepressNegativeEmotions
Some cases are short term, situational depression - say, as a reaction to something happening or that occurred.
Others are indeed chronic and unyielding. There are ways to manage it, or to adjust to it but I agree there is absolutely not a known cure.
Socializing is difficult when one’s instinct is to isolate. I learned that in non-human animals that exhibit depression it is often because they believe they are going to die and do not want to become liability to the rest of the group, when applicable.
Basically the same for humans where there’s a chance that if that situational depression is activated (for the lack of a better term) it might never shut off. Overactive hind-brain also makes one prone to fight/flight/fawn which is colloquially anxiety disorders.
This is not a practical long term solution, but one answer is falling in love. Everytime I've fallen in love my depression goes fully into remission. I have lots of energy, it's easy to keep my place clean and super easy to shower, do my hair, whatever it takes to look pretty. I am inspired to try new things and get into hobbies. I have patience and am less irritable. Works like a charm until we've been together long enough for the relationship to become completely routine, and then the depression creeps back in, bad as ever. But you can get like 6 months out of it.
Community. Walkable neigborhoods. Culture. Access to high quality (prepared) food. Treatment of chronic illnesses. Free time to do things that make one feel happy and fulfilled.
Drugs only make it easier to cope with a world that makes these inaccessible to the average person. They individualize and pathologize a burden that would otherwise have to be addressed systemically by the ruling class that hopes to have a functional and passive working class.
edit: ... I realized something, looked it up, and wouldn't you know it; here in the US, good old Reagan closed down the psychiatric hospitals less than a decade before Prozac hit the market (antidepressants existed before that; since the 1950s; but were mainly only marketed to doctors who would prescribe them to women with ""housewife syndrome"" for the purposes of domestic labor). That's not to say that psychiatric hospitals are any less of a band-aid solution, I just think it's rather telling that they were closed at a time that folks with clinical depression (and probably other illnesses) could simply be given a pill and put back to work.
61 Comments
Strider@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 216d
Treating the cause, because depression is not a
symptomillness but aconsequencesymptom (eg unknown mental issues, chemical imbalances etc). It's not trivial.(thanks for helping me out with the wording, got confused)
pilferjinx@piefed.social · 17 pts · 216d
Soul-crushing profit driven economies are the main cause of my depression.
Strider@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 216d
Yeah but we don't talk about systemic inhuman requirements.
fushuan@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 14 pts · 215d
Depression is a symptom, symptoms are consequences.
You are right that what needs treating is the underlying cause, though.
Strider@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 215d
The wording might be off, I'm neither a doctor nor native speaker 😁
fushuan@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 215d
Yeah sorry, I was just correcting you on the symptoms part. Symptoms are the consequences of source reasons. A fever is a symptom caused by an infection, for example. Hope that helps.
I'm not native either. 😋
Strider@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d
Don't be. Everyone is learning constantly (or should be 😁)
Yeah I was mixed up, is a regular happening 😉.
causepix@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 214d
To be a bit more constructive, these might be the words you were looking for?
Strider@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d
Perfect, fixed, thanks!
a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d
Drugs.
jeff@programming.dev · 17 pts · 215d
None of these are a cure. Clinical depression is a real thing and you should see a mental health professional. But here's my list.
Most importantly. You don't have to do all of it. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. If all you can manage today is drinking a glass of water, then start there. This random Internet stranger believes in you.
Also drugs.
redlemace@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 215d
+1 zillion on sleep!!! It's so under rated while it solves so much. Physical and mental. I could never repay my coach who tought me relaxing is an important part of training. 40+ years later i can still get to sleep in minutes. Often even seconds. Invaluable.
Ulvain@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 215d
The fall of a fascist regime and its replacement by an actual democracy, based on the needs of the people and prioritizing them over corporations and billionaires?
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 215d
Utopia. I agree. That should be societal progression but we've been taken over by a whole system of people that are taught to own things and fight to the death for those owned things using tokens that represent false value. So much false value that they throw even more tokens at you called "points". Now they are even letting the masses trade for free now that the stock market is a rotting husk.
redlemace@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 216d
Running.
And no, i'm not kidding. I knew one who got the choice his therapist : take medication or start running. He took the advised solution and found running really works. A co-worker started running a few years back and later admitted the feelings of depression went away.
kali_fornication@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 216d
i don't run, but i walk a lot. it definitely helps. i went cold turkey on my antidepressants two weeks ago because my doctor is incompetent and thought that was what triggered my mania (it wasn't, i just got a new computer). i tried explaining myself to him but he just said (in his limited english) "YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN"
wander1236@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 216d
Some doctor
darkdemize@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 216d
That's great if you're able bodied. What about those who physically can't?
redlemace@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 215d
Fresh air and any activity you manage to do.
huquad@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 215d
I've been running from my problems for a while now and I'm fine
leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 214d
Dead billionaires.
zbyte64@awful.systems · 6 pts · 214d
Also cures climate change, the global pedophile network, most wars, and that's just the start!
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 215d
Not having a crushing job that saps your will to live so someone else can get rich off your toil.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 215d
I dunno man my dad is retired and still gets depressed.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 214d
Does he have hobbies or does he just kinda exist?
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 214d
He does have hobbies.
TAG@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 216d
Therapy, seriously. I am not a mental health professional, but from what I have read, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be just as good as chemical antidepressants.
If you are struggling with depression, please do yourself a favor and see if your health insurance covers therapists. If not, at least read up on therapy techniques to deal with depression. I have been recommended Feeling Good by David D. Burns as a book to follow.
Encephalotrocity@feddit.online · 10 pts · 216d
Dogs. Very difficult to stay depressed when you've got this warm fuzzy cheerleader who is happy just to see you and completely loves you for who you are AND keeps you active with play and walks. Not impossible mind you, but as close to it as you can get without drugs.
LouNeko@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 216d
Also Nature. Just looking at the wind gently swaying the trees got you thinking:
"You know what, maybe this ain't so bad."
redlemace@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 215d
Goes without saying. A dog makes you go out reguarly.
redlemace@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d
++++++1 can't imagine life without a dog. He's my answer to nearly eveything.
Apeman42@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 216d
I dunno about a cure, but a cat that wants to snuggle is a pretty effective treatment.
Greddan@feddit.org · 7 pts · 216d
redlemace@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 215d
Also true. Many think it's the solution, but they (only) help you reach the turning point
Flames5123@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 215d
Highly depends. If you’re depressed because of lack of brain chemicals, due to things like ADHD or whatever, then medication can be the cure (with therapy).
salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 215d
Don't be afraid to go to a psychiatrist (the kind of doctors who deal with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders) and ask them about alternatives to perscriptions. I did that when I was frustrated with trying so many different medications and combinations of medications, and I learned about TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and so I underwent that and it was life-changing for me.
MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 214d
Major positive changes in your environment and removing any stressors, coupled with effective, active weekly psychotherapy. The whole exercising, eating well, self-grooming etc things will come naturally as things get better and easier.
Don’t get me wrong, doing them will also help tremendously, but no need to beat yourself up with not being able to do them while in full crisis. Your mind just can’t cope with it at this point.
CoffeeTails@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 216d
At least for milder forms of depression, it can help to pretend that you're not depressed. Do stuff, get out, meet people, feel the rain, try to be in the moment, etc.
LouNeko@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 216d
In my experience that's like pressing on the wound to relief the pain briefly after letting go. Sure you go out and pretend everything is fine, but then afterwards when your alone, depression hits back even harder. It's only a short term solution.
FishFace@piefed.social · 1 pts · 215d
The insidious problem with depression is the vicious cycle it generates. In many cases, whatever started a person off on that cycle is long gone, and doing things which make you happy, or even just make you feel normal, is enough to with some persistence break the cycle and get well again.
But not always. It's just as possible that the cause is still there, or the cycle is too strong to break out of like that.
CoffeeTails@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 216d
If you keep doing these things, you'll hopefully slowly feel better.
But of course, it won't work for everyone, it depends on why you are depressed.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online · 4 pts · 216d
And whenever somebody yells at you or hits you, you should quietly and stoically internalize that pain and bottle it up deep deep inside. /Sarcasm /DoNotRepressNegativeEmotions
Warl0k3@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 216d
It turns out the bootstraps were inside me this whole time!
Pat_Riot@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 216d
Sounds uncomfortable
Warl0k3@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 216d
But fortunately, I'm too depressed to care!
Silver linings!
prettybunnys@piefed.social · 5 pts · 215d
They’re not saying to repress the negative, they’re saying that sometimes you have to be the adult in the room (in your brain)
If you are able to push through that feeling of “I don’t wanna” and get out there it can help.
If you are beyond that …
Los drogasmeejle@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 214d
It's a chronic illness. I'd say there definitionally isn't a cure. Just different ways of managing it.
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 214d
Some cases are short term, situational depression - say, as a reaction to something happening or that occurred. Others are indeed chronic and unyielding. There are ways to manage it, or to adjust to it but I agree there is absolutely not a known cure.
Socializing is difficult when one’s instinct is to isolate. I learned that in non-human animals that exhibit depression it is often because they believe they are going to die and do not want to become liability to the rest of the group, when applicable.
Basically the same for humans where there’s a chance that if that situational depression is activated (for the lack of a better term) it might never shut off. Overactive hind-brain also makes one prone to fight/flight/fawn which is colloquially anxiety disorders.
guy@piefed.social · 5 pts · 215d
Exercise and money.
BaraCoded@literature.cafe · 5 pts · 215d
Exercising, taking a walk, 8h of sleep per night, destroying capitalism.
Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d
Replacing it with something else I dunno whatever I just squeeze that BS into every single thing ever.
CannonFodder@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 216d
You could just sorta snap out of it. (/s)
guy@piefed.social · 5 pts · 215d
Love the "Have you tried not being depressed?" advice. Well no, but now that you mention it I will give it a go, that's genius, thank you!
leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 214d
Just walk it off.
ChexMax@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 215d
This is not a practical long term solution, but one answer is falling in love. Everytime I've fallen in love my depression goes fully into remission. I have lots of energy, it's easy to keep my place clean and super easy to shower, do my hair, whatever it takes to look pretty. I am inspired to try new things and get into hobbies. I have patience and am less irritable. Works like a charm until we've been together long enough for the relationship to become completely routine, and then the depression creeps back in, bad as ever. But you can get like 6 months out of it.
zaphod@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 214d
Problem with falling in love is that it can and will backfire and then the depression comes back twice as bad.
Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 215d
So. Find a sex worker you like and keep them on retainer?
/S for you idiots out there
causepix@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 214d
Community. Walkable neigborhoods. Culture. Access to high quality (prepared) food. Treatment of chronic illnesses. Free time to do things that make one feel happy and fulfilled.
Drugs only make it easier to cope with a world that makes these inaccessible to the average person. They individualize and pathologize a burden that would otherwise have to be addressed systemically by the ruling class that hopes to have a functional and passive working class.
edit: ... I realized something, looked it up, and wouldn't you know it; here in the US, good old Reagan closed down the psychiatric hospitals less than a decade before Prozac hit the market (antidepressants existed before that; since the 1950s; but were mainly only marketed to doctors who would prescribe them to women with ""housewife syndrome"" for the purposes of domestic labor). That's not to say that psychiatric hospitals are any less of a band-aid solution, I just think it's rather telling that they were closed at a time that folks with clinical depression (and probably other illnesses) could simply be given a pill and put back to work.
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 214d
Sunlight
Jarix@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 214d
Money and really good friends
pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 215d
Well I know a plastic bag and some duct tape didn't work
salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 215d
salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 215d
Oops, double-posted :)