What are some good ways to be less depressed?

I may have ask this before but im not too sure.

So it leems i wont be able to get into theripy anytime soon for some dumb reasons and also some family members problems have to be taken care of first like surgerys and whatnot.

I have depression pretty badly which kinda runs in the modern age like a plague and im not sure what to do with it, im not even sure what to do now or in the future. i feel very lost and stuck while being in some sort of werid loop. it dosent help how i have autism which also stinks. it feels like i always want things instanly or my interest changes every day, which is prety annoying and im limited in many ways.

what can i do to help with depression and life?....

Decide,

No advice won't help immediately, that's a given. What helped me are a few things that compounded upon one another. The first thing is to be thankful for what does go right. You'd be surprised how well this works after awhile. Keep a journal, mark how you feel in the morning and at night, but always note something you appreciate.

Secondly, and I cannot stress this enough, read. It can be fantasy or anything, really. What's important is that you walk in someone else's shoes for a bit, this will help with perspective, and being seen. It might even help teach you something. It all depends.

Third, read some more. This time, don't just read fantasy, read some selfhelp books with a psychology slant to them. Trust me. It'll offer insight into how you think, and point out certain things you didn't realize. I suggest "The Power of Habit" and "Smarter Faster Better" by Charles Duhigg - one of these comes first. I also suggest "The Power of Grit" by Angela Duckworth, and "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.

Knowing yourself gives you power over yourself. Goodluck.

Snuzii,

Having a gratitude journal is helpful

wildeaboutoskar,
@wildeaboutoskar@lemmy.world avatar

Things that help me:

  • Having a routine- every Sunday I walk into town and get a nice coffee/cake and read for a while and just be around people. If I stay inside for too long I will start to self isolate.
  • Hobby- I go to a couple of choirs during the week. It helps me get out of the house and it's an activity that stops me dwelling on things. You're usually too busy focusing on the music to think of anything else. Singing also helps you regulate your breathing which is supposed to help with relaxation and sleeping.
  • Spend time in or around nature, even if that's a pet. Being around green space can help ground you. Being around animals can be a massive boost. Go to the park with a book and spot dogs.
  • Medication - this has helped me more than anything but isn't for everyone. I also had a few rounds of therapy but didn't get loads out of it, but it may well work for you.
monobot,

Do tell us more about yourself and your depression?

That is a question, but also an advice. Talking can help.

Here is what most people can not accept (and I am talking from my own experience and experience of people around me): depression is repressed anger. Anxiety too. We are not "anxious" nor "nervous" we are angry.

Second step: anger does not equal aggression.

So you can try to acknowledge that you are angry and than to find out what are you angry about.

While this sounds easy, it is not, that's why we go to therapy. But it does help.

eldoom,

Hey have you seen the recent studies on psilocybin mushrooms and depression?

I can vouch for it firsthand, years ago I had life crippling anxiety and depression. I macrodosed quite a bit at first but I found microdosing works just as well if you're scared of tripping.

Chronic_Intermission,

I've struggled with depression for much of my life, and what's helped me get moving out of the most recent hole I've been in is realizing I needed to make a number of large changes in my life. I took stock of many of the things in my life that stressed me out every day, and did my best to make progress towards changing my circumstances. Even small steps matter, they add up over time.

I started keeping my room clean, then the bathroom. I stopped drinking alcohol (this was a killer for me). It took over a year to go from five plus drinks a day to none, but I did it. Treat the small steps you take towards bettering yourself and your life as giant leaps, because they are. Don't treat setbacks as giant mountains, they're just molehills.

JimmyDean,

I know this sounds hard when you're depressed but its important: pick a hobby you like and spend time doing it. What do you enjoy doing? What makes you feel like, well, you? Whatever it is, start small, just tell yourself to do it for 1 minute a day at first. It could be simply dribbling a basketball, or doodling a cartoon character. What you spend your time doing defines how you live your life; you deserve to enjoy it.

stochasticity,

One of my big problems is that I don't have any idea what interests me anymore.

andyMFK,

I've been where you are and it's hard for sure, but you gotta try stuff. Try producing music and try woodworking and try painting. Try running and try archery and try sim racing. Try making sushi or growing magic mushrooms. You just gotta try a bunch of shit. Most of it you won't be into, some of it you'll like, and ideally you'll find a few things you love. And try things you think you might not like because you'll probably surprise yourself, when you're depressed nothing sounds fun so you have to force it. Force yourself to do things you think you won't enjoy, if you don't like it, don't try it again but at least you'll know.

There's no secret, it's just working hard to find something, then you can make plans around your new interests, you can go to that convention or that race or that thing on the weekend, and that helps you get through the week, it gives you something to look forward to. Maybe you'll start making a video game and that gives you a goal, something to work towards.

Remember life is just a matter of distracting yourself with something fun until you die. It doesn't have to be any more than that.

QuietStorm,

your right but im also not sure what i should do or what actually interests me, im kind a nerd and i like tech, tabletop rpg's, retro games, but thing slike that require money or poeple to play with whichi i dont have either really becasue im a young adult who isint ready for the world. one person suggest journiling or writting which idk how that would work or where to begin becasue i can barley spell (becasue dlyexia) so i guess im up for suggestions on how to start something without lossing motivation.

bellsDoSing,

Quite a few good tips have been mentioned already:

  • proper sleep schedule (sunlight early and during day, litlle light in evening / at night helps)
  • regular movement / sports
  • nutrition (less sugar)

The saying "a healthy mind resides in a healthy body" has some truth to it.

But one thing I wanna mention is journaling:

One of the benefits of psychotherapy is that you have to articulate your thoughts. Turns out articulation via writing gets you quite far and is already a lot better than spinning thoughts in your head only.

Literally just write what comes to mind. Or ask yourself what was good or bad about "yesterday". Try writing on most days, but don't force yourself to a specific amount. Try sticking it out for some weeks until it becomes normal to write. Over time you might see certain patterns, topics that come up again and again. This can also serve as a possible base for later talks with your therapist.

Nevertheless, I still wanna encourage you to try therapy, as having a therapist ask you questions can get you better out of your own thinking patterns (kinda hard if you try it with just your own, single mind).

Theraphy can also function as a catalyst, to get you over the worst part and give you a new perspective, which you then can follow more and more by yourself if so desired. But the answer to that will come to you when the time is right.

Take care, it will get better eventually! Just may take a while, some external help and some patience with yourself.

Venutianxspring,

Get outside and into nature as often as you can. Even if you don't feel like it, go for a walk, look at some birds, find some nice trees to surround yourself with. You'd be amazed at how much being in a forest can improve your mood (there's been some studies on the effects of nature on mood).

Start exercising, lifting weights, walking, jogging, cycling, doesn't matter start doing something. Not only will it give you something to occupy your mind with, but exercise causes your body to release endorphins that seriously increase your mood quickly and can last a large chunk of the day.

Just do something every day. Your brain is going to talk you out of doing it, but tell it to piss off and do it anyway, you'll feel better that you did.

_haha_oh_wow_,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

Go hiking regularly

RomanRoy,
@RomanRoy@lemmy.world avatar

Therapy and medication.

You can obviously do things that will make you feel better, like going to the gym or practicing sports, but ultimately it comes down to treating a medical illness.

tracyspcy,
@tracyspcy@lemmy.ml avatar

Try to go to ocean, sea or lake :)

Ziggurat,

Consider depression as a broken-leg or any other medical depression, Talk to a doctor, rest, and get medication/therapy if the doctor deems it necessary.

To my understanding, for Burn-out-style depression, doctor tend to give you 2-3 weeks of sick-leave early so you don't end-up spending 2 years in sick leave as it was the case a few years ago.

DreamerofDays,
  • Know that the answer might not be one thing, but a combination of things.

What works for you is going to be specific to you. That, and a few other points I’ll echo from other comments here:

  • Some kind of regular exercise is frequently helpful

  • Regular exposure to sunlight and fresh air is usually helpful.

Depending on your own form of neurodivergence, they may or may not act like they do for the general populace. They may have the opposite effect and make things worse, or they may work extra well. This brings me to my next important point:

  • Pay attention to what works for you.

This is another way journaling can be helpful— it’s easy to miss the ways we are affected by different stimulus throughout the day, but by writing about it, you’re forced to pay attention to what alters your mood.

Some things that bring you down or entrench the depression might be unavoidable, and that’s okay. Not everything bad will be unavoidable, and there will be room to either increase the number of good things, or be better aware of them that they might better be savored.

  • Choose the things you felt you had no choice in.

I remember being helped quite a bit by this. There was a time I felt rather trapped while helping a family member through their fight with cancer.(caretaking is hard, yo). I distinctly remember one night, reflecting on it, and explicitly choosing to be where I was, doing what I was doing, and how much that shifted my perspective.

Even if doing anything but what you are doing would be an anathema to you, you could still have chosen to do something else. At its core is the idea that there are many choices we make and ignore because none of the other options were remotely palatable.

  • Zag on it.

The habitual paths of my brain will follow their familiar courses, and if I react in my usual, expected ways, I’ll see my usual, expected outcomes. But what if I did something silly instead?

If your brain is looking to take you for a ride, throw up your arms and go “whee!” Like you’re on a roller coaster.This, of course, works best if you’re by yourself, but you can get somewhat of the effect by doing it in your head.

Or do something else that’s a bit silly, and a non-sequitur to the pattern of worry, melancholy, or dread. The point is to break out of those familiar courses, so that you can form new ones.

The additional trick of this is learning to notice the arcs of your attitude. The earlier in the course of a downturn you can interrupt the pattern, the better chance you have of pulling out of it quickly.

  • If you have trouble with intrusive thoughts, imagine a focus for them.

When the sorts of intrusive thoughts that might send me into an existential crisis creep about, I invent an imaginary source for them. I give that source a name, different every time, and I imagine they’re perched atop a large speaker that’s emitting the unwanted thought.

In my head, I address them, tell them I’m not interested right now, and imagine turning the volume down on the speaker.

It might be that this is more silliness, but it helps me to envision a source outside myself for these thoughts that are both mine and not.

  • You’ll have some good days and you’ll have some bad days.

If anything in this long ramble helps, or if anything from anyone else is the secret sauce that gets you through, that’s awesome. I really hope you find some relief in this thread.

But I want you to remember that, just as one good day doesn’t mean you’re cured, one bad day doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Even a string of one or the other.

Each new day is a new opportunity to have a better day than yesterday.

  • And if none of the above sounded good to you or was helpful, I’ll leave you with this: a stranger on the internet is rooting for you. <3
Shift_,
Shift_ avatar

Everyone will recommend the same stuff to you over and over without asking if you've tried any of it before. The truth is, if you can get access to them, anti-depressants are pretty great. They aren't a magic solution, but they do make it manageable. Coping strategies and excersise only work if you are in a place to even get up and try it.

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