for me medication has been the key

i do yoga three times a week, and try to walk everyday.

if i am in an episode, before the meds kick in then doing jigsaw puzzles, crosswords or sudoko helps. also knitting - i like to think that every stitch i am getting a little better

I voted Other. What makes my depression better is when I just get up and start living. Anything. Go somewhere, see someone. As long as Im not here, by myself thinking than I'm okay.

the thing that has helped my depression most is changing things in my life that were making me unhappy. Some of the things are very hard, but you've got to keep at it

Hope and Meds.

Gentle Sun

Here's what works best for me:

1. Being in a support group like DF
2. Therapy and meds
3. Sunbathing (effective against insomnia/ bad moods)
4. Prayer
5. pure music (no lyrics)
6. reading
7. Little or no TV (tired of trash and violence)

I find, if i'm having a really bad day, it makes no difference what i do, nothing really seems to help.

I think it would really help if i had the support of my parents, but i don't, which doesn't help.

It helps to talk - although this is something i find very difficult.

The medication i have started to take is helping me to feel calmer and to think more rationally about my feelings.

I find it really helps to be outside with my horses. This is the only place i can really be myself, and feel "free". Doing this makes me happy, so i try to do spend as much time as i can with the animals.

If i can't be outside, reading, watching a fun film, or listening to music can help to calm me down.

I have tried everything, and found nothing helps my depression. It just gets worse and worse.........

There were times i would not go out for months, i have had this acne and it did not help much people stare at me sometimes. Many times i would force myself into activities to get out of the house - sports, clubs, an so on...) and quit because they were not really for me. Lynn, is there a sport / activity / field you like better than others? When i don't feel like going out i grab an old book - go to the balcony, and read it for one-two hours. When i feel better i take my bike and go for an ice cream (fresh, they make it right there!) to this village just 10 miles from the city. I sit down, and watch the countryside - so beautiful in this season.

what i find great at the moment is playing poker in a local cardclub. And it gives me a nice little supplementary income.

my biggest help is writing. Last year when I was goin through a very dark depression fit, I wrote everything down, and I ended up writing a couple good stories that had base feelings around what I was feeling. The one story still makes me cry everytime I read it, because it holds so much pain in it for me....:( Oh well...

But yea, that's mine, writing....

Funny I didn't get the same results, the last card game I was in.

I found writing prose healing for a while, but then i wasn't feeing too good about reading it either. Writing poetry is much better for me, but is more effective if i don't make it long. Verse comes and goes, but when i do have some, it's only a few lines, no longer than 10. If i dwell too long i'll lose the feeling i want to pen down at that moment.

I have learned something called the Emotional Freedom Technique. It involves stimulating our nervous system to 'realign' itself from negative feelings. It has a biological basis and i have found it helps me. The is a website for it if you want to look it up

Meds have helped me the most....they got me able to work with my family and friends to get through this.. at which that point they came in ... but without the meds I had no chance. I spoke to a theripst, but without any medication, I still couldn't control what I was doing.

A couple things tend to help, such as expressing yourself, talking to other people, keeping your mind busy with something, listening to some relaxing music, trying to count your blessings

Right now being able to talk to my husband without feeling he is going to get frustrated really helps. It's hard to talk to anyone else, even a therapist. Sometimes I just get tired of telling the same story over and over. The psych asks, the therapist asks, then another and another.

I think keeping close to people really helps...

I have several hobbies which I try to keep myself busy with. I've found when I can stay busy doing my hobbies I make friends and don't think about the bad things so often.

In the early days talk therapies were invaluable. It helped me realise what was happening to me and why I was feeling the way I did. Then with this bit of knowledge I could start to try and turn things around.

More recently things were getting on top of me. I got myself a complete change of scenery for a few weeks. (It probably helped that it was somewhere sunny). It didn't solve my problems, but gave me the space I need to take a step back, look at where I was and where I wanted to be.

I know dropping everything isn't always an option for most people, but taking a break can help you re-evaluate where you are at, and then decide how to get back on track.

My John :) (Best friend, not boyfriend before anyone thinks it ;) )

And snuggling in bed with a hot water bottle and trying to ignore everything. Probably not helpful, but meh.

The only thing that has ever really helped me is to have a supportive friend who is truly concerned about me (since I have no family). Having that emotional suport then gives me motivation to do those other things, like exercise, that make me feel even better.

Ron

I shoot alot, but when that doesnt work if my wife is home we lie down together and i lay my head over her heart and listen to her heartbeat, if shes not home i hug one of her pillows or blankets since they smell like her. I know it sounds silly but she has always been the calming voice. Thats how i get through the worst of it when the meds arent doing their job.

I think whats helped me the most is just writing. I call it "word vomit" (as gross as that sounds) ... but I start off with something small, something thats bugging me about other people, or myself, or life ... and I just keep writing. I keep going until I need to/have to stop ... and I look back on what I've written. For me, I find a jump topics a lot ... but its a starting point for pin-pointing whats bothering me, and I can them make steps to correct it.

medication which numbs the acuteness of emotional pain, and this time round being able to commubicate by the written word with you all , I find it almost impossible to talk with poeple face to face , for fear of their reactions, before this I filled notebook after notebook with my distress, so wish this technology had existed years ago !!!

well this might be stupid to you guys but talking to jesus in my room. let me explain lol, well when I get depressed I have no one to talk to so I just go in my room do a quick prayer and tell jesus whats on my mind. after I do this I feel much better.

Exercise helps ease my depression SO much - the only problem is garnering up the motivation to get that exercise. Sometimes, I just don't want to leave the house, because I don't want anyone to see me.

Waking up early in the morning, having a shower, doing my hair and putting on my makeup, and then going out to accomplish one small thing - that is another huge thing that boosts my mood.

Helping others on forums makes me feel good, but I have to be careful, because I have a serious forum addiction, and tend to stay up too late on forums, which prevents me from waking up at a proper time the next day, which makes me feel lousy.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been waking up between 4 pm and 6 pm. That's not good. By the time I have my shower and get ready, businesses are closed!

I was only talking with my therapist last week about this,the meds,my meetings with my therapist,a wholly helpfull and decent person,who cares about people,the meds to a degree,and this place,a combination of three things and I am starting to understand.

Other than that,on a day to day basis,and I know this is wrong,but going to the pub with my trusted friends,Yes I drink,but it forces me to eat,then sleep,two things I have difficulty with without a beer or two.The meds do neither.

SC

-Anything with movement, like walking, biking, swimming
-Talking openly with friends
-Creative efforts - writing, photgraphy, art, drawing, cooking, gardening...

And this one sounds weird, but...
-Going out and having a chat with a complete stranger. You'll find a lot of perspective just by smiling and sharing something with someone you've never known. (Within a safe environment, of course). You don't even have to say much, just ask the person a question and try to listen at what s/he feels is important.

Things that have helped me and continue to help me.......

Meds... talk therapy... Music... Writing... Having the support and understanding of my best friend... getting out more and doing things... going to the comedy club (laughter really is the best medicine!!!)... and last but most important MY KIDS!!!!

Things that make me feel better are snuggling in my blanket, eating lots of junk food and talking to my spiritual side because I dont have any family and at 3 in the morning I dont think my only friend wants to listen to me but I love talking to her too, makes me feel better and not so alone.

Isabeau

Things that make me feel better are looking after my animals, having fun with my son, a nice cuddle in bed and some yummy food!! xx

talking helps too and helping others xx

I've recently started exercizing and eating less and its building my self esteem.

Right now, nothing seems to be helping very much, which is why I made an appointment to see a psychiatrist at a major teaching hospital.

Reading helps sometimes, gets my mind out of my mind without requiring exertion for which I lack the motivation -- science fiction and science fact, in particular (although I'm not a scientist).

I'm sure the meds have helped in the past, but right now I think they've lost their punch.

Talk therapy is a big help. I was going once a week, started feeling better and cut back to once a month. But now I'm back up to every two weeks, and may increase that.

I'm extremely fortunate to have a very supportive wife who tries very hard to understand what I'm going through. I don't have a lot of friends, however, with whom I can vent. That's part of my depression, and partly due to the lack of parental nurturing that I grew up with which seems to have deprived me of the ability to easily form relationships.

A combination of most above will defin help but not everyone is the same, but i think its better to be mentally broken then fysically!

I am on meds which have bought me out of my depression but I still get these wonderful (nasty) little downswings where everything is wrong, and I repeat all the old messages from when I was younger. So I try to find out where this feeling is coming from and analyze it. If I can find out what and why I can diffuse it. I talk a lot to friends online which makes it easier to be honest and open and its kinda funny, we will be talking about something way off the mark and it will just hit me. And as it does I type it so I can see it. Then I can read it, feel it and work on it.

I also love talking to my bf and trying to keep his life busy and full with my issues, lol. While me may not always agree with it, he listens and lets me rage, cry whatever and sits with me, reassuring me the whole time he loves me, which is so helpful. Plus it shows him a glimpse into a brillant mind

I think what is helping me alot later is realising how much scares me and holds me back from being the person I want to be. I suppose I am now challenging myself to face my fears, I know that this will be a long and painful journey but I want to be happy and if I can I will try to get past the fears that hold me back.

Isabeau

That's weird...I was thinking the same thing this morning, while watching a handful of 9/11 specials on the Discovery Channel...I try to do a little of that every day, and it may just take me forever to work through it. But that is what forever is for.

Exercise is the single most effective thing I can do on my own in lieu of therapy or drugs...but some of it depends on the context of whatever it is I am going through (what worked yesterday just might not work today).

For instance: I started exercising, working out like crazy from late'99 through early 2002. I also drew a lot (sequential art...I'm trying to break into comics). From mid-2002-03, I stopped, and my depression grew exponentially (it didn't help that I had a couple of deaths happen to people very close to me at that time either). I could not get back into exercising. So...my new thing became politics. Depressing, depressing (normally depressing, that is) politics. I researched everything I could, and strangely...that really helped (I guess being focused on something outside of myself). I got back into my childhood hobby of studying dinosaurs along with this, and I basically had too much on my mind to be depressed...I drowned everything else out.

The politics then became too much (it is difficult (read: impossible) to find somebody to TALK to about such things),and became a big obstacle, and began to put me right BACK where I was to begin with...but then, I started to get back into my art. I started writing/drawing again, and the self-publishing bug bit me big time. I also started exercising again...like crazy. It's like this cyclical thing, where I am back on a routine I was last on some 5 years ago...but a little older, and a little wiser.

But that has also occurred in synch with my latest dark period, which I doubt I could even begin to want to overcome without something to distract me.

Another thing I've done: I went out and over the course of 9 months sunk about $6,000.00 in my Transformers collection.

I know its nutty, its not what someone in their 30's are 'supposed' to be doing, but you know something?

I feel like a champ when I play with...I mean, when I TRANSFORM them.

I say diet helps me a little more than meds for me. All the anti-depressants I'm on tend to make my face swell up a bit, then people make comments that I look sick and/or tired (especially in the mornings) which are depressing themselves.

However, when I'm following a healthy diet my depression doesn't seem so rough.

Hi there,

I'm 22 as well and I've been clinically depressed since I was 10. Until this year. I also used to fit descriptions for social anxiety, bpd, bipolar, sad, and add. I'm also obese. I had been to numerous doctors therapists and hospitals and taken almost every medication they give you. None of it helped one bit. Therapy actually made me worse by causing me to focus on the depressing things in my life. I gave up this wild goose chase when my psych recommended geodon, an antipsychotic. That was about 5 years ago. Since then I've been living with it and dealing with it drug and doctor free, but I stumbled on a natural treatment trying to correct my weight problem. I adopted a very high fat, high calorie, zero carb, carnivorous diet 5 months ago and after 2 weeks I had lost 20 pounds (starting at 425) and I noticed that I had also lost all of my symptoms of any mental illness. 5 months later this observation holds true and this is the longest I've ever been without depression. I'm actually better than normal, my mental and physical energy is through the roof and I'm currently missing 90 pounds. Let me know if you've ever seen a 330 pound man run up 8 flights of stairs skipping steps, just for the hell of it. I can't make the claim that all of these illnesses are strictly diet related, but this is one possible treatment that they don't tell you about.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This diet has risks, and should be closely monitored by a doctor familiar with ketogenic diets.


This post has been edited by suburgatory: Sep 12 2007, 02:47 PM