DOMINANT SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION
1. Loss of appetite. 2. Depressed affect. 3. Diminished interest in or enjoyment of activities. 4. Psychomotor agitation or retardation. 5. Sleeplessness or hypersomnia. 6. Lack of energy. 7. Poor concentration and indecisiveness. 8. Social withdrawal. 9. Suicidal thoughts and/or gestures. 10. Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or inappropriate guilt. 11. Low self-esteem 12. Neglect of appearance or hygiene.
13. Unresolved grief.
Many of us have symptoms of depression from time to time and this can often be mitigated by exercise, self care, and getting support from close friends or a counselor. Occasionally, the depression becomes so pervasive that a person has difficulty handling everyday demands at home or work. In this situation the person should seek professional help.
SELF HELP FOR DEPRESSION
There is seldom one reason for depression. Usually several things are contributing: chemical, neurological and psychological. Similarly, there is rarely one simple solution and a variety of therapies will probably be useful. The mind, body and spirit are all connected and affect each other. Here we’ll focus on the mental-emotional-spiritual strategies.
Attitude
Let’s start with our minds. Attitude is probably the single most important factor regarding any healing process and certainly with depression. If you feel helpless, chances are you’ll stop doing things that could relieve the depression. A hopeful attitude, or even a determined, stubborn attitude will improve your health. You may not be able to get totally rid of your depression, but you can control it and you can continue to create a life worth living. The very first thing to do is to decide you are going to take charge of your own healing process.
Next, consider keeping notes of your progress and therapies in a journal. You can keep track of which foods, which activities, which medications, even which people when they visit, enliven you or deflate you even more. The more you know about your depression, the more powerful you become in managing it.
Taming the Mind
Using your mind to help your pain does not mean that it’s all in your head. The mind is a part of us affected by depression but it can also be helpful in coping with this condition. The mind should not be allowed to run wild. It is a tool we need to learn how to control. We can choose to think positive thoughts and turn our attention away from the negative ones. We can choose to remember positive experiences in the past instead of focusing on the disappointments and losses. We can daydream about and plan for things we look forward to in the future. Every day we can choose to focus on the people and situations in our lives that we are grateful for. When we select these ways of directing our minds, we reduce our inner stress, ease pain, and create more peace and joy in ourselves.
Cognitive self talk refers to the way we talk to ourselves. Most of us have a habit of being really critical of ourselves and others. When we say negative things to ourselves, stress is created and depression can deepen. Pay attention to what you might be telling yourself. Here a few examples of self defeating talk and examples of ways to replace them:
My life is too painful. could be If I focus on one thing at a time, I can change things.
I always fail. could be I have done some things well and I can again. I feel so guilty. I’m bad. could be I can make amends and forgive myself. I didn’t mean to hurt another. I’m too depressed to do anything. could be I can do one small thing today and feel a victory in that.
Listen to your self talk and write down positive ways of talking to yourself to replace your negative ones. Like any other habit, it takes practice to change. Change your thoughts and your feelings change.
Active Imagination
Another aspect of our minds that can be helpful to us is our imagination. We all know how easy it is to imagine bad things happening. Our fear does this to us all the time. Consider, though, that you could apply this powerful tool to reduce emotional pain and energize yourself. For example, try imagining yourself in a warm, sweetly scented bath when you are sad or empty. Imagine yourself in a cool clear blue green spring of water when you feel angry or agitated. Try imagining the colors that represent the quickening energies of curiosity, playfulness, and light heartedness. The more practice at this technique, the more quickly you will feel changes.
Creating a Safe Place
Safe place visualization: Imagine a beautiful safe place, perhaps even a sacred place, that you associate with comfort and relaxation. It can be a place in real life or you can design such a place to your own liking. As you remember it or imagine it, it is important to feel yourself in this place, not just looking at it. To do this, you choose the sights, the colors, the time of day, the time of year, the sounds, the smells, and the textures of the experience. Make it as vivid as possible. Then relax and rest or explore it to your heart’s content. This exercise has several benefits: helping your body and feelings relax; nourishing your spirit; taking your mind off of your distress; and opening way to connect more with your intuition and creativity. Kathryn’s Vol. I CD develops the safe place.
Meditation
Meditation is a technique for quieting our minds. Meditation can reduce your preoccupation with your depression and allow you to get on with the rest of your life. There are many forms of meditation and many books on the subject. Experiment to find the ones that work best for you.
Meditation can be as simple as counting your breaths. Try these and see which ones work best.
4/4 breathing: breathe in for the count of 4 , hold for 4, breathe out for 4 and hold for 4. Repeat.
6/3 breathing: breathe in for the count of 6, hold for 3, breathe out for 6, hold or 3. Repeat.
Breathe in a color and continue imagining filling your body with it. Take your time. Enjoy. Breathe into parts of the body starting with the head and going down to the feet. Encourage each part of you to relax, let go. Take your time. Do any of these for at least 10 minutes to notice a shift. Most teachers recommend working up to 20 minutes a day for a lasting effect.
Mindfulness Meditation
This meditation is particularly good for pain relief. Sit or lie down in a comfortable place and position. You can use pillows to prop yourself so you can be at ease as much as possible. Then close your eyes and notice your breath. Notice how the breath feels, where it goes when it come into your body, what changes in your body occur with each breath, and what happens with the exhale--watching this process–noticing all the little details of each breath cycle. Continue this observation for the entire meditation. Each time the mind slips off the task, you gently guide your attention back to watching the breath. 20 minutes is a very effective amount of time but do as much as you can. Eventually, this observing skill can be applied to your emotional distress–watching it without any judgment, noticing how it, too, comes and goes--each moment a bit different from the one before.
Time Travel
Get comfortable as described for meditation and then allow yourself to remember sweet times in the past: times with loved ones, celebrations, words of wisdom from a friend or elder, a place you visited and enjoyed. Filling yourself with pleasant memories is soothing to the body-mind-spirit. In a similar way, you can also imagine experiences you would like to have in the future: make up your own special virtual reality. What places would you like to visit? What new skills would you like to learn? What dreams do you have for yourself, your loved ones, your community?
Spiritual Practices
Spiritual practices other than meditation such as prayer and asking for others’ prayers, healing ceremonies, and attending church or smokehouse can be helpful. Recognize the spiritual challenge in working with your pain. Looking for the blessings and opportunities, the silver lining in the cloud, as a way of cultivating a positive attitude. We usually grow more from our challenges than we do when things are easy.
Read inspirational books: The Bible, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Big Book, stories of people who have overcome things, had remarkable healing. Watch videos on similar topics. Forgive yourself and others for the past. Holding on to guilt or resentment creates stress in the body and adds to pain. Do something for someone else when you are feeling better.
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