Depression is neither good for the mental health nor the physical health of a person. Everyone who is in a state of depression wants desperately to overcome depression. In simple terms, depression is a medical condition. It is not laziness or a temporary response to a bad event or a bad situation. No one wants to stay depressed, but people do live under depression for weeks, months, even years.
There are some important facts that you should know and they will help you overcome depression. Or it can also help you to take someone out of a state of depression.
Let’s first see what causes depression. Knowing the root of the problem always helps to remove it from the root.
What Causes Depression?
Research suggests that depression doesn’t occur from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, long-term unemployment, living in an abusive or uncaring relationship, loneliness, work-stress, medications, and medical problems, etc.
The major cause of depression is usually related to factors. Let’s see what those personal factors could be.
Personal Factors
- Family History: Depression can be hereditary and can make the entire family depressed. Such families and family members are at greater risk to inherit it from their ancestors. However, it is not always the case. Life events, health conditions, financial issues, etc., can have more influence in causing depression.
- Personality: People having a tendency to worry a lot about their appearance, self-esteem, physique, perfectionism, body types like very thin or obese. Women are more at risk of depression because of personality factors.
- Serious Medical Illness: The struggle of coping with a serious illness can lead to depression. Especially if you’re dealing with chronic pain it makes you more at risk of getting into depression.
- Drug and Alcohol Use: Usually, people those who use drug and alcohol are either already depressed or this leads to depression. From the research, it has been established that drug and alcohol abuse is one of the main reasons for depression.
Who are More at Risk of Depression?
People between the age of 45 and 65 are more likely to be affected by major depression. Research indicated that the people in this age group are at the top of the depression bell curve. But, it is also true that people at both ends of the bell curve i.e., very young and very old may be at higher risk of severe depression.
Symptoms of Depression
Many people even when they are in depression don’t know that they are in a state of depression. Based on the clinical data and research in the field of depression there are some indicators that help define if a person is into depression.
If yes, then what level of depression is the person in question. The symptoms given below are indicators of depression. However, a major depressive episode is defined as experiencing five or more of the following symptoms / depressive indicators every day (or most days) for fifteen days or even more than that:
- Agitation or severe anxiety/panic attacks.
- Change in interests (i.e., not being interested in what you used to enjoy) or low motivation.
- Changes in appetite (i.e., eating too much or too little).
- Depressed or irritable mood.
- Excessive guilt or unrealistically low self-image.
- Significantly low energy and/or change in self-care (i.e., not getting your hair cut, taking bath, not cleaning up your house and surroundings, etc.).
- Bad Concentration (i.e., a sharp decline in grades or performance).
- Sleep Disorders (i.e., sleeping too much or too little; sleeping mainly during the day).
- Suicidal thoughts, plans, or behaviors — including self-harm (i.e., intentionally cutting, harming physically, or burning yourself).
Please keep in mind that not everyone who is depressed is suicidal. But even if someone is not showing any suicidal and self-harming behaviors or any severe symptoms doesn’t mean he doesn’t need help to get out of the depression.
What to Do When You Know You Are Depressed?
It is important to note that depression is not a permanent state and if treated well people can surely overcome depression. There are anti-depressant medicines to cure depression but those are not very effective for everyone. So, the best approach to overcome depression without medicines is to start with learning some positive coping skills.
These coping skills can be very useful in overcoming depression. These simple techniques of coping with depression are well researched and tested. These techniques can be used even when patients with depression are taking antidepressant medicines. When you are trying these coping techniques and you are taking medications for depression, do not stop taking your medicines immediately. If you want to stop taking your antidepressant medicines consult your doctor first. If your doctor advises you to stop them then only you should stop your medications.
The Coping Skills That You Should Practice Every Day
Following coping skills are researched, implemented, and proved to be beneficial even more than the medication in the case of depressed people. People who are under depression should practice these coping skills once a day. If not all then they should be doing some of them for sure.
While in the state of depression it is very natural that people might feel unmotivated to do anything. But motivation comes back when they start practicing these coping skills and have done it for a few weeks. Assistance from family members, friends, colleagues, etc., can be very useful in this transition.
Find Something Meaningful to Do for Others
The first thing in the coping skills for overcoming depression is to start doing something meaningful for others. When you start doing something for others and they are happy you find you get yourself happy and it helps you overcome depression since you involve yourself in doing something good for others.
Work on Your Life Goals
The important thing about life goals is that you should set only realistic goals. If you set unreasonable goals you may feel guilty for not achieving them and it might be the cause of depression. A goal is workable if it’s:
- Controlled by Yourself (i.e., it doesn’t depend on others). The goals you set for yourself should be controlled by yourself without having any dependency on others. When you control your goals you are pretty much set to achieve them.
- Manageable: Your goals should be manageable. If you set goals that you cannot manage you will be overwhelmed and might cause frustration and depression.
- Realistic: The goals should be realistic. Don’t set goals like if you want to become president of your country and you are not associated in politics or anything for that matter.
- Measurable: The goals should be measurable. If you cannot measure the progress you are making towards achieving your goals you may find it difficult to achieve them. Hence, the goals you set for yourself should be measurable so that you can alter your strategy as and when required to achieve them.
Here one thing is very important to keep in mind. Always keep an attitude to learn from your mistakes and keep making yourself and your strategies better. If something goes wrong, learn from it, make changes, and move ahead. Don’t take it otherwise that you can’t do that or your depression will be increasing.
Another important thing is that you should not compare your progress with others. There is no point comparing your biggest weakness with someone’s biggest strength. That’s not only unfair but also can aggravate your depression. Keep a cool head, and think of a way to achieve your life goals, instead of leaving them in between the journey.
Schedule Happy Events and Activities
If you don’t do anything to keep yourself happy and keep sitting alone thinking about the bad things or events of your life, it won’t help you anyway. Try to do something that makes you happy. Maybe you can take an hour for dog walking, gardening, or any hobby you like. But, keep in mind doing these activities with a positive mind and attitude. Doing such things really helps overcome depression.
Practice Gratitude
It is important to show and practice gratitude for real. There are a lot of things in our lives and even in our everyday life, and you should be thanking God for all those good things. Think of the things that go well not the ones that go wrong. Having gratitude not only motivates you but also makes you really happy and it helps you overcome depression without medicines.
Keep Yourself Engagement
It is important for you to be in the present always. This practice is also called “mindfulness”. During activities try not to be in your head with self-judgment. It is hard to turn off the self-judgment and getting carried away, but you can take notice of it and bring yourself gently back to the present and into the activity, you are doing. That way you will finish your work faster and better and also keep yourself away from the thoughts that depress you. People with higher self-compassion also have higher self-worth or self-confidence that helps overcome depression faster.
East Healthy and Exercise Regularly
A healthy brain lives in a healthy body. So, you need to keep yourself healthy. To do so you should be taking a healthy diet and regular moderate exercise. Exercising regularly can help boost your mood very dramatically. Similarly, having healthy food and drink have a lot of influence on your mood. You should avoid fast food which is not healthy and takes too long to get digested. Better to have a healthy diet like salads, low carb products, etc., to keep yourself healthy.
Focus on Your Healthy Relationships
Failed marriages, breakups, loss of a job, business losses are the major reason for the depression. But, it is important to keep interacting with your relatives, only those who cheer you up and help you overcome depression. Keeping in touch with friends and relatives can keep your mood uplift.
The idea is not to isolate yourself or the depression will linger.
Take Proper Sleep and Relax Yourself
Like other things sleeping is also very important to keep your health and mind balanced. Follow a regular sleep regime to keep your body healthy and mind active. Staying up late at night is a proven way to boost depression.
It’s best if you follow the rule of early sleep and early awaking in the morning and follow that up with a moderate exercise and healthy breakfast.
When you start with these coping skills religiously you are on to the path of overcoming your depression.
Depression tends to linger when depressed people make up reasons why they can’t do these coping skills. You should keep in mind that irrespective of what antidepression medication you are taking if you practice the above discussed coping skills every day you will see that your depression treatment is healing you faster. It is pertinent to state here that these positive depression coping skills may take time and practice, but results are really encouraging.
Conclusion
I am very hopeful that these tips will help overcome depression for anyone who is undergoing a state of depression. You can share this post with your friends or anyone who needs to overcome the state of depression. Stay happy, stay healthy, live life beautifully.
