How to Overcome Depression?
Question by Dylan: How to overcome depression?
I hate admitting this, but I’m depressed allll the fu*king time, and I HATE it! The funny thing is that my friends always call me “the happy one” and always think I’m endlessly sunny. The few times I’ve confided to people that I never actually feel happy and instead just feel a constant droning sadness, I was given advice such as “get over it”, and “don’t be depressed” (it didn’t work though).
It’s weird, everyone refers to my mom as “Pollyanna”. She’s a school teacher and has a reputation among her staff for being endlessly caring and optimistic and anytime something bad happens, her motto is “life is a lesson, let’s learn from this.” I confided to her once that I always feel depressed, all the time, and she told me that she actually feels “depressed all the time too, but there’s nothing that can be done about it, so that’s why we should put on a smile and get on with our day.” I never realized how similar we were until that admission, because I realized I do the exact same thing: wear a constant smile while inside I’m completely numb and can’t feel a thing.
I’m really not looking for pity or anything here at all. All I want is one answer: how can I overcome it??? I HATE feeling this way. I want to be motivated and productive and it’s SOOOOO hard being motivated and productive when you feel like nothing matters, even if in your mind, you know a lot of things matter. It’s like my logic and my emotions aren’t synced. I know I have SOOO much to live for and I SHOULD be so happy about all the opportunities I have, but instead… I just feel nothing. Does anyone have any tricks or ideas for how I can overcome this, apart from “get a therapist”? I really don’t want to take any drugs or antidepressants to be happy (I’m very much about living all-naturally) but I’m so tired of feeling like this. I’m up for anything if you can put reason to it in your post. Does that Tony Robbins guy actually work? How about Scientology? They seem happy (though I’m not thrilled with the pseudo-religion sounding aspect of it). I’m open to ideas here big time.
Best answer:
Answer by CHARGED.
Excersise
Answer by badger_shaman
seek medical help, consider counseling, and maybe medication, I know you say you don’t like this option, but it really can help, and believe me, medication does NOT make you feel ‘happy’ it just helps you cope
find support amongst friends if you can
try to get enough rest
try to eat healthily
regular exercise helps
mediation might be beneficial
look into St John’s Wort, a herbal supplement that may be beneficial in treating depression