Clinical depression is not the same as feeling low or the simple sadness that anyone can experience from time to time. It means being clinically depressed, meaning that there is a medical diagnosis. There are several psychiatric conditions that include symptoms of clinical depression, including: major depressive disorder, mood disturbing disorder, persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. There are also depressive disorders caused by the use of substances, drugs or health problems. Whatever disorder you have, you can manage symptoms by receiving support, using management strategies, and changing depressive mental patterns.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Getting Professional Help
Step 1. Stay safe if you are thinking of harming yourself
If you have recently been developing the idea of injuring yourself or killing yourself, you need to seek help immediately. If you are planning on committing suicide or are planning to hurt yourself and fear that you cannot control your impulses, seek outside support right away.
- Call the emergency health services at 118.
- Call Telefono Amico (199 284 284) to express your suffering anonymously and confidentially or use an online help chat.
- Go to the nearest emergency room to explain how you feel. Tell the health care professional that you are considering committing suicide.
Step 2. Consult a psychotherapist
If you decide to get help from a mental health professional, be sure to choose one who specializes in depressive disorders and can put you at ease. Even if you have found the one that matches your needs, it certainly won't be able to solve all your problems instantly, but it will teach you to help yourself, recommend a psychiatrist if necessary (for prescription medications) and offer support. to overcome the most difficult moments.
- If you have health insurance, contact your company for a list of doctors who work in the city where you live. Find out about the services covered by your insurance plan.
- If you have not taken out a health insurance contract, use the Internet to find facilities that provide psychological counseling services in agreement with the national health service, at low cost or free. Alternatively, ask your doctor which professional you can contact or consult the ASL psychologist.
- If you find a professional who can meet your needs, go to therapy as long as you see the usefulness. Ask him if you can call him after each visit to make an appointment in case of unforeseen events.
- Find a therapy group or ask for suggestions. For example, "Coping with Depression" (CWD) therapy is an effective treatment for reducing depression that is already in progress.
Step 3. Consider taking medications
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of more severe forms of depression. Find out if your therapist finds them useful in your situation. Ask which psychiatrists you know have successfully followed up cases similar to yours.
- Even if you are already taking prescription medications, don't believe that pills will solve your problem easily. There are many other ways to fight depression that are worth trying.
- Understand that not all psychiatrists are alike. Ask your psychiatrist what kind of treatments he suggests to patients in your situation. Ask him what medications he gives patients, does he prescribe more than one, and how to make dose adjustments. If you feel this isn't the right choice, ask someone else.
- If you decide to use medications to relieve your depression, know that each produces different effects. Some may worsen depression over a period of time or increase suicidal thoughts before they start helping you. In this case, contact your doctor or therapist.
- Never stop a drug out of the blue. It could produce negative reactions (agitation, hot flashes, chills, and so on) and aggravate depression. Change or reduce the dosage only after consulting your psychiatrist.
Part 2 of 4: Get Support from the People Around You
Step 1. Seek support from the family
Social support is one of the most helpful resources when dealing with depression. It can help you feel appreciated, loved, and understand that many people are willing to help and take care of you.
- Depression is an inherited mood disorder. Research your biological family. Are there other cases of depressed people? Study them and see how they dealt with this problem.
- If some relatives support you more than others, ask them for help first. If you find it difficult to ask for support from close family members (parents or siblings), turn to grandparents, uncles and cousins. If even then you don't get the help you need, go further than your family by seeking support from close friends.
- If the therapist is the only person you can rely on, that's not a problem. They can recommend group therapy and put you in contact with an association that can provide you with the support you need if you cannot count on friends and family.
Step 2. Share how you feel with other people
Emotional support is a fairly common resource for fighting depression, as it allows you to vent your emotions in the company of other individuals instead of repressing them leading to a nervous breakdown or emotional breakdown.
- Talk to your friends. If you feel worse than usual, the mere presence of a friend who can listen and support you can save your life. Sometimes it's hard to act when you're depressed, so there's nothing to be ashamed of having someone around to help you out.
- It can be emotionally cathartic to shout at a friend or family member.
- If you want to cheer yourself up, ask your friends to do something fun with you.
Step 3. Build healthy relationships
According to some studies, the quality of relationships with partner, family and friends is a rather incisive risk factor in major depression. Those with poorly fulfilling relationships or those who offer little support are at twice the risk of suffering from depression than those who cultivate healthy relationships. By identifying and eliminating the most harmful emotional bonds, you will have an extra card to play to fight depression.
- Healthy relationships are characterized by respect, trust, cooperation and acceptance. They involve demonstrations of affection, openness in communication and fairness.
- When they are not healthy, they are typically characterized by intimidating behavior, humiliation, threats, bullying, criticism and accusations. They also give rise to abuse (verbal, physical, sexual) and possessiveness.
- Analyze current friendships and relationships. Are there people who tend to demoralize or criticize you? Keep in mind that their presence probably does you more harm than good. Consider whether you need to distance yourself from harmful relationships or build new ones.
Part 3 of 4: Using Management Techniques
Step 1. Get informed
To solve any problem, a great place to start is to research and inform yourself. Knowledge is power, so if you know what affects your depression, you're halfway there. Mindfulness can help those with depression cope with the most difficult situations.
- The term psychoeducation indicates the methodology that aims to make the person with a psychic disorder aware of the nature of the pathology from which he suffers. Try to find out about psychoeducation related to your disorder with your therapist and establish a therapeutic path with him.
- Get books, scientific articles, watch documentaries, and conduct some Internet research to learn more about your condition.
Step 2. Set goals
In any therapy aimed at reducing the symptoms of depression, it is essential to set certain goals. In order to relieve this ailment, a treatment plan must be followed.
- Ask yourself what goals you can set for managing clinical depression. How are you going to deal with it? Do you want to relieve it? Do you want to learn new management strategies? Be specific and set achievable and time-limited goals (one week, one month, six months). For example, the idea of completely eradicating your ailment within a month could be an unreal goal. However, if you intend to reduce it on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is the most severe form and 1 corresponds to the absence of depression), then the step from 9 to 7 is presumably doable.
- Create a treatment plan to reduce depression. Use the management strategies listed here to guide you in defining your goals. For example, you may want to study your mood disorder at least once a week.
- See if your plan is working. If necessary, modify it to include strategies you haven't tried yet.
Step 3. Work harder on everything that excites you to improve your condition
How you choose to cope with depression should be based on identifying stressors, using your personal and cultural resources, and certain social situations.
- Here are some examples of what you could do: read, watch movies, write (a journal or stories), paint, sculpt, play with a pet, cook, listen to music, sew and knit.
- Insert all the activities you prefer into your daily routine.
- If you are prone to spiritual and religious practices, they have been shown to reduce depression, especially in older people.
Step 4. Make a commitment to fix the problem
Certain life events and certain stressful situations promote or increase depression. By using problem-solving techniques as a management strategy during these circumstances, you have the potential to decrease depressive episodes. Focus on the aspects you are able to handle in a given situation (such as your reactions or thoughts) instead of worrying about those you cannot control (such as the behavior of others).
- Sometimes interpersonal conflicts can increase depression. Use conflict resolution techniques if you have problems with other people. For example, express your feelings openly, but without aggression. Try to be assertive by speaking in the first person: "I'm sorry when you forget to call me back."
- Avoid being constantly on the lookout for new information to put off what you need to do. It is a common behavior in individuals suffering from depression. Try to accept that in order to change things, you have to act. Know all the options that are most helpful when making a decision, but at some point you go further and decide, whether it's ending a bad friendship or trying a new therapy.
- Focus only on what you can control. Think about planning and solving the most problematic and uncertain aspects instead of mulling over the mistakes of others or what is happening around you (traffic, noise from neighbors, etc.).
Step 5. Train
Physical activity has a strong relationship with lower levels of depression. In addition, it can also relieve depression despite the presence of health problems and the occurrence of negative events.
- Train however you like: walk, run, cycle, use the elliptical, hike or lift weights.
- Get moving doing fun activities you've never tried before, like zumba, aerobics, yoga, pilates, and kayaking.
Step 6. Resort to full consciousness or meditation
Mindfulness-based meditation can help increase well-being and decrease depression. The goal of the practitioner is to be more present in the moment so as to focus on what they are experiencing instead of mulling over the past or worrying about what might happen tomorrow.
- Mindfulness meditation exercises are great for those who want to start gaining greater awareness. Try some full consciousness exercises, such as consciously eating a bite of fruit (apple, banana, strawberry, or whatever else you want). First, look at the fruit. What colors and shapes do you notice? Then tap on it. What do you feel? Is it soft, smooth or bumpy? Enjoy all the sensations and notice every aspect of its texture. Afterward, smell and taste it. Then, take a little bite. What does it taste like? Is it sour or sweet? What texture does it have in the mouth? Chew it slowly focusing on the experience you are having. If you have other thoughts that might distract you, let them go without judgment.
- For example, another full consciousness exercise is to pay attention when walking. Just take a walk around your neighborhood (as long as it's safe) or a park. As in the exercise with fruit, focus on everything you see, hear with your nose, ears, mouth and that touches the skin and body.
Step 7. Calm down
Grounding exercises, or distraction techniques, are useful if you need to temporarily distract yourself from emotional pain. Grounding (or grounding) allows you to distance yourself from the feelings generated by depression and excessive reflection, giving you the opportunity to focus on something else.
- Try this mind-grounding technique: Name as many cities, colors, or animals you can think of (A to Z).
- Do a physical grounding exercise: for example, run cold water on your hands, take a relaxing bath, or pat an animal.
- There are many other grounding exercises. Look for them on the Internet.
Step 8. Don't deal with depression in a counterproductive way
By doing so, you risk worsening your condition. Negative ways of dealing with this problem include social isolation (avoiding contact with people), aggression (such as yelling, using violence, or harming people) or excessive consumption of alcohol and other harmful substances..
Avoid using alcohol and drugs to counteract depressed mood or other depressive symptoms. It is common for people with depression to fall into problems related to the use of harmful substances
Part 4 of 4: Changing the Mental Patterns of the Depressive Order
Step 1. Reformulate automatic thoughts
The vision we have of ourselves, of others and of the world creates our particular reality. The thoughts we have are directly related to our feelings. If we think negatively, we are more prone to get depressed. Cognitive restructuring consists in changing the negative and not very constructive thoughts that aggravate depression and replacing them with others that are closer to reality. If you consciously change these thoughts, you will be able to improve your depressive state.
Step 2. Fight your Manichean view of reality
In practice, it means that you consider things either all good or all bad. Try to find an intermediate point. If you have a completely negative view of someone or something, identify at least a couple of positives and focus on those.
Step 3. Reduce the sense of guilt
You feel it when you think, "It's just my fault. Nobody appreciates me because I'm good for nothing." These are wrong thoughts, because you can't take responsibility for everything, but there are always other factors to consider in every situation.
At the same time, don't put all the blame on others. Admit yours and try to realistically assess the situation
Step 4. Avoid catastrophism
This attitude leads you to believe that the worst case scenario will occur in an attempt to predict the future.
- Make an effort to think about other implications that the situation might take. For example, if after a job interview you are sure that you will not be hired, consider that in the eyes of the evaluators you may be liked and that you still have an opportunity.
- Think about the likelihood of the worst case scenario occurring. If you think rationally, the chance that the world will end is very low.
- Another option is to think about the worst possible scenario and realize that nothing is irremediable. So, if the worst thing that can happen is failing a very important exam, you are actually very likely to survive and take it again. You will not die because you will fail. You will go on and learn how to improve for the next time. After all, the situation may not be so catastrophic.
Step 5. Let go of perfectionism
Perfectionism, or thinking that everything has to go the way you want, can lead to depression because if you have unrealistic and too high expectations about yourself, others or the context around you, you risk being disappointed. Chronic disappointment can certainly promote depressed mood and the onset of other depressive symptoms (sleep disturbances, weight loss or gain, and so on).
- Set realistic goals and have more concrete expectations. If you claim to lose 5 pounds in three days, you will be doomed to fail. It is a very difficult undertaking, but also unhealthy for your body. However, if you are more sensible and aim to lose 3.5 pounds in a month, you will be able to reach your goal and reduce your obsessions of perfectionism.
- Try to broaden your point of view by taking into account all the best goals you have achieved, not just what you didn't do or could have done better. Instead of looking for flaws in your behaviors, think about all the best and fairest things you've done.
- Give yourself a break. He thinks, "I don't have to always do my best. Sometimes my health or fatigue won't let me. The world doesn't fall if it takes me some time to recover."
- If you need to apply yourself to something in particular, set time limits and stick to them. If it takes an hour or two to finish a school assignment, study for the time you set and then stop. By doing so, you will not tend to continually analyze and revise your work, as many perfectionists do. Just try to give yourself an adequate time constraint (for example, you will not be able to develop a paper within an hour).
Step 6. Believe in yourself
Trust your ability to cope with negative situations and feelings. If you believe you can handle depression, you can actually improve your overall health.
If some negative thoughts take over, like, "I can't handle this situation. It's too much for me. I can't handle it," consciously replace them with more positive and realistic ones, like, "It's difficult and I'm depressed, but I've lived this before and I can get away with it again. I know I'll survive and get over this feeling."
Step 7. Accept the sadness and depressed mood
People with depression are less likely to think that situations need to be accepted. However, they may more easily cope with numerous circumstances simply by accepting them. For example, when you experience negative emotions (perhaps when you are sad or depressed), you can manage your mood in a healthy way by considering it normal and legitimate. Sometimes not accepting the most unpleasant emotions hinders the ability to process them so that they disappear naturally. If you don't give yourself a chance to process your feelings, you may experience long periods of deep sadness or depression.
