Depression is a concept that can often be heard in modern life. It denotes a certain difficult mental state that every person has encountered at least once in their life. Depression often occurs in autumn, spring or winter, but the time of year has little bearing on its course. Autumn blues are practically no different from spring and winter. It can overtake a person at any age, not only in adolescence or old age, as is commonly believed.
Depression can be triggered by various factors: problems in your personal life, poor physical health, some financial difficulties and other life moments. The causes of the blues will be discussed in more detail below.
A person’s depressive state is often expressed not just in a very bad mood, which tends to persist for quite a long period of time, but in a complete loss of physical and mental strength, absolute indifference to the world around him and to the people who are nearby, despondency, and an extremely negative worldview to everything that happens around.
Those who have encountered similar feelings are wondering: how to deal with depression and apathy on your own? Indeed, overcoming the problem is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. It is not for nothing that many experts say that depression is easier to prevent than to treat, because it is one of the most severe mental disorders, and only special therapy, medication and a complete change in one’s inner mood will help in the fight against it.
But don’t be scared; you can get rid of mild forms of depression without the help of a highly qualified psychotherapist and pills. The main thing is great desire and perseverance.
Causes
The first thing you should pay attention to when thinking about how to deal with depression and wanting to get rid of this sad state forever is to determine the reasons for the manifestation of such depression and depression. Knowing them exactly, you can quickly and easily decide what further methods of combating depression will be, and begin to implement them as soon as possible.
The most common causes of this condition are:
- complete separation or temporary separation from a loved one;
- serious illness or death of a loved one;
- troubles in work matters leading to financial difficulties;
- identification of an incurable disease or the presence of some pathology in your body;
- pregnancy and childbirth.
Let's take a closer look at each of these reasons and find out how they may be associated with the onset of depression.
After a breakup or due to the death of a loved one
A depressive state after a separation, divorce, temporary separation or due to the death of a loved one often appears against the background of the fact that the sufferer is forced to abruptly break the existing emotional attachment to a certain person, and, at the time of the break, he is simply not psychologically ready for this action.
Because of this unpreparedness and general rejection of the situation, a depressed person often begins to develop a feeling of internal discomfort, complete dejection, melancholy and indifference, and an unwillingness to do anything. Such a person simply closes himself within himself, refuses to communicate with other people, even those closest to him, and tries to avoid visiting crowded places, thus increasingly dooming himself to further loneliness.
Because of work
Depression due to work activity is a no less common condition and, according to statistics, occurs in every second person. It negatively affects not only the mental state of the employee and his performance, but also the final result of the work done, and as a consequence, the person’s financial well-being in the future. The reason for such a depressed state may be:
- fear of not being able to cope with assigned responsibilities;
- dissatisfaction with the work process itself, unwillingness to do it;
- unfair pay, in the opinion of the person suffering because of it.
During pregnancy
A negative emotional state often overtakes beautiful women who are in an interesting situation and are preparing to give birth to a baby in the near future. For many people, depression during pregnancy may seem like a rather unusual, strange and incomprehensible condition, because most of them associate conception and childbirth with a happy moment of anticipation and preparation for the process of motherhood itself. But still, depression during pregnancy is not uncommon today.
The main reason for this condition, which can occur in any month of the three trimesters, is hormonal and physical changes in the pregnant body, which have a strong impact on the psycho-emotional state of the expectant mother. A woman’s brain cannot quickly accept the way of life that has changed with the onset of pregnancy, as well as the decrease in physical and emotional activity that has arisen against this background. Because of such metamorphoses, the expectant mother becomes extremely sensitive to everything that happens around her and reacts very sharply to any, even the smallest changes.
If pregnancy is an unexpected or undesirable moment for a woman, then a bad relationship with the child’s father or emerging financial difficulties associated with an unplanned conception may also be a cause of depression. In this case, coping with the manifestations of depression even in its initial stages becomes a priority task for a pregnant woman. Otherwise, you can end up with a situation where mild depression turns into a prolonged one and ultimately leads to a miscarriage or even affects the baby’s health in the future.
After childbirth
Postpartum depression is a psychological condition that is now even more common than depression during pregnancy. It occurs in almost every third woman in labor. Such depression can develop for the following reasons:
- due to significant changes in appearance associated with the appearance of rounded sides, belly and extra pounds after childbirth;
- against the background of any complications that arose during or after childbirth;
- out of fear of not being able to cope with the maternal responsibilities that have befallen her and the difficulties associated with caring for a child;
- constant tension due to the baby’s frequent crying and his thirst for increased attention;
- due to a radical change in the usual way of life and the emergence of considerable responsibility for a newborn child.
Reviews and comments
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How to overcome?
The classic way to deal with emerging depression of any type is the help of highly qualified specialists, taking the medications they prescribe (antidepressants) and following all prescribed recommendations. The cost of professional treatment for depression often costs quite a lot of money, which many people with this condition simply do not have. And in this case, they can only rely on themselves.
Of course, one might think that getting rid of depression on your own is something out of science fiction, a useless and practically impossible task. But in fact, scientists have proven that fighting depression on your own is no less effective in the end than the help of a good psychologist. Yes, this is a more capacious and lengthy process, but achieving positive results in this case is quite possible if you follow the tips given below.
Making a plan to get rid of
Fighting depression on your own is not an easy process. And a clearly outlined plan can help anyone get out of this state effectively and quickly. It may include the following items:
- accepting a depressive state and finding out the reasons for its occurrence;
- eliminating irritating factors (things and people) from your life;
- determining the strongest motivation for further movement forward;
- concentrating on willpower and directly getting out of depression.
And if with the first point, about determining the causes of a depressive state of mind and accepting this state, everything is more or less clear, since it was discussed above in the text, then the remaining points require a detailed explanation.
Focusing on the second point of this plan, it is worth noting that it deals with everything that really stresses or irritates the sufferer at the time of depression. You should pay special attention to these things and, if possible, you should try to get rid of them as soon as possible: for example, quit your boring job, radically change your social circle, or even move to live in another city.
If changing your life so deeply becomes an impossible action due to some reasons, then you should reconsider your attitude towards existing problems. Try to see as many positive moments as possible in the current life situation, and if possible, look inside it for those things that can make the real world in your eyes not only no worse, but even better than the entire holistic picture of the world stuck in your head.
Try to convince yourself that the reality you currently accept is not what you always imagined it to be. And everything in it is not as poorly arranged as you tend to think. There is still a lot of good, useful and interesting things in the world around us. We are also talking about various opportunities that you can take advantage of today, without waiting for better times to come. The main thing is to give yourself a mindset: to overcome difficult times and strive in the future for changes, for the better, for progress.
Be sure to ensure that your needs for food, clothing and rest are fully met. If basic desires are not initially fulfilled in full, then any normal person is unlikely to be able to fully live a happy life in such conditions. It is very difficult to fight depression when you are constantly hungry, tired or very thirsty, and also if you do not have a normal partner next to you.
If, being in a depressed state, you cannot satisfy all the minimum needs on your own, then you should find someone who could help with their implementation. The main thing is not to sit idle, expecting that everything will improve on its own without your help. This will never happen.
Once you are fully satisfied with the basic needs of life, begin to be active in other areas of your life. Activity is an excellent panacea for all mental illnesses. But inaction, indifference to everything and banal laziness - this is what only aggravates the state of decline and depression as a whole, and finally forces one to wallow in a protracted depression, intensifying its effect.
An excellent example of such inaction is a situation when a family man leaves home and abandons his woman, leaving her alone. If, against the backdrop of this, an abandoned woman begins to constantly worry and get upset, stops taking care of herself, the house, and constantly wants to be alone, refusing to go out and communicate with her friends, then she very quickly becomes lonely and useless to anyone, and she has to cope with accumulated grievances, disappointments and longing for the past on your own.
Most of these “abandoned” people at the moment of depression do not think about how to effectively cope with the emerging depression and apathy on their own, but simply let the current situation take its course, take it out of control and completely stop paying attention to what is happening to them and around, thereby only making things worse for yourself. All this ultimately ends with the fact that the depressive state drags them even deeper and reduces the chances of a quick, effective and independent way out of a difficult situation to zero.
To avoid such a tragic ending, you must, regardless of the cause of depression, decide on some kind of life goal, set yourself some kind of motivation that can force you to move on, not paying attention to the depressed state and depression. It is important to set priorities correctly and try to make sure that there is simply no free time for all kinds of suffering. Remember, movement is life!
Yes, it may turn out that the chosen goal will not bring much benefit at first. But if she really interests you and makes you finally get moving and do something, then why not? In addition, achieving any goal almost always means communicating with other people, and communication is another “healing elixir” that can relieve many emotional experiences and fill the soul with joy, which is really often lacking in moments of depression.
Of course, during periods of activity you should not forget about complete and quality rest. Uninterrupted eight-hour sleep is a means of recovery that will help any person, not only those who are depressed, to easily restore expended strength after vigorous activity and will maximize the flow of positive energy necessary for wakefulness and further movement forward.
It also happens that the state of depression in the sufferer is accompanied by insomnia. In this case, every day before going to bed, you should thoroughly ventilate the room for half an hour or more. And if possible, it is not forbidden to leave a small window open at night.
As part of getting rid of a depressive state, you can also review your daily diet by including as much sweets and bananas as possible in your daily, standard diet, which are responsible for the production of the hormone of happiness in the body - endorphin. Don't forget about healthy fruits, vegetables and vitamin supplements.
Meditation and various spiritual practices are considered a particularly useful activity for a person who is depressed. Any meditative practice can qualitatively unload all existing thoughts, quickly free a clouded mind from unnecessary thoughts, relieve unnecessary stress, and also make you look at the whole situation and emerging depression from a different angle. Such activities are of great importance for human consciousness and thinking and are recommended for implementation not only during depression, but also in everyday life.
And finally, it is imperative to filter all the information that comes from outside. No matter how banal and stupid it may sound, you should definitely pump up a positive way of thinking in your mind: listen only to positive and energetic music, watch life-affirming films and various motivational programs on TV, read interesting and useful books. In a state of depression, when all the pain in the world is especially close to the sufferer, all this, of course, does not seem very interesting to someone who is in a depressed position. But still, this advice is worth heeding and also trying in no case to allow too much negative information, which can only thicken the colors of the entire current life situation and force a person in a depressed state not to notice the positive moments around him, focusing only on the bad.
If we talk specifically about literature and printed publications, then an excellent book for a depressed person is “Transurfing” by Vadim Zeland. Many people associate this printed work with esoteric teachings, and to some extent this is true. This book greatly allows you to reconsider your attitude towards many life problems and various negative aspects that take place in the life of any person.
Imaginary way to combat blues
And finally, I would like to devote a couple of suggestions to non-standard ways to combat a depressive state of mind, which include all kinds of alcohol and drugs.
Many people naively believe that such things can help them quickly cope with the problems that have befallen them, and try to use them to drown out all the negative thoughts in their heads, improve their mood and achieve a state of euphoria as a result.
But in fact, alcohol and drugs are not a cure for depression, but, on the contrary, they only make it worse, causing an even greater state of depression. When the intoxication and happy mood caused by a large amount of alcohol or drugs passes, the person not only feels physically ill due to the hangover or withdrawal symptoms that have appeared, but plunges even more into a depressive state and again resorts to alcohol and drugs, trying to counteract such way. It turns out to be a kind of vicious circle, from which it becomes very difficult to get out of in the future, and the suffering person simply does not see any other way out of it other than to commit suicide.
Therefore, if you periodically think about a bottle of red or white wine, pondering the answer to the question of how to deal with depression, then think about whether it is really worth it, and whether you will only make it worse for yourself.
What is laziness
Laziness is a passive habit and state of mind caused by a persistent and consistent reluctance to work and do anything. Even to accomplish the necessary things, such a person does not have the energy or motivation to focus on doing them.
Therefore, he does not take any active steps to increase his own motivation. Instead, he chooses the path of least resistance when immediate pleasures outweigh any future rewards he might experience.
In general, laziness in itself is not a disease or pathology. It is, rather, a protective reaction of the body from useless overloads. For example, a person is always too lazy to work for pennies, he is too lazy to do anything for ungrateful people, he is too lazy to get up in the morning if there are no goals. That is, laziness is a completely normal phenomenon.
It begins to harm life when it takes on a pathological form. In this case, laziness takes over all areas of human activity. Having started a new business, such a person quickly loses interest in it, cannot concentrate, feels tired and apathetic. This happens for two reasons.
The first is a low level of awareness. A person simply does not see cause-and-effect relationships. The second reason is lack of motivation. In such cases, any task seems incredibly difficult and tedious to a person. Because his brain tells him: this matter is not important enough to waste energy on. But this condition can be successfully combated.
