Help for Depression
The most productive way to help your depression is to get appropriate treatment. That would include both a psychotherapist and psychiatrist. It’s also important to take medication as prescribed.The second most important thing you need is emotional support. Find a friend or family member who will engage you in conversation and listen carefully and supportively. If you are feeling at all suicidal, please tell someone, or call 911 for emergency assistance.
Beginning to slowly participate in activities that once gave pleasure, such as hobbies, sports, religious or cultural activities, can be helpful. You need diversion and company. Go slowly at first, too many demands may increase feelings of failure. Eventually, with treatment, most depressed people do get better. Keep in mind that, with time and help, you will feel better.
To help mitigate depression we need a balance of Meaningful Structured Activities, Social Support, and Self Care. If you find yourself coming up short in any of these areas, that would be a good place to start in helping to bring some richness and meaning back into your life. Click on the following link to go to a separate document includes symptoms of depression and some ideas to help bring some balance into your life: Depression Symptoms and Mitigators.
Some psychologists believe that low self esteem is the key to depressive reactions. Some people, especially people in depression, have a generally negative self-concept, perceiving themselves as inept, unworthy, and incompetent, regardless of reality. People with low self-esteem may have experienced much disapproval in the past from major caregivers. Their parents or significant others may have responded to them by punishing failures and not rewarding successes or by holding unrealistically high expectations or standards.
More Depression Articles
Our Depression Counseling Specialists
Nancy Baker-Brown,
MS, LPC, BCETS
Read more...
Jeremy Sprott,
M.Ed, LPC-I
Read more...