Any ideas on how to treat depression...

originally posted by: eXia7
Step 1: Buy Motorcycle

Step 2: Ride

Step 3: Be cured.


you're welcome.

I fully endorse this!

a reply to: fusiondoe
I would like to offer a possible helpful suggestion but I don't want to break T&C. Perhaps I could post some links and let you follow any leads from there that might catch your interest. I do, however, stress caution. Some of these are not just illegal but also dangerous. Natures plants can be very powerful.

Psychedelics Show Promise in Treating Depression

Why psychedelics like magic mushrooms kill the ego and fundamentally transform the brain

If these links leave you wanting more information I would suggest googling Terence McKenna. He was kind of a modern day shaman and one who has written a tremendous amount on psychedelics. There is also a movie out about him, I think it is quit bizarre yet interesting.

I hope you find your way and I hope you find it well.

a reply to: fusiondoe

I've found that diet & lifestyle has had by far the biggest impact on my depression. I follow a ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting. I keep my carbs below 20 grams, eat tons of leafy greens, moderate to higher fat intake, and moderate protein. It takes a week or so for your body to adapt to the change, but once its happened, mood tends to stabilize with your blood sugar.

New studies show that depression is linked to inflammation in the body, so fish oils and nuts can help reduce the inflammation and feed the brain what it needs to function more efficiently.

Spending time in the sunlight will increase your vitamin D levels which should also help greatly, and getting natural probiotics from fermented fibers (like kimchi or sauerkraut) can help balance serotonin in the gut.

Exercise, sleep, and intermittent fasting release HGH, which does a lot for keeping the body young and happy.

There are of course psychological factors to depression, but its hard overcome the psychological hurtles if your body is completely out of order. Systemic inflammation and insulin resistance (which usually go hand-in-hand) are probably the two most common root causes of most everyday health problems in the West...especially when it comes to depression.

Just walk up to a random person on the street and punch them as hard as you can right in the face! This always helps me feel better.


But seriously, there are lot reason why people get depressed. You need to figure out what triggers you. There are so many anxieties in modern society you are not alone. Hobbies help. Fishing helps. Games of chance with friends helps. Try to stay away from drugs. Drugs always have downside after they wear off where you feel MORE depressed than before you took the drugs. Especially alcohol. Open up a notepad in your computer and write about everything that is bother you. Sometimes getting your thoughts down on paper helps clear you head and make you feel better. Exercise can help with depression. Losing weight is really good. There's a really good South Beach like fasting diet I like call Medifast. Medifast is extremely engineered diet. At least when you are medi-fasting when eat food it will be euphoric. Anyway, good luck with it. Depression is nothign to be ashamed of since it is rampant everywhere.

Maybe this video will help you:

originally posted by: Aeshma
a reply to: Sheye

If you are of age, I would say children.... grand children,,, great grand children. Teach them or show them something they have never seen before. Explore the wonder of youth through new eyes.... you would be surprised with our world of digital and instant gratification how far making pie from scratch goes.... or smoking some home made bacon... catching frogs in real life...

I understand what you mean. Trying things or sharing knowledge like that can be fun , especially with loved ones, and great learning experiences.

I guess I was thinking of bigger type changes or challenges that may not quite have that bolstering effect... but it really is about the indiviual and what they enjoy... or have enjoyed.

I have been living with my severely depressed (tried to kill herself twice) mother for the last 12 years.
When I first moved in with her she didn't care about anything in her life. Her family didn't mater, her kids didn't mater, she didn't even care about her dog. She lived in a disgusting trailer. She never cleaned the trailer, the dog , or herself. It was bad. After 12 years she is a completely different person. Today she is healthy and happy. How did she do it?

Her recovery started with me her son. When I was a child I ran away from home because my stepfather was an alcoholic and beat me. Nine years later after he was dead I moved back in with my mom. The start of her change was on the day that I told her I was sorry for running away. The day I forgave her. After that she was much more open to me about her feelings. Once I found out how depressed she was I made a pact with her that we would change our lives together. So we both started eating better. We both started paying more attention to our hygiene. I convinced her that having a pet at this point in our lives was a bad idea. I helped her find a job she liked. I became her 24 hour a day concealer and today she has for the first time in 20 years made some friends.

The only thing I can suggest is that you surround yourself with people that will help you everyday. Keep yourself physically healthy. Find a job that you like doing. Seek out the people in your life that caused the most hurt to your heart and forgive them. And look on the bright side, asking for help is the first step to coping with depression. My mother was so deep in it that she never even considered that she could be helped.

Edit: There is something else that I helped mom with. If your like her than the worst times are when your trying to sleep. All those bad feelings and thoughts come creeping into the silence of your bedroom. Instead of focusing on those thoughts try really hard to imagine what super powers you would like to have and imagine what you would do if you had them. If you train yourself to think about being a superhero every time you try and sleep those thoughts will become a trigger for your mind. I learned this because I have suffered from insomnia all my life until about 7 years ago. After a year of imagining my self having the power to teleport I know instantly fall asleep as soon as start thinking about the first place I would teleport to. It worked for me maybe it will work for you?

a reply to: scraedtosleep

Does you mother take Xanax? Xanax has a really bad side effect of causing really bad depression once you stop it for a few days.

a reply to: fusiondoe

When did you start to feel this way?
Was it sudden or something that grew overtime?

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: scraedtosleep

Does you mother take Xanax? Xanax has a really bad side effect of causing really bad depression once you stop it for a few days.

No, thankfully my mom stays away from anything that will make her feel "high"
She used to be an alcoholic and she never wants to go down that road again.
She wont even take sleeping pills.

this is what has helped me, feel free to skip the ones you don't have an interest in but i'm including them because i feel it's a comprehensive sort of thing where they all contributed.

therapy

anti-anxiety meds

vitamin D (turns out low levels can cause depression)

forcing myself to go out on walks

taking pictures on those walks to show a friend (and give me a reason make myself go even when i don't feel like it)

getting enough sleep

cutting back/stopping drinking

keeping the house clean

making artwork

eating healthier (more veggies, less processed food & meat)

treating myself, both in action and in how i think/talk to myself with at least as much compassion as i'd give a good friend in similar circumstances

hope some of that is helpful...

edit to add: forgot the most important parts... persisting in these behaviors until they become habit, even if you backslide... and convincing yourself that it is possible to feel better and you won't always feel like this.

sometimes you just have to wait it out.

a reply to: fusiondoe

Hey there! If you will, please check you PM.

a reply to: fusiondoe

After reading through all the replies, I just thought I'd offer how I go about easing the tendencies of a depressive state of mind. Its tough to say the best method for you as an individual, being that we barely know each other from this site and light interactions.

For me, I use practices of meditation to focus on being in the present moment. Its seemingly a common trait of human brains to look for the outside influences to provide mending to inner dilemmas. Over time, I re-trained my brain to use positive reinforcement to attract such things at higher rates that I was experiencing then. It took a bit of imagination and redefining the methods of energy I expelled, but learned that I am in control of what my brain processes into emotion. An example... a bill that may have been overwhelming in past times, turned into an opportunity to move as much money as possible through my possession each month... bills are now a welcome asset to my life.

I try to keep things simple, by going back to a foundation of basic inner development when stresses bulk up. Meditation has helped drastically, but Float Therapy has taken meditation to another level of not only enjoyment but a life long devotion as well. Float Therapy has really been one of the most amazing and simple healing paths I have taken, and there is next to nobody that it doesn't benefit.

I simplify my thoughts into feeling peaceful in chaos as the world around me wants to find ease within the crumbling paths of tradition. Reflection of life and mind is severely under valued in these over stimulated times. Why do we see toddlers soak up knowledge at rates that seem magical sometimes, while those skills diminish as we age??? Because toddlers are stuck in the 'present' moment... plain and simple. Healing is a much tougher road when dragging 'outside' influence with us.

Mind operates on a simple set of rails anymore... because gratification of all life and opportunity to share time with life and time is reflected upon first thing upon waking, and the tone of the day gets set quickly. I will not allow myself a step to the bathroom at 1st waking, without telling my brain something I am thankful for... if I take 11 steps to the bathroom, I will expel thankfulness for 11 parts of life. It gets kind of tough to dwell negatively on the opportunity to overcome obstacles when the tone of the mind is set to the frequency we want to operate on.

I keep 3 tight 'must do' thoughts/actions for each waking session of life. I go through list of what I am thankful for in life, while asking myself what 'good' I am going to do today... that's the 1st. The 2nd is to spend a designated amount of time with 'inner' reflection. The 3rd... to ask myself what 'good' I accomplished in my time awake.

The funny thing about it all to me is: that I am still in an internal debate as to whether I actually took control of my own mind, or if I simply allowed the heart to have more authority than the ego and brain previously had control of. Regardless, I am satisfied with the results of being gifted gratification, and it was the 'inner' that sourced the most successes in states of mental depression.

Best wishes to peaceful processes of successes for yourself and all others as well!!! I'd be glad to be a lending ear if that's all that's lacking too...

This always works for me.

I watch alot of comedy movies-I love silly comedy-Laurel and Hardy-the Three Stooges-Ren and Stimpy-South Park-
and I laugh out loud-really laugh hard. I don't care what time of night or day. I get really immature in my sense of humour.

Another thing I do is turn on karaoke and sing out loud with my favorite music-I love musicals=always singing from "Annie" "Tomorrow" and I know every song from "Camelot." Plus I love anything from Queen and Southern Rock.

After a couple of hours I feel better and worn out then I can sleep deeply.

I know this sounds simplistic but I guess I am a simple person but I can get very depressed myself sometimes and don't like meds either. Laughter is my medicine-and singing out loud-real loud-and badly.

Mashed potatoes with homemade gravy.

Lots of alcohol. I kid.

Beware of people that push '___' and shrooms as the answer. I believe under supervision with a therapist that may work, but in your same dismal surroundings it may backfire and send you on a "death trip".

They way I deal with it is when I wake up in the morning I play with my dog for a bit (dachsunds are ridiculous and full of love), then I make sure and thank nature/god/whatever for allowing me to even be able to experience what I do experience. Thank the same for allowing me to know those that I love. And then ask for wisdom in my day if possible.

By the end of the day I am back to square one at times, so I repeat and then find something to relax me a little bit.

Another thing is, if you have the cash, go get yourself a massage, preferably the chinese variety, they are cheap and they know what they are doing. Sometimes a good massage is better than any drug could ever be.

Finally when I go to sleep I try to be thankful and I pray to nature/god/whatever that all the people I know will have success and wisdom and that any problems disturbing them slide away if possible.

It works for me, but its regimented. If I fail to adhere to my rules I can be a real asshole.

You definitely are not alone! I've seen a few other posters suggest getting a new hobby; I agree. The problem with that of course, is that with depression, you find it difficult to do ANYTHING, and it's near impossible to believe that anything can help. I'm sure you are nodding in agreement right now!

I once made myself take a belly dancing class during a pretty intense period of depression. You had to pay for the entire 12-week course up front, so I knew I would be increasing my chances of making myself go because of that. I also told myself that I only had to attend three classes and if I hated it after that, I could quit.

I fell in love with it instantly! I cannot tell you what a difference that class made in my life. I had never had anything to do with any form of dance, ever...but I had seen a commercial for a belly dance exercise video and became fascinated, thus promoting looking into classes.

I felt so good about myself for doing something scary, esoecially when my depression kept me from wanting to even do things that WEREN'T scary.

And- I made the most amazing friends! The benefits of taking that class just kept adding up.

Is there anything you've always wanted to learn about, or do? Take a look around the web for classes in your area...and maybe take the pressure off yourself by telling yourself you only have to TRY it.

Sending you good thoughts!

Regular exercise is one of the best remedies.

No one has asked what type of depression the Op has?

What is setting it off, is it a constant battle, have you always had it or is it a recent development, is it death/suicide based, feeling useless or hopeless, not good enough, loneliness etc etc.

That is very important information to have first before offering up options/suggestions, with that info you could find a specific one to direct the OP to.

There are many different types, reason, and causes for depression and without knowing a starting point all is literally taking a shot in the dark and setting the person up for m9ore failure and misery if an option does not work and fails for them.

True. Psychedelics are tricky. And not for everyone, they worked in my case. But maybe I'm one of the exceptions.

But i always say, until you're comfortable with your own mind, it's best to have a "sitter"

originally posted by: trollz
Regular exercise is one of the best remedies.

It really is. Part of the reason that exercise works is because you feel happy about yourself when you like what you see in the mirror. Plus concentrating on moving weights around and counting reps and sets in your mind is calming much in the same way meditation can be.