Depression is often called the “silent killer”. And for good reasons.
It’s a terrible disease that regularly goes unnoticed by other people. Hence, its name.
You are suffering from your waking moment till the moment you go to sleep. That is, if you are lucky enough to catch some sleep at all. Only to repeat that terrible cycle all over again the next day.
Today, I’m going to share my best practical tips to cure depression, or at least improve it, speaking from personal experience.
My best tips to cure depression
You need to take responsibility because that’s what makes life worth living.
Not having any obligations might sound great, and as a very attractive alternative way of living, but it’s a trap in disguise.
Without having any kind of duty, you have the advantage that nothing matters, so you can do whatever you want. But the big, largely unseen disadvantage of having no responsibility is precisely that nothing matters. How can you be content and happy when nothing in your life is valuable?
So, take some accountability for your own life. Take charge of your social life, your goals, what you need to improve on, and so on. Making sure to start small and gradually taking on more responsibility, would be my best advice to prevent becoming swamped.
One of my best tips to cure depression is setting goals, no matter how insignificant they might seem.
That’s because it means you’ll have to take the necessary liability to reach them. They give your life meaning by having something to pursue.
Everyone needs ambitions in their existence because why bother getting out of bed otherwise? If you are severely depressed, then there might be nothing that interests you anymore. As a result, it’s possible that you don’t have any goals or the will to live anymore.
If this is the case, then I would say that you should set goals about the things you used to find important in the past. Think of common examples such as getting in shape, painting, gardening, or meeting with friends.
The only thing that truly matters here is setting aspirations for yourself that might be worth getting out of bed and living for. And if you don’t want to try the things you liked in the past, then attempt some new stuff you think will bother you the least, even though you might not enjoy it in the end.
Make long-term objectives and split these up into short-term aims. Even better is to write them down somewhere to keep track of how your progress is going and to have something to hold on to when times get tough. Writing things down is also a very useful measuring tool to see how far you’ve already come.
Every single person on this planet should exercise. It’s good practice to keep your body and mind in shape.
Working out releases endorphins, which are our “happiness” hormones. The same effect can be noted when we eat chocolate or drink alcohol. However, physical training is a lot healthier than both of these alternatives.
Why is this important? Because your endorphin-serotonin system is unbalanced when you’re severely depressed.
Working out is a powerful cure to combat this phenomenon. All forms of physical exertion are effective. Both for your general well-being and for curing your depression. The most efficient and healthiest way is to combine cardio with some form of resistance training, such as lifting weights or performing bodyweight exercises.
This easy tip can be hard to implement. Mainly because you have no goals in life anymore when you are severely depressed. This makes it hard to get out of bed in the morning because why would you bother getting up when there’s nothing you look forward to?
It also doesn’t help that you are tired all the time because of all these negative thoughts and ruminations happening in your mind. Factor in having a lot of trouble falling asleep and sleeping through, and you can imagine why it’s so challenging to fix this unhealthy sleeping pattern.
Yet, going to bed and waking up at a fixed time does wonders for your sleep schedule. Being depressed means your biological rhythm is distorted, so you’ll need to try to reset this and keep it nice and steady. Creating a good, healthy sleeping routine will aid you in keeping your biological rhythm and negative emotions in check.
People who are depressed are often (although not always) overthinkers who focus more on bad events than they do on the positives. Or they may see the faults and wrongs of the world more clearly and accurately than other people who are oblivious to all the suffering going on.
Sometimes, this distorted way of thinking is so pronounced that people struggling with mood disorders can’t even see the optimistic occasions in life anymore, which causes them to become angry, cynical, and resentful of others and the world they live in. That’s why you should learn to control your thoughts to moderate your emotions.
We should always remember that negative circumstances can bring about positive experiences and changes. So, you need to actively try to look at the good things that happen in life, no matter how small those might be.
I’m not asking you to renounce the fact that bad stuff is happening because that’s the harsh reality of the situation. But it’s also true that there are a lot of good things happening in the world at this very moment. You just need to readjust your mentality and perspective to find those hopeful moments.
You might have to take antidepressants, depending on how severely depressed you are, to function somewhat. If your depression is not that intense, then it is possible to beat it without medication.
Whatever reasons you might have to not take antidepressants, they’re ultimately all moot when you’re gone. That’s why I think you should always take them when you’re suicidal or at risk for self-harm.
Whether it’s because you don’t trust the pharmaceutical companies, or because you view relying on pills as a form of “weakness” or “crutch”, that doesn’t matter if you are so messed up that you are going to injure yourself. This might sound harsh, but it’s true. All those points become invalid if you happen to act on suicidal ideation.
I’m not saying that medication is going to fix the cause of depression. But it often decreases the harsh symptoms that depression brings along, which will help you to at least perform decently enough to cure the root of your depression. In short, it can help to make depression more manageable.
One of the best things you can do to treat depression is to seek help.
Both professional help and support from close friends and family are invaluable to sustain yourself and get you through the rough patches.
The reality is that everyone needs assistance and a shoulder to cry from time to time. A good support network can help you to recover by changing your mentality and the way you behave.
Making sense of depression
If you think about it logically, all the symptoms of depression make sense and work together to maintain these indicators. Consequently, the mental disorder persists as well.
Let me give you an example.
A severely depressed person might feel like life has nothing to offer anymore. And because they have no goals any longer, they might not even get out of bed. And if they manage, they do so at varying times, which disrupts their biological rhythm.
They frequently have trouble falling asleep because their biological rhythm is disturbed, and since their mind is filled with all those negative thoughts. And when they finally manage to catch some rest, they can’t sleep for long because they wake up multiple times in the process. When they do get up, they have no desire or energy to do anything.
But would you have vigor if you didn’t desire anything or have any objectives in life anymore?
This is just an example of how these depressive symptoms cooperate and reinforce one another to maintain the depression in a vicious circle. All those symptoms go hand in hand so well that it’s very tough and challenging to break this negative pattern.
But it can be done. Even though you might not believe so at this moment.
It’s a complex disorder to treat because it can have so many causes. You may have a biological issue in your serotonin-dopamine system. Perhaps you’ve become depressed due to a tragic event. Maybe you have a negative mindset and overthink things. Or maybe you don’t sleep enough, which can also cause depression.
What I’m trying to say here is that multiple possible causes can lead to a mood disorder, and it’s often multiple reasons combined.
That’s why we need holistic and comprehensive treatments that handle the mental, physical, and social aspects of depression. Fortunately, we can accomplish this by influencing various aspects of our daily lives simultaneously.
These are the most helpful tips to cure or at least combat depression, according to me personally. There are a lot more things to consider, but these are actions that ANYONE who suffers from depression, regardless of age or social network, can incorporate.
Final note
All previous tips aside, what you ultimately want to do is create beneficial, healthy routines that enable you to live contently and purposefully again.
Depression is often beatable without medication, except for the more severe cases that might require antidepressants to make the symptoms bearable enough so that you can function somewhat decently.
It is a vicious circle where all the negative symptoms empower each other to maintain the depression. All those indications together can immobilize you. And that’s precisely why we need to take a complete approach to combat this disorder.
Let me ask you this, what do you have to lose trying out those actions? And at worst, attempting something is still better than doing nothing!
