Depression is a medical condition that negatively affects how someone feels, think or act. 

Do you know, clinical depression is more than just feeling of sadness?

Yes, clinical depression is mental health disorder characterised with persistent sadness for more than two weeks, gloomy mood, loss of desire and personality changes.

Also Check : Some People Are More Prone To Depression Than Others, Here Is Why ?

Medical management is essential

As said earlier, depression is a mental health disorder and therefore, it needs proper management from mental health experts. 

If you are experiencing most of the symptoms mentioned above, set an appointment with your doctor. Don’t entangle yourself in self-diagnosis because management of depression requires thorough diagnostic evaluation, medications and therapy from mental health experts.

Your psychiatrist or professional therapist are of great help to overcome depression. According to severity of symptoms, they may advice medication or psychotherapies or combination of both.

Self-care is key

Self-care can better equip you to deal with depression associated challenges.

On a personal level, you can try several things to reduce associated negative feelings.

In depression, a persistent gloomy mood makes it hard for someone to perform everyday activities. Even getting out of bed is difficult for many patients.

Opening up and sharing your feelings with honest friend or your loved ones will help you to get rid of overwhelming feelings of sadness.

If you are not comfortable with sharing, write down all your feelings on a piece of paper. Writing your thoughts is a great way to get rid of distressing thoughts and reduce heavy baggage of emotions. You can write down all thoughts that are coming to your mind. It is just like you are telling your story to someone whom you trust.

Once your mind gets clear from negative thoughts, you can plan your day with a list of manageable tasks. These may include performing simple activities such as brushing teeth, taking shower, getting dress, eating healthy foods or going for a simple walk. Try to complete one activity at a time. This keeps your mind busy so that there is no chance to get engage in negative thoughts. Also, completion of activities gives you a sense of achievement.

Move as much as possible. Connect with nature and get some sunshine to boost your happy hormones. Avoid urge to stay alone. Maintain social connectivity. Follow a healthy lifestyle by eating nutritious food, getting adequate sleep, hydration and physical activity.

If you are feeling better with these activities, take a diary and start to write down your blessings. Appreciate all good things that you have. These may be simple things like healthy body, honest friends, cozy home and loving family and beautiful nature. You may have all those comfort that other people just dream of. You should be grateful for these little things in your life. Always recall positive life event and achievement that you should cherish. These may be achievements like scoring good marks, family vacation, buying new home or time spent with old friends.

Replace your negative thought with a counter thought

If you are still having negative thoughts, you can try following method.

Make a list of negative thoughts and for each of them replace with meaningful statements. 

For example,

Negative thought : I did several mistakes in past and therefore, my life is a mess now

Counter thought : Yes, I did mistakes in the past. But that don’t mean I am a bad person. On the contrary, I had learned so many things from my mistakes only. From the next time I’ll be more careful not to repeat those mistakes.

Educate yourself about depression  The more you learn about the disease, the more helpful it will be to identify the episodes of depression, adhere to treatment regimen and practice self-care.

Disclaimer : The purpose of this blog is to create emotional health awareness. This information is not a replacement for medical treatment or counseling therapy.