If you suffer from depression, you’re likely familiar with the feelings of helplessness it can bring. Perhaps the most difficult part of this illness is the fact that the illness itself can leave you feeling as if there is no hope for treatment and can cause you to not seek the help or complete the tasks that you need to complete to fight it. For those struggling with depression, it’s extremely important to look for treatments and to get the help that they need, rather than trying to tackle it alone.
If you’re looking for a few proactive ways that you can fight your depression, here are a few options you might consider trying in conjunction with your prescribed treatment plan.
Learn to Recognize and Stop Your Self-Attacks
Many people with depression have a tendency to mentally tear themselves down. Their inner voice is destructively critical, and when depressed, they often believe this negative self-talk to be true. They internalize these inner attacks and think the worst of themselves and their abilities in every possible way.
Overcoming these self-attacks begins by recognizing them. Take note of every time that inner voice tells you you’re not good enough, or when it holds you back from pursuing your goals for fear of failure. Ask yourself if these inner thoughts are something you would say to a friend or family member. If it’s not, then shut it down; recognize those thoughts as being a symptom of your depression, and not a truth about yourself. As you learn to recognize this critical inner voice and acknowledge that it’s destructive, you can instead begin to replace those thoughts with ones that hold more compassion and love for yourself.
Ask Yourself Why You’re Angry
While many people experience depression as a persistent state of sadness or hopelessness, others experience a sense of numbness. They suppress or cut themselves off from their emotions as a way of protecting themselves from emotions that they don’t want to experience. For many who experience depression in this way, they’re often masking feelings of anger, and may even turn those feelings of rage in on themselves.
If you believe you experience depression in this way, it may be time to ask yourself where your anger comes from. Feeling angry is a normal part of being human, and it’s perfectly acceptable to be angry. Accept your anger and identify its source, rather than turning it upon yourself and leading yourself into a deepening depression. When you can identify where that anger comes from, you can more effectively deal with the root cause of those emotions and free yourself of that contained rage.
Do Things That Bring You Joy—Even If You Don’t Want To
One common symptom of depression is a loss of interest in the things you once loved to do. An active way to fight your depression is to do those things anyway, even if your depression tells you that you don’t want to. Though this is obviously much easier said than done, remembering the things that have brought you happiness in the past and engaging in those activities is an extremely effective way to break through those periods of deepening depression.
Even with these strategies in place, it’s still extremely important to receive professional help in dealing with your depression. Please, if you’re depressed or suffering from trauma, seek help. Talk to friends, find a therapist, or contact Kinder in the Keys Treatment Center. We’re one of the best treatment centers for depression in the area, and we’re waiting to help you feel like you again. Give us a call today.