What
Is Depression ?
Depression
has been called "The Common Cold
of Mental Health." We all know that
everybody feels "down," "blue,"
"bummed," hopeless, or pessimistic
from time to time. That's normal.
Many
people wonder "When does 'feeling
down' cross the line into depression?"
That's a tough question, because it's
not always an "Either-Or" kind
of thing.
In
considering whether you need help with
depression, it might be useful to consider
the following three dimensions:
-
Frequency
-
Severity
-
Duration
There
are some common symptoms of depression
- Physical
- Changes in sleeping pattern: much
more or much less?
- Changes
in eating patterns: much more
or much less?
- Fatigue,
loss of energy.
- Headaches,
stomachaches or otherwise inexplicable
aches and pains.
- Behavioral/Attitude
- Diminished
interest in and enjoyment of previously
pleasurable activities-sex, sports,
hobbies, going out with friends,
etc.
- Difficulty
concentrating or making decisions.
- Neglecting
responsibilities and personal
appearance.
- Emotional
- Depressed
mood-can mean feeling down, apathetic,
irritable, pessimistic,hopeless,
negative, guilty, anxious, empty,
etc.
- Suicidal
thoughts.
- Feeling
hopeless and helpless
- Feelings
of worthlessness
Source
: The Counseling & Mental Health Center
at The University of Texas at Austin.
Handling
Depression
Depression may often be initiated by high
levels of long term stress, by failure
associated with stress-related under-performance,
or by life crises.
Deep
depression is a clinical illness should
be treated medically. It is important
that if you are depressed that you take
this seriously. Severe depressions that
can cause years of unhappiness and low
performance can be neutralised quickly
with drugs, by the appropriate form of
psychotherapy, or by other forms of personal
action. An important part of intelligence
is knowing when there is a problem, and
when to ask for help.
Depression
may start when:
- you miss important deadlines
- projects
fail
- you
are passed over for promotion
- you
feel out of control
- you
are very tired
- you
are feeling inadequate while getting
to grips with a new, difficult job
- you
are bored for a long period of time
The
following points may help in handling
depression before it gets serious:
- An
important way of guarding against
depression is getting your attitude
right: positive thinking really can
help. As long as you can draw useful
lessons from failure, then failure
can be positive.
- Similarly,
talking about problems to a partner
or to a respected colleague can often
help a lot. They may have been through
a similar situation, seen the problem
before, or may be able to gently point
out that you have the wrong perspective
on a situation.
- Where
you are under stress caused by excessive
demands, using effective time management
can improve things. Similarly taking
an enjoyable break may reduce stress.
- Where
you are not under enough pressure,
you can set personal challenges to
increase stimulus.
If
you are already suffering from a mild
form of depression, then the following
suggestions may help you to deal with
it:
- Self-confidence:
where lack of self-confidence is a
factor, there are a number of things
you can do:
- Start
to set personal goals. This will
help you to give yourself direction
in life, and will help you to
acknowledge that you can achieve
useful and important things.
- Write
down a list of your negative points.
Challenge each item on the list
objectively, asking yourself 'is
this fair?', or 'is this really
serious?'. You should find that
many of your negative beliefs
are wrong or insignificant. Where
you identify serious failings,
set measurable personal goals
to eliminate or neutralise them.
- Similarly,
bring your anxiety and negative
self-talk up to the surface of
your consciousness. Ask yourself
whether it is realistic to worry
about the things you worry about:
if you have no control over them,
then worry does no good. When
you look at them rationally, you
may find that worries are irrational
or out of proportion.
- Write
down a list of the things that
you can do well, and of the positive
parts of your personality. Ignore
'virtues' like humility and modesty
- these are not good for your
self- confidence or well-being.
Be proud of your good points -
they can help you to contribute
positively to the world.
- Positive thinking: almost all apparently
negative experiences have positive
elements to them. Learn to identify
these positives: this will help you
to draw the best from every situation.
Even failing at something can be an
intense and valuable learning experience.
- Relationships:
You may find that the root of problems
lies with
- Assertiveness:
if you are failing to assert yourself,
you may find that other people
are not paying attention to your
wants and needs. This can be upsetting
and humiliating. Learn to express
your wishes firmly, but only be
confrontational if absolutely
necessary. Assertiveness training
can be beneficial in learning
to do this.
- Social
Skills: if your relationships
are difficult, then you may identify
that difficulties lie in the way
in which you deal with other people.
In this case some form of Social
Skills training may be beneficial.
Alternatively if you can identify
where things are going wrong,
you may be able to set goals to
overcome the problem.
- Other
people: it is easy to assume (especially
when you are depressed) that the
fault in relationship problems
lies with you. This may or may
not be the case. Examine your
relationships rationally: you
may find that people around you
are causing problems - there are
some extremely rude, awkward,
arrogant or confused people in
the world. If people are making
your life worse, then you may
be better off without them.
- Standards: You may find that you have
set your standards unrealistically
high. This will typically occur where
you believe that a certain standard
of achievement is necessary, but where
you do not have either the financial
or time resources available to achieve
those standards. In this case it may
be realistic to assess the standards
that you can reasonably achieve within
the set constraints, and aim at these.
- Fatigue
and exhaustion: If you are very tired,
or have been under stress for a long
period, you may find that a good break
helps you to put problems into perspective
Source
: www.mindtools.com/smdepn.htm
Self
Healing Process To Handle Depression
Benefit
from the wisdom of your Body-Mind
Educate
yourself to the awareness that creates
a sense of ease and can make you receptive
to the "inner wisdom" that
is sometimes difficult to hear in normal
circumstances. But a person is aware
of the trigger which cause depression;
either he could avoid them or could
handle them well. So, get knowledge
of what made you feel depressed.
Talk
positive to your self
One
feel depressed only when an individual
wants to be depressed. It is scientifically
proven that stress (depression) can
only be caused when we talk negatively
to our selves. Talk positive to your
own self. Instead of saying "I
am not depressed" eliminate the
word depression and communicate the
same idea like "I am okay with
it". Note negative words are eliminated
but suggestion remains the same. Words
like "Not" or "No"
are not the part of the suggestion anymore.
Our mind cannot process negative elements
that is why we always put every thing
positive to our mind.
Heal your past
This
is a safe, comfortable process in which
you bring specific elements of healing
to your "younger self" in
a way that transforms negative self-beliefs
and creates empowerment. for an specific
situation, which have caused you depression
one way or the other; try replacement
method to heal your self. In this method,
instead of trying to eliminate the picture
try to replace the event with some positive
event, face with another face and similarly
replace every old and troubling elements
with easing elements. Now whenever any
stimulus recalls that event you would
find positive event, friendly faces
and good memories.
Light
therapy
Depression
can easily be managed by taking sun
rays. Ultraviolet and Infra-red rays
help to gear up your energies. Have
a two minute walk in sun and you would
feel much relaxed. Please note do not
cover your head walk taking this walk,
some portion of your body should be
expose like hands, neck and feet etc.
Experience
the Breath of Quiet and Stillness
This
gives you a way to enter into a comfortable
and secure inner quiet and stillness
that allows you to experience yourself
free from the constrictions of habitual
thought - an experience of well-being
that empowers you to better live your
life.
by
Haris Tabassum