A lot of people go into depression. It might be due to the circumstances in their past life that make them deal with the present situation or it could be a general inability to deal with the current situation.
Rather than going to a psychiatrist and dwelling on your past or seeking medication to overcome depression, it is best to fight it within yourself and your own behavior. This is called Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
Here are 10 ways to deal with depression on your own:
- Do not mull over things
It is a good thing to reflect over how you might have done things. But it is not a great idea to keep mulling over things that happened in the day.
Ruminating on a specific negative act or thought is damaging for your mental health. So simply reflect and move on to other things of interest to you.
- Do no swell on the past
We often catch ourselves saying, ‘I wish I had done this differently’, or ‘I wish I did not do this’. You cannot change the past no matter what, so there is no point of dwelling on a decision made that you cannot reverse.
Just accept the decisions that you have made and think it is done for the best.
- Stick to an established routine
Make a schedule that you need to follow. Do not leave much time to lounging around doing nothing even if you are unemployed. Keep your mind busy at all times so that you don’t have time to think and go into depression.
Research has shown that people who ate and slept at odd timings usually have the tendency to go into depression.
- Become a social butterfly
A sign of being depressed or going into depression is to avoid people. So to avoid going into depression it might be a good idea to rekindle old friendships or even get out there and make new friends, even those like you who may face going into depression.
So get out there and meet people and feel refreshed and you might even get help and advice on how to get over the negative feelings that you may be having.
- Force yourself to do the activities in the past
Get yourself to do activities that you used to do and used to enjoying doing before you got depressed. It could be something as simple as going to the movies or even sipping a mug of coffee by the park.
- Do not deny the fact that you have depression
When you have it, it is better you accept at the fact at the earliest so that you get better sooner. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you can take steps to overcome it.
- Be good to yourself
People who are depressed often tend to talk of themselves in a bad light or in a way that is inferior to others. So compare the conversations about yourself and when you talk to others. If you feel that you are not doing yourself justice then you are on the pathway of being depressed.
- Don’t imagine the worst
Never focus on the worst. Depressed people tend to do this a lot. It is unhealthy to imagine the worst always of any situation.
- Don’t assume the future
A lot of depressed people tend to be negative about the future. Assumption in a negative light about the future is unhealthy.
- Do not think in black and white
Depressed people tend to think in extremities. They think in extremes of how bad a situation is. Negative thoughts impede progress.
So don’t go into depression. It is a vicious cycle. It will affect your entire life. So fight depression from within and be strong. You can do it on your own and don’t need to resort to external factors of help.
Written by: Rasha Ashraf
