Your stopping doing things... could be anything, it could be you usually go for a walk every Thursday with your dog round the park, you watch a new film at the cinema every month, you like to paint or anything like this. Depression tells us the stuff we usually do which makes us happy isn’t worth doing anymore. Depression is like having a horrible lying gremlin in the back of you head telling you stuff to keep it alive! So remember this when it’s stopping you from trying to lift your mood. Do the stuff which makes you happy, if it’s helped in the past it might help again. And if it doesn’t help, that’s ok too, no harm in trying!
You're either sleeping too much or your not getting sleep at all... this is a common side effect of depressive mood, and one of the hardest to get out of. When you don’t get enough sleep, psychological and physically your brain and body experience negative effects like brain fog and even effects your appetite. So what can you do to get back to a ‘normal‘ rhythm? Start a sleep schedule! Plan when you will go to sleep and wake up. Make sure you’re getting the reccomended amount of sleep for your age and stick to it! Now this might take a while for your body to adjust to but will make a massive difference in the long run. Also AVOID naps during the day, I know this will be hard especially if this is how you feel you can pass some of the hours where you feel at your worst yet this will greatly impact on whether you can get a fully rested sleep during the night. Remember you can always speak to your GP about your sleep and you may be put forward to get help from the sleep clinic team.
You think it's better off not seeing anyone...
One thing your depression will constantly tell you is that it would be better off not talking to someone about your struggles. The words ‘feel like a burden‘ comes up a lot when discussing maintaining friendships/relationships when experiencing depression. The thing is if you isolate yourself, you will NOT feel better actually humans and the mind are so social that this will make your depression worse leading the suicidal ideations of people thinking that the world would be better off without them! THIS iS NOT TRUE! (say it again louder for the people in the back!). Your depression again is telling you a big fat lie to get what it wants... you being all alone and feeling like you can’t escape. Your friends and family are there to talk to, even just to distract you from when your in a depression spiral. if you don’t feel like speaking to them about how you are truest feeling, reach out to a professional, who’s there specifically and trained to be there with you when you in the shit place. sometimes you need to sit in the shit to figure it out, so talking about it with anyone will help to unravel the mess, so you can find a way back.
Your staying in your house all the time...
In the nicest way possible, GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE! In the morning get a shower, get dressed, brush your teeth and more importantly put your shoes on. By staring at the same walls, any depression is going to either stay the same or get worse. There are loads of studies which show the mental benefits of just getting outside for a ten minute walk everyday.
Charli Davies
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