How do you deal with severe depression?

Vodka.

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I hear that exercise is one way to shift depression. You have to CHOOSE to fight it, I feel. I know it's hard, and sometimes people can support you---but from someplace inside you must find the Will to shift your energy, take steps to move through it.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to pray. Continuously living in a fog of Low energy is a self-fulfilling cycle. Spiritual power = creative energy = LIFE. And I am not telling you to join a church! I have very little affinity for religions or churches (although nothing against it either if it helps folks), but we ARE spiritual beings living physical lives---and you need to delve into your eternal and mystic self.

Holistic Healers may also be able to help you! Try Yoga, martial arts, Reiki, massage therapy, reflexology, etc....SEEK, young man, and you shall find.

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Medication helps if the depression has a physical cause. A really good counselor can teach you how to do stop destructive thoughts and behaviors.

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You have made several posts recently about your depression and I've responded before and am asking you again, to please make an appt with a doctor who can treat you. If the medication he gives you is not working let him/her know so that she can try something else. There is a myriad of drugs out there to treat severe depression. Severe depression is not something that one can "snap out of". There is no need for you to suffer like this. If you are ever feeling desperate over your depression please call 911. We at answerology are not equipped to bring you out of your depression, but can only give you our support and caring thoughts. My best to you, but please seek help from a doctor.

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Seek treatment. new antidepressants, major tranquilizers, therapy and new kinder shock treatments while patient is under anathesia is said to do miracles.

focus, on pleasant thoughts, walk to the park. read a good book . visit family, friends, we are NOT an island to ourselves. cheer up/

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My approach to the *blues* and I suggest it for everything including clinical depression...

...is exercise, walking at a fast pace, anything with physical exertion that makes you sweat and use your muscles and gets the endorphins and seritonin moving.

Depression and the blues has you feeling as if this is impossible, but you have """got""" to do it. It will keep your mind occupied until you see results. It isn;t a cure but you have to force yourself out of that iron suit and move.

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i agree with what everyone else says in their replies (apart from the dude who said he attempted sucicide...do not ever try it-you think there is no one here for you just now but seriously think about the people you are leaving behind.few months before i was born,my uncle(dads brother) who was 21,killed himself over a girlfriend,and my family never got over it -this changed my father to be a worse person) everyone has down days.do something different,watch a funny movie or think back to a happy memory-look at really old photos from high school or from your childhood.

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I have never dealt with severe depression. If I am feeling low one day or blah, I will give myself a sick day from work and stay in bed, and be lazy, read a book, watch tv and vegetate or something. Then the next day, I am good. I will absolutely not allow myself to feel blah more than one day.
Being depressed and feeling sorry for yourself is like turning back on God.
One has life to live so live it and live the best you can.
Be happy. And if one day you don't feel happy, so what! We all are entitled to a blah day here and there.

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I pray alot, every day.

Pray that the Lord will get you through this.
He will bring you through this....
I know what it is like to deal with depression on a daily basis, and what it was like for me not to have any support from the one person closest to me.

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When I was going through severe depression, it was after my mom died and I was clinically depressed for over 6 months and believe me, I thought about ending it all everyday...what got me through was thinking about the 'good' things I had in my life like my children, my dad, my brothers and sisters and my friends...then I thought about the health I had, the ability to walk, talk, think, and then I thought about how many people would be affected if anything happened to me...lastly, I talked to my doctor and we worked out a plan where I would start taking anti-depressants and talking to a mental health counsellor and believe me, I found the reason to go on...you need to take stock of what it is that is causing your depression and think about ways that you might be able to change those things or deal with them...then start writing in a journal after you see your doctor, and write down all the thoughts, feelings and emotions you are going through so that you don't have to 'carry' these things around with you...and know that you were put on this earth for a reason and although it may not seem 'purposeful' right now, your life will/is worth fighting for...:D

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Not to pick on people here, but severe depression is not the occasional blues. There is no hurt in trying their suggestions, but if they don't work please go talk to a psychologist. If you don't have the money, there are counseling services available in many areas for low-income patients given by doctors or clinical social workers. Be wary of anyone suggesting that you take medication immediately. Try therapy first and make sure that doctor is not a quack.

Also, even if counseling from a particular person doesn't work for you, keep looking for a doctor that is compatible to your needs. There is nothing wrong with shopping around in this department.

Most ethical doctors would understand if you do not feel comfortable with them. It's almost like matchmaking. If you find a suitable psychologist and you don't find that counseling is enough (but it helps somewhat), he/she may refer you to a psychiatrist for medication.

Good luck and I hope everything works out in your favor.

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..mostly in God..i have to believe that he/she is real and has a plan for me..

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one time after an attempt of suicide , a doctor asked how long have you been depressed I said depressed I am not depressed.

I personally have tired many things from diet ,amino acids ,st johns wort, exercise, mantras, prayer , and on and on

and what I noticed it I would work at finding peace

and all in a flash I could feel the change in my brain as though

someone injected some caustic life draining drug into my brain.

It took me a few years to concede that I was depressed.

I also have PTSD which I have in the recent years come to

understand a lot that goes on in me.

years ago I was stuck in a state of fear that made my body

vibrate my days were a struggle, I maintained my job and taking

care of my teens no no one knew really.

And one day when that I felt the drag on my brain with in a flash I decided to try meds. I took paxil for about 4 or 5 months and the fear subsided with in a few days, my normal
light hearted self returned , I was truly amazed and the rebound
when at times it could take months of a lot of work to feel OK
again.

So if you are depressed you many want to seek medical help to
get you to a place where you can consider your life style.

I am basically by nature a positive , playful interactive

person. And some thing that I truly believe about depression the more that you keep it a bay the less you will experience episodes.I think each episode predispositions your brain
for a repeated episode. I found in keeping depression out of my
mind for extended periods of time brought me to only small hints and I would catch them .
Therapy may be needed also and THAT is another story.

take care of you depression. It can make you feel not worth it
you can denied the importance to yourself
and I also do not think any one who ever took their life was not depressed first.

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