Living in Depression...

[LongAndShort]

Find someone to talk to. I went through a bad patch and was seriously thinking about offing myself. But I found someone I could trust with my problems and things got a lot better. At the very least get some counseling. Even those hotlines can really help.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Well, since you're on a forum; PM somebody you feel comfortable talking to, I guess.

Read something confusing. That may help.

There's probably something you're depressed about, so try to deal with that.

Anti-Ds only serve to dull your emotions, so stuff won't hit you as hard. Get Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or something. In conjunction with the meds.

I sound like a paragon of mental health now.
Not to worry, I studiously ignore my own advice. But I'm still alive, so yippee.

 

[Legion]

If i wasn't in a gaming forum.... I'd say exercise.
But i guess the best people around here get is playing Wii Fit.

Um... what?

Playing games is a hobby, not a life style (for most people).

You will find plenty of people who exercise and play game for fun.

Oh cmon can I not make a joke?
I know that... I do a ridiculous amount of exercise.

Fair enough, though maybe not the best thread to make it, considering the title and all.

 

[UtopiaV1]

How about growing a pair of balls mate? Life is depressing, so avoid it as much as possible, play games until the sweet release of death.

 

[Puzzles]

I use exercise, since when I am depressed I am generally quite restless and unable to sleep, finding no sort of activity satisfying. Exercise makes you feel good, occupies your mind and body for a while, and drains you enough to make sleep easy... Though you might have to force yourself to do it.

Anti-depressants can be good for getting you out of a funk quickly, but I don't find them a lasting measure. If you can find anything that helps you feel better, do it and try not to rely solely on drugs to get you better - happiness is at the end of a long road of trial and error in trying to find what works for you.

 

[space_oddity]

[http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/leejamesbamford/?action=view&current=Advice_dog_go_outside.jpg]

 

[Triple G]

If i wasn't in a gaming forum.... I'd say exercise.
But i guess the best people around here get is playing Wii Fit.
Otherwise be positive and don't do anything rash.
Also, stay away from alcohol.

Fuck that, drink alcohol!

 

[Syntax Error]

I am depressed. Don't know why... I'm on Anti Depressants, but they don't work too well..

They stopped working for me on May 10th 2009, I just got so damn depressed all the time, and I have struggled to sleep for about a month.

I'm turning to the escapist community for help...

If you have an eye for detail, take up model building.

 

[Agent Larkin]

Withdraw yourself competely then you don't have to worry about anything. Works for me.

 

[Emperor Inferno]

A few things that have worked for me.

1)Have sex, and make sure it's really great for her, too. Having a girl praise you during sex and thank you afterward is as good as or perhaps even better than the sex itself, makes you feel great about yourself.

2)If you have a girlfriend, sit with her on a couch or something similar and hold her in your arms. Don't even need to talk, just cuddle with her.

3)Have a conversation about random bullshit with your best friend.

4)Go somewhere and do something really wild and fun. For example, one time, I was real depressed about my ex. Me and a friend of mine walked to the nearest big grocery store and raced motorized shopping carts for like two hours in the middle of the night.

 

[Falconus]

The best possible advice is talk to your doctor.

 

[Danzaivar]

Pack a big bag full of supplies, and go for a 4 day hike somewhere nice.

You may want to take a friend tho, someone diagnosed with depression disappearing into the forests alone may prompt your family to call a search party...

 

[Puzzles]

A few things that have worked for me.

1)Have sex, and make sure it's really great for her, too. Having a girl praise you during sex and thank you afterward is as good as or perhaps even better than the sex itself, makes you feel great about yourself.

2)If you have a girlfriend, sit with her on a couch or something similar and hold her in your arms. Don't even need to talk, just cuddle with her.

Actually these two are really good, better than most other things, for making you feel great. I have a girlfriend now who used to have a really crummy boyfriend who never got her off and treated her badly (she cheated on him with me and ended up with me when they stopped loving each other) and she says thankyou after every time we have sex. It's really weird, but it makes you feel good.

 

[Saul B]

Sit down and have a massive bar of chocolate to yourself. I think it helps release endorphins or somthing...

 

[Emperor Inferno]

Oh, yeah, and those first two things I said can help you sleep, too. Sex (like all other exercise) will tire you out, and cuddling lovingly with your girl relaxes you. Twice when I was still with my last girlfriend, I went from depressed to happy to asleep just by holding her in my arms. It was a genuine happiness, too. Then from there, it was off to sleepy land.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Most of you say things like go outside... Here's a wacky situation...

I constantly feel paranoid that my friends don't want to go out with me... They make excuses when I call for them, but go out when otheer people do...

I broke up with my Girlfriend in April and no other girl wants to have anything to do with me...

This Topic isn't helping much... Feel bit lonely.

 

[Emperor Inferno]

If you don't have a girlfriend or someone to have sex with, and your friends are unavailable, I'd have to say talk to family. Parents or grandparents are your best bet, since they have lots of experience and have known you all your life. If you can, talk to one of them.

 

[Pandalisk]

Wheres courage wolf when you need him?

Hmm, go get a woman, i have been on an endless stream of one girlfriend after another, each lasting about a year each, until they dump me with the worlds "its not you its me" or "i just want to go experience things, be single for a while" or "i want to take a small break" or other such things, but regardless its nice to cuddle up to someone, its the best cure methinks.

That or video games, but i never liked that, i would forget for a few minutes, game a bit online, and then BAMB! reality hits me again and a quickly turn of the ps3 to sulk or something, so not sure if that's the street you should take.

ask family too, my sister, mother and my father (which i was surprised, in a good way) all had things to share and tell, life experiences and wisdom because of the experiences they have had in their life, even my younger brother had kinds words, generally just calling my ex's slags, horray!

as you can imagine its girls that depressed me most, damn them, cant live with them, cant live without them

 

[bluepilot]

Anti-depressents do not really help that much. They act to restore a chemical imbalance in your brain (said to cause/be a result of depression or something) and they cannot cure you. The best you can hope for with anti-depressants is that they `push` you a little bit more towards feeling `normal`. Keep taking them. I can understand your frustration but you have to take them for a while before they start to become effective. If you need a quick fix to help you go `down` you can talk to your doctor about taking tranquillisers.

Aside from medication, depression is a disease that we do not really know that much about. There is no science to it (as yet), no quick fix, you cannot operate on it and cut it away.

I have suffered from depression for many years. I cannot tell you how to get better. But I can just encourage you to get coping strategies to help you through the day.

I cannot give you much more advice unless you tell me more about the nature of your depression. My depression is stress related so my strategies involve removing and minimising stress.

What do you think your depression is related to?

 

[SwitchShift]

Sorry in advance for the wall of text.

Alcohol can make you happy for a short while, but only if you're already happy before drinking, if you're depressed it can make you feel a LOT worse ( I speak from personal experience ). Marijuana doesn't make you happy, but it makes things tolerable for a time, however, if you choose to use it you could end up seriously messing up your life by spending too much time high. I'm not entirely sure about the physical side effects, the science I've read on it (and I looked up actual journal articles) link heavy smoking to some short-term memory loss, possible lung problems if you smoke a lot (but not yet lung cancer), and depression (but it seems like other anti-depressants can sometimes do this too). It can also trigger schitzophrenia, but with the same frequency that it occurs naturally, so it doesn't appear that it is the cause, just the catalyst. Then again, I know of a lot of people who smoke that are currently doing quite well for themselves.

The thing is, chemicals, or doing the activities that release them, just physically force you into staying around. I think the first thing you need to do is actually want to not be depressed anymore (note that in your original post you said you want help, but only implied that you want help ending your depression). I'm not quite sure how to do this myself and I've been secretly depressed for years now, in physical pain because of it sometimes. I think it requires faith in something, for you to believe that there is something good in the world and to seek that thing out. Without a belief in the Good, you cannot logically (read mentally) derive happiness from anything. Good luck finding it, tell me if you do cause I'm still looking.