How to relieve depression

Based on current clinical practice and feedback from a large number of people who have experienced it, there is no unified "standard answer" for the relief of depression, but the safest path must be to put standardized treatment in accordance with the doctor's instructions first, and then slowly adjust the pace of life and build a support system according to your own condition. Don't believe the extreme statements on the Internet that "you can heal yourself by running/traveling/self-discipline". For moderate to severe patients, those suggestions may be secondary injuries.

Nowadays, there is a fierce debate on the Internet about whether to take antidepressants. One group says that taking drugs has side effects and will cause dependence, and it is really good to get through it on your own. The other group says that as long as the diagnosis is confirmed, you must take drugs, and psychological counseling is a useless placebo. In fact, both of these statements are too absolute. I have come across many cases when I was doing psychological assistance in the community. Some patients with mild symptoms who had just developed depression and loss of interest had no sleep disorders and their mobility was not greatly affected. They went to a reliable consultant for three months of cognitive behavioral therapy and spent half an hour in the sun every day. They gradually recovered and did not take any drugs. There was also a 28-year-old Internet operator girl who was diagnosed with moderate depression. When she was depressed, she refused to take medicine. She was afraid that others would say she was "hypocritical" or "mentally ill", so she forced herself to go hiking every day. As a result, after walking for half a month, she even lost the strength to get out of bed. Later, she went to the doctor for a follow-up visit and prescribed commonly used SSRIs antidepressants. After taking it for about six weeks, the dull feeling of having a piece of wet cotton pressed on her chest subsided. Only then did she have enough energy to make cognitive adjustments. Now she can go to work normally and go camping with friends on weekends.

You can think of depression as the brain's "emotion regulation battery" that is so depleted that it cannot be recharged at all. Taking medicine is equivalent to connecting you to an external power supply first to maintain the most basic operation. As for how to repair the battery later, it depends on exercise, cultivating interests, and changing to a less stressful environment. Everyone's situation is different, and there is no way to copy it.

Many family members or friends are prone to fall into this trap, and they always like to say to the patient, "You are just too busy, just be busy" and "You are so good, why should you be depressed?" I have met a sophomore girl before, and the most devastating time was when her mother forced her to go to a dinner party with relatives. A table full of people gathered around her to talk nonsense, and everyone tried to persuade her to "be more liberal." That day when she got home, she locked herself in the bathroom and cut her wrists. In fact, for the patient, the most useful support is not to urge him to "get better soon" at all, but not to urge him to make progress when he wants to lie down, and don't force him to socialize when he doesn't want to talk. Even if you just sit quietly with him for a while and give him a cup of warm water, it is much more useful than talking about a lot of big principles.

Nowadays, many people recommend methods such as mindfulness meditation and long-distance running to assist recovery, and some people have indeed recovered from their emotional lows by relying on these. However, many patients have also told me that they do not have enough energy to begin with, and they have to force themselves to run five kilometers every day and sit there and meditate for half an hour, which only makes them more anxious. In fact, these methods are essentially "plus points", not "required options". If you feel comfortable taking two steps downstairs today, just take two steps. If you feel comfortable sitting on the sofa and watching cartoons, you don't have to follow other people's recovery checklist and check in. On the contrary, it will put extra burden on yourself.

Anyway, in the final analysis, recovery from depression is a stop-and-go process. Occasionally having mood swings is normal. You don’t have to feel that all your efforts have been wasted just because you suddenly fell into depression one day. It’s great to take your time.