Depression is a continuously spreading affliction of our contemporary population and while almost everyone experiences this negative state of mind at some point in their life others have to suffer from this condition chronically perhaps even since their early childhood. Whether your depression is temporary or chronic efficient treatment is possible and major relapses can be prevented by following basic guidelines such as the ones in the following lines:
Find out what aggravates your depression
Certain substances such as alcohol, tobacco, excess sugars in diet can exacerbate the symptoms of many psychiatric maladies including depression. What might be an irritant to me, might not be to you so pay attention to times when you perceive a noticeable worsening of symptoms and try to track-back the potential cause be it drinking caffeinated drinks or lack of sleep. Once you locate the exact sources take corrective measures and see whether the problem was resolved.
Get some fresh air/movement
Exercise is a great primary/secondary anti-depressant and has proved its place in many psychiatric illnesses such as anxiety and depression. There are various mechanisms by which exercise aids depression. Firstly, it promotes adult neurogenesis (formation of new neural connections) in the brain region called dentate gyrus which is the main target of depression and so you are directly reversing and correcting the neurotoxic damage your depression has produced. Secondly, when running you are not focusing on your depression, but rather the surroundings which allows you to adapt a more neutral or optimistic state of mind.
Get to know your malady
Being able to distinguish your depression from yourself can be tricky since the symptoms appear to be integrated. By analyzing your reactions and emotions you will sooner or later be able to establish where your decision-making and thinking has been negatively influenced by depression. Once you can draw this separating line you will be able to give way to your desired behavior and suppress the depressive impact. Meditation might help you with being able to differentiate among these two states more easily so you might as well give it a try!
Remember what depression does is infect you with an inflexible, pessimistic mind-state inherently aversive of believing in or initiating recovery. Therefore it might seem unnatural and painful to do what might actually be helpful. However, once you push yourself into the recovery loop the intrinsic resistance will rapidly dissipate allowing for a full recovery.
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