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Depression

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The DIY Couturier • 21 Tips to Keep Your Shit Together When You're Depressed. A while ago, I penned a fairly angry response to something circulating on the internet – the 21 Habits of Happy People. It pissed me off beyond belief, that there was an inference that if you weren’t Happy, you simply weren’t doing the right things. I’ve had depression for as long as I can remember. It’s manifested in different ways.

I did therapy. I did prozac. So, this Cult of Happy article just set me off. It’s bad enough without people ramming Happy Tips at you through facebook. A friend of mine suggested that I write something from my point of view because, surprisingly, I manage to give an outwards impression of having my shit together. So, here it is.

My 21 Tips on Keeping Your Shit Together During Depression 1) Know that you’re not alone. 2) Understand that the Happy People are usually acting out of some genuine (albeit misguided) concern for you, that it’s coming from a good place, even if the advice feels like you’re being blamed for your disease. 9) Learn how to meditate. Andrews_and_Thomson_2009. Hyperbole and a Half. Health: Depression Diaries and It's Okay To Be Sad. [Content Note: Depression] Acknowledging to yourself that you are depressed and have a serious illness that is going to interfere with your daily life sometimes and that it's Not Your Fault and the illness can't be beaten by willpower and bootstraps can be very cathartic and helpful.

It can also open a whole new barrel of worms. One of the things I've noticed in my fight with medication-induced depression is how Knowing I'm Depressed isn't some kind of magic bullet for treatment. And in fact sometimes it makes it harder. Because now when I feel sad for any reason, there's an almost panic that sets in. Why is the depression hitting now? I thought I was done with this? It's hard sometimes to remember that non-Depressed people do get sad sometimes. Everyone on earth is sad sometimes.

That is bullshit. Non-Depressed people sometimes get sad on their birthdays. It's okay to be sad. It might not be okay tomorrow or the next day or the next week or the next month. It's okay to be sad. Advice given to depressed people. I considered titling this, "Advice for depressed people," and then realized what a mistake it would be. This isn't about the advice depressed people, people like me, should be given. This is about the advice that is given. And as one might expect it will focus mostly on myself because I'm the depressed person I know best. Apart from things like, "You should probably seek medical help," or maybe in certain circumstances, "Perhaps you should consider another doctor," there's not a lot of stuff a non-medical professional is going to be able to offer as advice that stands a legitimate chance of helping someone with depression on the depression front.

There's all kinds of other advice that might be helpful like, "If you hold the hammer further back you'll get more force," or, "Never bet your life on someone else remembering to use their blinker," or something like that. Much of it comes from, I think, a misunderstanding. My life is not a shambles because I'm feeling down. Don't do that. Treating Sleep Improves Psychiatric Symptoms. People with depression or other mental illnesses often report trouble sleeping, daytime drowsiness and other sleep-related issues.

Now a growing body of research is showing that treating sleep problems can dramatically improve psychiatric symptoms in many patients. Much of the latest work illustrates how sleep apnea, a common chronic condition in which a person repeatedly stops breathing during sleep, may cause or aggravate psychiatric symptoms. In past years sleep apnea has been linked to depression in small studies and limited populations. Now a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strengthens that connection. The CDC analyzed the medical records of nearly 10,000 American adults with sleep apnea. Men diagnosed with this disorder had twice the risk of depression—and women five times the risk—compared with those without sleep apnea. Treating this disorder shows promise for reducing symptoms of depression, a recent study at the Cleveland Clinic suggests. Steven Y.