6 Practical and Powerful Ways to Overcome Depression. Editor’s note: This is a guest post from John Van Sickel.
One of the byproducts of our sedentary & isolated contemporary life is the growing epidemic of depression. Over 120 million people worldwide are affected by the black dog of depression, as Sir Winston Churchill described it. What It Feels Like to Be Suicidal. Interesting piece on suicidal ideation in Scientific American.
Scientific American: In considering people’s motivations for killing themselves, it is essential to recognize that most suicides are driven by a flash flood of strong emotions, not rational, philosophical thoughts in which the pros and cons are evaluated critically. And, as I mentioned in last week’s column on the evolutionary biology of suicide, from a psychological science perspective, I don’t think any scholar ever captured the suicidal mind better than Florida State University psychologist Roy Baumeister in his 1990 Psychological Review article , “Suicide as Escape from the Self.”
To reiterate, I see Baumeister’s cognitive rubric as the engine of emotions driving deCatanzaro’s biologically adaptive suicidal decision-making. Some comics/art works about depression. 11 ways to beat depression naturally. The other day I saw a report that said that one in 10 Americans older than 12 take antidepressants.
That seems sad to me. But what was truly shocking was that less than a third of the people taking these drugs have seen a mental health professional in the last year — and most people who take these drugs don't need them. Antidepressants are taken mostly by white women, and their use has increased 400 percent since the early 1990s. The connection between dreaming and depression. Depression and dreaming Imagine waking up feeling exhausted and miserable, worse than when you went to bed, too depressed to want to do anything?
That is what depression feels like. It begins after a period of excessive worrying that is connected in some way with the person’s failure to get one or more of their essential emotional needs met. As well as having a low mood and taking no pleasure in activities that used to be enjoyable, the depressed person typically experiences the following symptoms: difficulty getting off to sleep because worrying thoughts are going round and round in your mind; waking up exhausted, often early in the morning; a change in eating patterns; constant feelings of tiredness and a loss of motivation. The resulting feelings of hopelessness, exhaustion and apathy give the depressed person even more to worry about and might even lead to suicidal thoughts, which exacerbate the situation.
10 ways to try beat depression. Depression is a gripping, horrible and very sad illness.
And at some point in most peoples lives, it will happen. Depression can come in many ways and different people will react differently to depression. It can happen for many reasons, bereavement, illness divorce or the break down of a relationship, money worries or fear from past events. Awakening and Depression. What is depression?
Blah-ness. Dryness, emptiness, futility, disengagement. Painful to lift a finger. The opposite of love. Dealing with Depression: Self-Help & Coping Tips to Overcome Depression. The road to depression recovery Recovering from depression requires action, but taking action when you’re depressed is hard.
In fact, just thinking about the things you should do to feel better, like going for a walk or spending time with friends, can be exhausting. It’s the Catch-22 of depression recovery: The things that help the most are the things that are the most difficult to do. Cause of depression still eludes us, says neuroscientist. We don't know what is wrong with the brains in people suffering from depression.
On theory is that depression is connected to the amount of the neurotransmitter serotonin inside our brains. (Photo: Colourbox) Albert Gjedde, MD, is a neuroscientist and probes people's heads to see how their brains work. Stress and Depression. Stress and depression have quite the cause and effect relationship.
See how they continually fuel each other and what you can do to break the cycle. Transcript: Stress and depression have quite the relationship. That's because stress increases levels of the hormone... 12-Steps to Creating Motivation When Depressed. Creating motivation when feeling depressed can be one of the most difficult things a person can do.
An episode of depression can be physically and emotionally draining. The simplest of tasks seem to take maximum effort, and sometimes even beyond maximum. Some may feel lethargic. It may be tough make meals, or clean up at home, or take showers, or even get out of bed. Navigating motivation when depressed can be tough because the instinct is to wait for the energy to return.
Unfortunately, it’s not usually as simple as this. Obviously, actively doing anything doesn’t sound so desirable when feeling depressed, let alone confronting our depressive urges head-on. Adventures in Depression. Some people have a legitimate reason to feel depressed, but not me. I just woke up one day feeling sad and helpless for absolutely no reason. It's disappointing to feel sad for no reason. Sadness can be almost pleasantly indulgent when you have a way to justify it - you can listen to sad music and imagine yourself as the protagonist in a dramatic movie. You can gaze out the window while you're crying and think "This is so sad. I can't even believe how sad this whole situation is. 8 Ways to Cope with Depression. Why Depression Ruins Your Memory. Depression has been linked to memory impairment, but being depressed doesn't affect all types of memory uniformly. A new study suggests that people with depression can remember the big picture, but have difficulty with memories of fine details--distinguishing the differences between similar memories.
Brigham Young University professor Brock Kirwan and one of his former grad students, D.J. Shelton, set up a memory test where participants were asked to look at various objects that popped up on a computer screen, and mark them as a new object (something they hadn't seen in the test already) or an old object (that they had seen). Out of 83 participants, those who were more depressed (assessed by pre-study surveys) could usually tell the difference between objects they had or hadn't seen before, but were significantly more likely to categorize objects that looked similar, but not exactly the same, as "old.
" The Cognitive Symptoms of Depression. The cognitive symptoms of depression tend to receive less attention than other symptoms of this difficult illness. Namely, symptoms such as sinking mood, fatigue and loss of interest garner more recognition. Yet cognitive symptoms are quite common. “[They] are actually significantly prominent in depression,” said Deborah Serani, Psy.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the book Living with Depression. And these symptoms are incredibly debilitating. What Is Depression? Let This Animation With A Dog Shed Light On It. Meditation vs. medication: A comic essay on facing depression. What is depression? You asked Google – here's the answer. To illustrate how horrible it was, being in jail in a wheelchair with four broken limbs after the car accident that prompted me to get sober ... was much, much easier and less painful.
Comedian Rob Delaney’s description of severe depression is enough to stop you in your tracks. How can a mental illness, a disorder of thought and emotion, feel so much worse than the most intense physical discomfort? And yet it’s not unusual to read about metaphorical bouts between illnesses in which the black dog always wins. “It’s a piece of cake in comparison with depression,” said Majella O’Donnell, of breast cancer. Even in the realm of mental anguish, it pummels all competitors into submission. The surprising news is that experts find it hard to agree on a definition. That’s because, according to Robinson, the causes of their low mood might be very different. 8 Ways to Help Your Bipolar Loved One Cope - Beyond Blue. “Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered am I” wrote US songwriter Lorenz Hart about the feeling of infatuation.
It’s blissful and euphoric, as we all know. But it’s also addicting, messy and blinding. Without careful monitoring, its wild wind can rage through your life leaving you much like the lyrics of a country song: without a wife, job and truck. So how do you reign in this powerful beast?