Dealing with Depression

I know you said you would prefer not to use medication but for me it really did help. I was cripplingly depressed actually around your age--so much so that I was actually out of school for 3 months. I found that the depression warped my thought processes to the point where my thoughts would spiral and I really was incapable of thinking about situations and possibilities in a new light. I was medicated for about 5 months and I found that what it really did for me was to give me enough distance on the situation where I could finally actually think about what was going on and formulate new plans and conclusions. It wasn't until the medication lifted me up out of the pattern of thought that I had become stuck in that I even realized that I wasn't even really thinking about my problems I was just obsessing and spinning through the same trains of thought over and over. I understand why you might not want to end up on anti-depressants long term but I really think even a short term on them might help you "beat it mentally" as you put it. At any rate, that would be one of the things that I would want to discuss with a psychologist or psychiatrist especially if you consider the situation to be debilitating.

 

Its simple, at first its hard. Its a habit you need to get into.

Eating plenty of fruits and greens
Get plenty of sunlight
Meditate
Go for a run, for me after a good run and sweat, my mind stops feeling negative. When that happens I think about positive things.
Smile frequently
Relax you're body
Do something different once in a while, give you're mind something new to experience and break out of routines

 

I can only speak from personal experience here. I've dealt with depression on and off my entire life. For me, it's in my genetics. I was suicidal when I was 14 and was placed on medication and was on that medication until I was 18. After 4 years, I thought I'd overcome it and was fine and wouldn't need medicine again. That lasted about 6 months before I started feeling the depression again. It was then that I realized it came and went, and it was manageable at first. But it eventually got worse, to where I was a couple weeks ago. I was very, very depressed and fatigued to where I was sleeping way longer than I should have been and my body was so tired that it was hard to walk. So now I'm back on medication and I'm doing better. Sometimes you need medication and other times you don't, and only a doctor can tell which is which.

However I will say that antidepressants are usually fairly inexpensive. A month's supply of my Prozac costs me 63¢ with my insurance, and I think it's on the list of $4 generics without insurance.

I would check in your area to see about free or low-cost counseling services, and if you do decide to go the medication route, clinician visits can be cheaper than seeing an MD and clinicians can prescribe medication. I wish you all the best.

 

Cuddleing with my teddy bear and blankets helps me

 

You have to try and find the right balance. Thats what Im doing right now. Ive dealt with depression on and off since 2012, and I dont like taking medications. I have zero emotions and dont feel normal when I do take it. That being said try to eliminate any triggers to your depression. For me that was to cut back hours at work, change my sleep pattern, be more open and honest to people about how you feel, and try to eat better. I also meditate every day. Im off my medications right now and am doing better than when I was first diagnosed in 2012. I know that my depression will return at some point and when that time comes im prepared to deal with it.