How to beat depression and lethargy?

Well... I do understand how you are feeling and I'm really sorry that you are feeling like that because it's just the worst feeling ever.

Now, how to help you...

Xanax. PROZAC!, Pristiq, Effexor, Zoloft, Clonazepam (if you are anxious as well) sertraline, Seroquel, Lexapro, Ativan, Adderall... I couldn't list all the ones I've tried.

If there's something that is causing you to be depressed and you wanna vent, go ahead.

But pills are just the way to go. Think about it as a flu or as a broken bone, a stomach ache... You need medicine for it.

And fuck, try to go out. I know it's hard and hurts to just get out of bed, but try to not stay there.

 

Ask your parents for the herbal supplements.
Try St. John's wort: St. John's wort | University of Maryland Medical Center

It helps a lot of people and with much less side effects than chemical anti-depressants.

After using it for 2 weeks, you should start to feel a change.

Please know that there are MANY medications you should absolutely not take this herb with. So if you use other medication, first ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice.

 

Chemicals are what your brain needs. That's why you get depressed because the chemicals in your brain are fucking you up. I think that people should stop seeing chemical antidepressants as Satan. Is not like you have to take them forever and they definitely help. Again, it's like having a broken bone and not taking painkillers.

 

Antidepressants can help with depression, but they can also cause a lot of problems. If you have a severe depression, you might need them and in that case they can be very benificial.

In general, St. John's wort is much safer and helps in mild to moderate depressions.

---------- Post added 22nd Jun 2016 at 04:23 PM ----------

Oh, I forgot: If you want to try St. John's wort, make sure you buy a reliable brand with a standardised extract, otherwise it may not work because there aren't enough active ingredients in it.

 

Honestly, for me, the pills have been a double-edged sword. Finding one (actually, 2) that works has been a loooong process. There are some not so-pleasant side effects. You might want to look into any health conditions first/get a comprehensive blood panel done. Sometimes, low levels of certain vitamins or other illnesses can cause depression, and remedying that would likely be easier than taking psych meds. Otherwise, I'd say finding a good anti-depressant has really helped me get out of a deep, dark place-and beyond that, regular therapies, self-care, etc, help to keep me from (usually) descending back into the dark place. The drugs are totally necessary for me though. But your mileage may vary.

 

Depression is a bitch and there are no quick fixes, so you just have to do your best and try to push through it some days. It's hard to do and I cannot deny that, but it's worth the effort.

Therapy is useful, but talking to anyone who is caring and will listen can help a lot. A qualified therapist may be able to help you in specific ways, but at it's heart, therapy is about human contact, listening and responding with empathy and many people possess these basic skills. Do you have any friends to call upon or could you seek out listening and befriending services provided by volunteers within your community?

It's okay to spend some time on your bed, providing you are putting that time to effective use. If you are just staring at the ceiling and not feeling any more relaxed or refreshed as a result, that's not really helpful to you. Could you explore relaxation techniques and mindfulness, so the time alone on your bed is actually time well spent?

Diet and exercise is important, so don't neglect these things. Make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and lean meat and oily fish, if you are not vegetarian. Also drink plenty of water. Avoid processed foods and sugary snacks that can make you feel more sluggish and exercise can simply mean a good walk.

Pushing through it does mean leaving the house and getting fresh air and daylight. People with depression tend to spend long hours and days indoors and the lack of fresh air and daylight can also increase the sense of sluggishness.

Medication in combination with therapy will help, but I think you know what the biggest underlying issue is anyway. When you can finally address that in a meaningful way, it should have a positive impact on your mood and overall wellbeing.

 

Meds can help. But sometimes you do have to take them almost forever - they're drugs, and not taking them can cause severe withdrawal symptoms. That's not to say they can't be a really good idea sometimes, though. It depends on your situation.

Yeah. Chemicals, such as in food and medicinal drugs, are important. You are a biological system, after all.
But personally, as for me, I find there are two things that characterize my depression a bit more than the rest, and that I see a lot of others with depression have problems with as well, so I'll just say something about that - a sense of meaninglessness and a negative outlook on life.

With the negative outlook on life thing, I kind of look it at as thus. Certain cultures, religions etc. have a different perspective on what life is, well, like. Buddhism, for example, posits that life inherently sucks but that through your thinking you can make it very much nicer, if I understand things correctly. In a Western, liberal, capitalistic-moralistic view of the world, the world is quite fine as long as there's free flow of capital etc. In summary, many different cultures etc. have different ideas on what constitutes happiness and how the world is actually like in general for the common person. My answer? In any day or age, things will be good to an extent and bad to an extent, varying with where and when you live, but also with your outlook on life.
Let's take a scenario from my own present reality. I am sick as hell of waiting for hormones. I've lived in a limbo for over a decadel empty, cold, and just so tired of trying only to fail; to realize there's something missing. Then when I found out what's probably the biggest missing piece in the puzzle that is my life - that is, my gender dysphoria - I am offered help. Great. Here, have a carrot. Huh? Excuse me? Yeah, we're gonna hold this carrot, this half-promise of hormones before you so that you don't kill yourself, because that would be troublesome. It's not like we could just give them to you and thus helping you be a happier person or anything, nah. This is the way we roll. And then I have to wrestle with this anguish day in and day out, and yes, it is very tiring.
So what are my options? Well, a part of me, that sometimes has the upper hand, sometimes not, wants no just lay down and cry. And that's okay. Getting it out is perfectly okay. The problem is that crying isn't very worthwhile in the long run, though. Ideally you'll want to free up time so that you can do other things, enjoyable things, things that make you feel accomplished and fulfilled, like creative expression or service to other people (online, IRL, however/wherever). As for me, I'll just hold tight to any comforting thought that springs to mind, such as "it could be worse", or "hopefully in time..." It helps a bit. But most of all, doing fun things, getting activated, even when it feels counter-intuitive, helps the most. In fact, here I will say that emotional suppression is quite good sometimes. When I hear that voice that says "stay down, don't do anything", or "why would I want to do anything when I wouldn't mind being hit by a truck right now?", I say to myself, "No, shut the f*** up, I'm watching this anime now". And it usually helps.

Meaningless is something a lot of us feel, and especially people with depression. I find my best thinking to combat it has been something like this; 'Maybe life has no inherent meaning. That seems plausible, I guess - I mean, can meaning be objective at all? So maybe I'm not really angry at that life in itself is meaningless; maybe I'm angry at that I'm yet to properly create any meaning for myself in my life.' If you believe in inherent meaning you can pursue that too, of course. I believe there are some things to my character that I recognize as me, and I believe I have a set amount of average input and influence in my microcosm and in the macrocosm. I wrote a list of traits I believe to possess in order to better understand myself. Maybe you could do one too, if you wanted to (PS. Don't forget 'attractive', 'intelligent', and 'charming' <3 ). I found it helped me think of myself in a more neutral rather than overtly negative way.

Reflecting on yourself is a thing you can do, but with caution, to help you feel better. You are more than just traits or your body or mental state or so. You are also part of a story. And you're in the chapters with the nice guys! Isn't that a good thing. We often feel lonely, sad, scared, anxious, and bad in many other ways - and that's okay. That's human. When it gets too much we need help though. And remember that you're part of a human family that, although often divided on ideological lines, very often share the same core; the same heart, so to say. Your depression, your own, is unique. But you're still not alone. Many have felt similarly to you, and many have made it through to share their stories, contributing to the whole.

Change both your material reality and how you think is very good - you don't have to do just one of them. You can have it all, you're worth it, there's no shame. Moving out, if that helps, can be a good idea. Being more independent. Practical things like that. But also in how you think - that's not to say that I'm advicing you to simply think your way out of depression - it can't be done, so I wouldn't suggest it - but challenge your own negative thinking patterns. Talk back.

All in all - prioritize your own wellbeing, rather than being apathetic towards it. Just be a little proactive, something good usually follows.

 

That's a wrong understanding of the Buddha's Teachings You're not the only one with this wrong understanding

The Buddha never said that life inherently sucks.
We can have a good time, we can have good and nice experiences, but life will always be about change. There will be good times, and there will be bad times, and Buddhism can teach us how to deal with them, in our mind.

If it interests you: A Basic Buddhism Guide: Introduction to Buddhism

 

@Tyler are there wrong understandings? Maybe you just think yours is better? At any rate, from your own source: "f we look at our life, very simply, in a straightforward way, we see that it is marked with frustration and pain." That's the part I was talking about.

 

True, Invidia, there is suffering in every (unenlightened) life. You said that according to Buddhism, "life inherently sucks". That would be a very pessimistic (depressing!) view and that's not what the Buddha taught.

Read about that common misunderstanding here: Common Buddhist Misunderstandings

Excerpt: "The Buddha told us that "Life is Suffering". One who does not understand the Truth of this may think that life is meaningless and become negative and pessimistic. Actually, this theory is commonly misunderstood. People in society and even some Buddhists are trapped in this wrong and gloomy view.

When we encounter phenomena, and have a feeling of dislike, worry or pain, we say that there is "suffering". This should not be generalised to "all life is suffering", because there is also a lot of happiness in life! Noises are disturbing but nice melodies bring happiness. When one is sick, poor, separated from loved ones, one has suffering. But when one is healthy, wealthy, together with one’s family, one is very happy. Suffering and happiness exist in all phenomena. Actually where there is happiness, there will be suffering. They are in contrast with each other. If’ we only say that life is suffering when things do not go according to our wish we are rather foolish."

 

Things like that can be worth looking into if that's your kind of thing.

 

I had the same. And I beat it quite fast. I'm sure you still have dreams in your life. First, return to your hobbies. Sport helps too. I know it's hard at first, but for 2 hours do whatever you enjoyed to do. You will enjoy it again. Don't lie around, I know it's tempting, but that makes everything worse. Then improve your life and everything is okay. Under no circumstances use chemical help. You can only fight this yourself.

 

Hey Kodo, ive been depressed for over 6 years now and I've tried a lot of things to try and help it. I can think of a few things that might help which I'll list below.

-Setraline. I was on it for the whole of last year and decided to try going off it over the holidays to see if I was better. Personally I didn't notice any difference in how I felt but everyone around me said definitely they did. When I went off it I've slowly been going back down hill and even my dysphoria seemed to get worse. I've just restarted it again last week and I think I'm starting to feel better again. I've also tried St Johns wort which helped a bit, but not as much. Sometimes drugs are the only way to go if you've tried everything else.

-you've probably heard this too many times, but self care is one of the ,most important things. Hygiene, exercise, healthy eating and SLEEP are very important.

-Force yourself to do things. I always find that i feel better getting outside, talking to people and working. Even if I feel like I'm about to combust. Even though it's hard, being isolated and miserable will make you feel worse because if you're not distracted from yourself enough.

-try to look at the bigger picture. Focus on fixing things you can help. Help other people and be the best person you can under the circumstances.

-you need a tremendous amount of strength to be able to push through and grit your teeth and bear it. Sometimes the only way to do it is to just not think.

 

I'm against just popping pills because. Not all depression is from a chemical imbalance and they can have some life threatening side effects. Hell one of the pills my sister was taking for her depression gave her nose bleeds so bad she nearly ended up anemic once.

This is something you should call up a therapist and go talk to a trained professional face to face with. You might need meds and you might just need a simple change of diet or maybe some event/thing is bringing it on.

Depression is serious, and there is help.

 

I recommend reading Robert Sapolsky's Why zebras dont get ulcers for a biological understanding of depression. Also getting out and meeting/being with people will boost your seratonin and oxcytocin levels e.g. singing in a choir or playing team sports.

 

A combination of therapy, writing in a journal and speaking to people has really helped me. It's allowed me to express myself, understand my feelings, and most of all connect with other people.

The last part is the most important in my opinion. My depression was a result of a variety of factors, but the trigger was loneliness. Take a walk, go watch a movie, or join online forums or chat websites. Anything to get you up, out and interacting with the rest of the world.

It could take a while. I started feeling depressed when I was 19 and after deciding to see a therapist in October, I could only consider my depression to have lifted in the last two or three months (I'm 22 now). It really depends on what is causing it for you and how effective you find the attempts to clear the dark cloud. It will feel forced for a while too - it is so much easier to curl up and sleep and hide away, I still do it sometimes - but eventually it comes naturally. Smiling won't feel like stretching your muscles into foreign positions, laughter will become your own personal soundtrack, and things won't seem so bad. But try. That's the main thing. Believe it can get better and try to make it better.

As for the anxiety, embrace it. It sounds crazy, but running towards the thing making you panicky is far more effective than running away from it. Again it takes time and practice, but anxiety is such a monster and running away and reacting to it merely feeds it. Tell anxiety "bring it on" when you begin to feel panicky, and then when it gets too much, reward yourself with something you love as a comfort and a celebration for confronting it for a little while.

I've never been on medication because I didn't want to rely on pills to get me through the day, but maybe you could see your doctor? It may help get things started.

I'm so sorry you're suffering through this right now. I feel for you. But there is hope

 

Hey sweetie, I suffer from depression too. (*hug*)

I find that it takes extraordinary energy sometimes to bring myself to accomplish anything. But when I do, it feels wonderful. I have found that even taking a half an hour to exercise, even light exercise, helps so much. (*hug*)

 

Yes, exercise is amazing. I just got out of a really bad slump and I think if I didn't exercise, I probably would've been in a very bad place. People have already been giving you pretty good advice but I'd say, hard as it is, try to do some little things to at least get moving.

I got into keeping a dumbbell on my desk. So when I'm too depressed to actually get up and get off of the Internet or out of bed, I can pick up the dumbbell and do some curls.

Now this has a really nice side effect. You'll start developing your biceps. Even if you're pre-T, you can get some decent results. And if you're anything like me, that'll help with dysphoria which helps deal with related depression.

If you are up for it, walking is great and low intensity. And if you start to feel a little better just doing that, you can add in jogging.

But beyond working out, I do game a lot when I'm depressed. It doesn't feel productive but you're solving puzzles, killing stuff, getting further in a story. And that helps.

And none of this solves depression, by the way. But it helps things feel a little more manageable until therapy or medication.

By the way, just know that if you decide to go on medication, don't let anyone shame you about it. Your body, your choice.