What do you do when you feel depressed?

Sadly, for a true depression there never really is anything I can do to snap out of it. Time and medication alone have that power. If it’s just a mild case of the blues, I may indulge in a day of weepy, poor me behaviour, resolving that tomorrow will be better. The next day, the single biggest thing I can do to lift my mood is open all the shades. Sunlight streaming in just makes me feel better some how. I make a point of being at least mildly productive, too.

Don’t try to “snap out of it.”

Ask yourself “what’s one thing you can do right now to feel better?”

Slow down your stream of thoughts and get curious about why you are having those thoughts.

Avoid “labeling” such as “I suck,” “I’m an idiot,” etc.

Start exercising a little bit every day and give yourself permission to do a really lazy workout. Walk for five minutes and then when you are ready walk for ten and so on.

Rule out any medical conditions. I’m prone to depression, for example, because my thyroid is kaput. If I don’t take my thyroid medicine, I eventually want to crawl into a hole and die. The reality of that sucks, but after years of trying to fight it, I understand now that I’m better off taking the medicine and feeling better.

Do some stealth performance art. Pretend you are happy and act like a happy person would act.

Whatever you do, don’t listen to country music while depressed!

If it’s just case of the blues, I have a pajama day. I don’t leave my house, or get dressed. My wife will bring me food (anything I want), pamper me with foot and back rubs, and provide me with any type of entertainment I desire. I lay in bed, or sit on the couch, and cuddle with my furballs. Usually, by 4 or 5 pm I’m totally bored and ready to get up and continue on with my life. Being idle for so long really snaps me out of having the blues.

I don’t know what kind of depression your having…but for my down and out blues….I do yoga and take long walks…talking to my pets and crying helps me too.

See above.

When I’m feeling extra depressed, I talk to myself very kindly, as if I were a decent friend of mine, about how I’m capable of making a good decision about it. For example, if I were together enough to see what my fluthermates could offer me, I would give my poor battered self credit for it.

When I’m feeling depressed I typically listen to some hard rock or go to sleep.

unfortunately I usually drink more than usual… Grandpas ole cough medicine usually does the trick.. I decide I’m going to drink and then throw up my depression.. After that, I move on.. That’s what works for me, but I’m an odd sorts!!

If I can catch it just right, sometimes I can snap out of depression by noticing I’m headed in, and stopping the thoughts that lead me down.

If I’ve tried this technique a few times, and I’m still falling in, I still try to avoid the labelling keybo spoke of, but it often is impossible.

Then I tend to dig my hole deep and fast. I beat myself up in any way possible, and I also start attacking my support people. I try to stop all these things, of course, but depression has a way of forcing me into a back seat, while it takes over and has be do things I know are bad for me, but, because I feel so bad, seem right.

At this point, I tend to give in, and then I start thinking it’ll last forever, and I start thinking about what it would be like to die in various ways. Ok, now it gets weird. By visualizing and carefully imagining each microsecond of my killing myself, I start to find the whole thing very funny. Sometimes I’ll call my depression buddy (who is really a very good friend), and we can talk about anything, including the gory details of our darkest thoughts, and somehow, we manage to make each other laugh, even at our worst. That’s always good, and usually helps me start to make my way up, at least a bit.

I go to my group, too. I write here, and elsewhere, usually with a question like this one. Sometimes I freak and think that people will get really tired of hearing me talk about how down I am one more time. But writing about how I feel, and really trying to explain it so any idiot (read the non-depressed) can understand. I think of my parents when I do this. They are the quintessential clueless when it comes to mental health issues like depression. Maybe some day I’ll even show them some of my descriptions, but that’s another story.

People here tend to be very nice, and tell me they care. I don’t believe them, but still, it’s nice to hear.

Usually, after a few days (or weeks… or months) I come back up.

Oh. More things. I play my instruments—that makes me forget for as long as I play. Making love helps a lot. But can only keep me out of it for maybe half a day. I help people (at my job) and if I throw myself into that, I forget I’m down.

Unfortunately, thinking about it pulls me in, and at the moment, I’m feeling that tug. I don’t know what it is or how it got so powerful. I’m going to stop now. Take a deep breath. Go see my wife. Maybe I’ll be better in the morning.

in all honesty I drink myself to oblivion until I run out of money. then I take out another student loan and repeat.

Three steps:
1. Identify the reason why that happens
2. Fight it
3. Repeat every time you are depressed

@daloon: I’m glad you mentioned playing an instrument. I think a part of why playing an instrument works for me is that it’s very in-the-moment. Not only does it feel good and sound soothing, but it also has a meditative quality to it.

People talk about exercise because of the boost in serotonin levels, but I think certain exercises also work on this meditative “in the zone” sense that gets easier and easier to get yourself into the more you do it.

Shopping :s

Loud music is really the only thing that gets me out of a funk…The type of music depends upon the reason I am depressed, but it must be LOUD!

I allow myself to cry. I allow myself to say what I need to say, usually in my journal, but I refrain from doing a lot of it, online. Depression is something I’ve been fighting the entire time I’ve had cancer. To me, and this is not against you or any other person that struggles with this, it is dangerous to do this online because you sometimes get some damaging ideas on how to “snap out” of it.

There is no “snapping” out of it, though. There is getting help and truly listening to the person that is trying to help you. There are excellent forms of excercise that help.

The thing is and it’s incredibly hard to do – listen to yourself. Listen to what is inside of you fighting feeling this way. Understand that a lot of people do need medication, as well.