We often see people putting statuses on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram saying, “Feeling depressed”. Do we think if we are getting bored and have nothing to do, then we can say we are depressed? That is a very usual and mistaken belief in our youth. What depression is? Depression is a medical condition/mental disorder that affects a person’s thoughts and feelings.

We will discuss the top 5 proven ways to overcome depression, but first, we need to understand the symptoms of depression, and then we will talk about overcoming depression.

Symptoms of Depression

According to DSM 5 (a manual that psychologists use to diagnose mental disorders), when we have the following symptoms for constantly two weeks for almost all day or every day:

·         Depressed mood

·         Weight loss or weight gain

·         Anhedonia (no pleasure in doing activities that used to give you pleasure)

·         Fatigue or loss of energy

·         Feelings of worthlessness or excessive, inappropriate guilt

·         Suicidal ideation or attempt

These symptoms must cause significant impairment in a person's social, personal, and occupational life for a diagnosis of depressive disorder.

Important: If you are thinking of suicide, call (92) 0311 7786264 / 0311 (77UMANG). Umang is a mental health helpline recognized by World Health Organization (WHO) that offers support to vulnerable Pakistanis ideating or planning suicide. Its services are available 24/7, FREE OF COST.

Causes of Depression

There is no exact cause of depression yet discovered. But certain conditions cause depression, e.g. any stressful life event such as the death of loved ones, miscarriage trauma, genetic (if anyone in our close family has depression), isolation, a medical condition, and side effects of taking drugs and alcohol use. Also, people with sensitive personalities have trouble coping with life stressors which take these on their nerves.

P.S. If you have noticed symptoms of depression, never keep these changes to yourself, always share them with someone concerned, like a mental health professional and seek help. You can self-check depression through this test of depression and if the results are alarming, then visit a psychologist without any second thought because it is your life, and no one will come to rescue you other than you.

Different Ways To Overcome Depression

There are different ways to cope with the depression that you can do for yourself to cope with it. But here, I will explain the top 5 strategies to cope with depression. All these are scientifically researched, proven, and very effective.

1.     Understanding Your Depression 

You need to notice the changes happening in your life. Lose interest in the activities you used to do, starts avoiding meeting people, and do not want to do anything. Your task is to pinpoint the problem that is causing these symptoms. Sometimes there is no cause of depression that you can find consciously, but at the back end, there is an underlying cause that represents itself in these symptoms mentioned above.

If multiple problems are causing depression, you will need to work on them and eliminate them on a priority basis.

2.      Journaling (Writing down thoughts)

Journaling takes an active role in helping you in treatment and gives you a chance to use positive self-talk.

Do not just keep the things in mind; start writing; write each thought of yours to give them a proper shape. Millions of ideas revolve in your minds at a time, especially when you have depression; mind is full of negative thoughts, i.e., hopelessness and worthlessness.

Take a pen and paper and start writing how you are feeling, why you are feeling that way, what the consequences are and what you can do to overcome all these. Later, write down the logic against your negative thoughts as well.

When you write, your mind thinks you have shared all these thoughts with someone, and you get very lightheaded (catharsis). You will feel like half of your problems are solved because subconscious thinks you have started working on our plans.

Always write without any prior thought and judgment because you are writing it for yourself and not for the purpose of showing it to anyone. In this way, your writing will be genuine.

3.   Exercise

Research shows that exercise improves physical health, body image, patient coping strategies with stress, quality of life, and independence in activities of daily living in older adults. (“Exercise therapy improves mental and physical health in patients ...”).

During depression, it is not easy to get up and exercise, but you must force yourself to think for a moment and get up, even if it is for 5 minutes of a walk, because when you feel relaxed after 5 min walk, gradually, increases the time day by day. It is not a one-time fix; it is a lengthy process till the nerve cell improvement begins alleviating depression symptoms. Pick something you can sustain and enjoy doing it. It can be barefoot walking on grass in the morning, deep breathing in nature, or jogging.

4.   Socialize 

You should try to keep yourself busy with activities so that being isolated does not trigger negative thoughts in your minds. The need for social connection is instinctual. Gradually improve your social connection, which will help in improving your depression. Researchers have found that people connected to others have lower rates of depression. They have more self-esteem, are empathetic and cooperative, and know there are people out there who care for them. This way, social connection produces a positive feedback loop of social, emotional, and physical well-being. Keep the brief at the start because a proper routine will develop with time, and you feel more need for social connections.

5.   Sleep

People with depression have trouble sleeping. Even if they sleep, they do not get up fresh the following day and still feel fatigued.

 Here are tips to improve sleep:

·      Listen to music, Quranic verses, or read a book to help relax your mind while focusing your thoughts on what you are listening to or reading.

·         Clear your mind by writing tomorrow’s to-do list, and tell yourself that you will think about them tomorrow now.

·         Avoid taking tea and coffee in the evening. Even some medicines like headache medicines have caffeine which can cause poor sleep.

·         Relaxation therapies like deep abdominal breathing and yoga are helpful in initiating sleep.

·         Avoid looking at bright screens, e.g., a laptop or T.V. screen, before sleep time because it suppresses the release of the natural sleep hormone melatonin.

·         Go to bed only when you feel drowsy.

    Conclusion 

It is time to take depression seriously. You can save your lives by applying these few things in your life and help others. Practice them religiously, and you will see the change in your life. Change your life situation, and your mental state will change with it. We need to understand and manage depression properly.

Ending this with a quote from Charles Darwin:

“Pain and suffering of any kind, if long continued, causes depression and lessens the power of action, yet it is adapted to make a creature guard itself against any great or sudden evil.”