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Just go to Accessibility— Spoken Content— Speak Screen (Apple Devices) or Accessibility— Text to Speech Output (Android Devices)}
Preamble:This subject is close to my heart- Recovery from depression. Depression causes catastrophic effects on human life, society, medical system and the economy. One patient of depression effects the entire family and friends circle. The biggest suffering is to the life of the person facing the depression.
Purpose and Objective: The purpose of this blog is to highlight how to overcome depression and live a normal life designed for us by God. I don’t want to write a blog in an essay form or explaining the evolution of depression to the current stage.
The purpose is to draw a user friendly crisp check-list and action plan how to get rid of symptoms of depression or say recover from depression. I am not talking about the medical treatment aspect, that should continue as per your physician advice. In addition to medical treatment, the patient has to follow certain steps to have a recovery. I am saying this based on my personal experience and watching other people going through it. There are multiple and combination of causes of depression.
Definition of Depression as per webmd.com is : Depression, also known as major depressive disorder or clinical depression, is a mood disorder with a group of symptoms including constant sadness or lack of interest in life.
Symptoms and Action Plan: Here is the list of symptoms of depression – means if any person going through few or all of these symptoms, it means he is in the clutches of depression and needs help. Underneath each of these symptoms I have provided my suggestion or action plan to eradicate that symptom. This is my way of recovery from depression- just weed out each symptom one by one. And, eventually you will be living a normal healthy passionate life.
14 Symptoms of Depression (Source : Medical News Today)
1. Feeling sad or empty
Mood changes are one of the most common symptoms of depression. A person who has depression may feel sad or low for extended periods.
Action Plan: Never sit alone. If you sit alone, your mind starts doing self-talks and if not distracted, this becomes a strong habit and that becomes your lifestyle. Even if you are alone, switch on TV or any audio- does not matter a little high volume, it should be able to distract you from self-talk.
2. Feeling hopeless or helpless
Depression can make people feel hopeless because there is no foreseeable end to how they are feeling. A person may also feel helpless. They may say or think that no one can help them get better and that they will always feel depressed.
Action Plan: The best way to deal with this situation is to watch and listen to religious and motivational preachings. This is based on my personal experience. You may listen to these preachings 100 times if needed.
If feeling low, please read these inspiring quotes :
Inspirational Quotes – Panic Free Sushi
3. Feeling worthless
A person with depression may feel as though they are worthless or their life has no meaning. They may also believe that they are a burden to others and that the world or their family is better off without them. If a person has these feelings alongside suicidal thoughts, they should seek emergency help.
Action Plan: Let me deal with suicidal thoughts first. Everyone has been created by God and sent on this panet.This is God’s decision who should or should not live in this world. So its not my job to decide to end my life so why should anyone has a thought of self harm or suicide. Let God do his job and let’s do our job- work, live and be happy.
I am a straight shooter so let’s deal with the feeling of worthlessness and meaningless life. If you are a depressed person with no physical disability, my advise is to visit a physically handicapped shelter or surgery ward of a hospital and see with your own eyes how many people are suffering from physical disabilities. There are patients who need assistance to be fed or do basic activities like using a restroom.
Now compare your situation to these patients and ask yourself you are worthless or meaningful. You can do everything on your own. You are under depression just because you got fired from your job or your partner left you or you lost money. Its never end of the world whatever happens, there is always an option, choice or opportunity to get back on track.
4. Feeling excessively guilty
Guilt is a normal reaction after a person says or does something that they regret, but people with depression may have ongoing feelings of guilt for no reason. They may focus a lot of energy on this guilt and feel bad about themselves and things that they have said or done — even events that have long since passed.
Action Plan: During our lifetime, we said or done something in the past we regret and wish could undo or could go back in time and do it differently. Even the smartest man has these regrets because we are all humans. So, do not feel guilty to the extent that it leads to permanent damage. The best thing is to try not to happen that again.
What I am trying to say is keep trying to be a better person everyday. You see happy and successful people all day long in-person or on social media / television, they all have some kind of regrets in their lives. The difference is how they dealt with it, they accepted / realized / improved and moved on. That’s action plan to eradicate feeling of guilt from your system.
5. No interest or pleasure in activities
Some people with depression lose interest in things or activities that they used to enjoy. These can include sports, hobbies, going out with friends, music. They may turn down offers to do activities or be with others, and they may not want to do things they used to like doing. This inability to feel pleasure during previously pleasurable activities is also known as anhedonia.
Action Plan: As couch is the best friend of depression patient, so he has no interest in getting up from that comfort. This should be done in a slow manner starting from walking to exercising so on and so forth.
6. Anger and irritability
A person with depression may seem to be angry with others. They may become easily annoyed and irritate. Other depression symptoms can indirectly cause irritability. For example, if a person is not sleeping well and feels tired, they may be more prone to irritability.
Action Plan: This is very common with patients of depression. The best way to eradicate this symptom is to inject positive thoughts into your brain. This is how it should be done- anytime a negative thought comes like somebody mistreated / was rude to you, tell your brain to stop right there and look for a positive thought. Once you practice this on daily basis, this becomes your lifestyle and you start seeing good in everyone.
Anger and irritability will be out of your system and you will sleep pretty well because there is no load in your mind. This is based on my own experience and it worked.
7. Feeling tired and having a lack of energy
Some people with depression may find it hard to get up in the morning because they feel exhausted and run down. They may feel too fatigued to do everyday tasks, such as going to work and cooking meals. As a result, they may spend a lot of time at home resting or sleeping. The fatigue of depression can make a person feel as though they are always tired, even if they are getting enough sleep. However, sleep disturbances are also a symptom of depression, and a person who experiences these can feel even more tired.
Action Plan: Depression patient’s mind is constantly busy in negative self-talks 24X7 and this causes mental exhaustion. Mental exhaustion is worse than physical tiredness. To overcome this, the best way is to regularly do exercise by going to gym or otherwise. And, during exercise headphones should be on to divert from negative thoughts. Regarding diet, needs to consult Dietician for healthy and nutritional diet. And, no alcohol and less caffeine.
8. Insomnia or lack of sleep
Sleep disturbances are a primary symptom of depression, and research has found that insomnia is an independent risk factor for developing depression. Sometimes, a person with depression may be unable to sleep well and have trouble falling and staying asleep. They may stay up very late at night or wake up very early in the morning.
Action Plan: Insomnia or lack of sleep is result of mental exhaustion. Patient gets into a cyclical issue- exhaustion causes insomnia and then insomnia makes mental exhaustion worse. The way out is eradication of negative thoughts as listed in above Action Plan under Symptom 6 above.
9. Difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions
Depression can interfere with a person’s cognitive abilities. They may have trouble focusing or concentrating on personal or professional matters. Additionally, they may find it difficult to make decisions, even those involving seemingly minor, everyday choices. People with depression may also find that they cannot remember things as well as they did previously. They might forget appointments or commitments and not recall things that they said or did recently.
Action Plan: This symptom is the biggest blockage of getting back to work or structured routine. This is how it should be dealt with. Keep a diary of your daily to-do-list and follow all the steps and activities. More efficient way is to create Notes in your smart phone. This note should cover everything like appointments, activities to-do-list during the day, use phone alarms for reminders.
This will bring the normal routine back and if practiced on daily basis, will help making decisions and concentrating on work.
10. Lack of appetite
People with depression may lose their desire and appetite for food, which can cause weight loss. They may have little interest in eating and go for long periods without food.
Action Plan: Best way to deal with this is follow Dietician advice and persuade depression patient to follow it.
11. Overeating and weight gain
Conversely, some people with depression may eat more than usual. For some individuals, food can be a comfort mechanism for negative feelings and a way to deal with boredom or loneliness. Depression can make it difficult for people to feel motivated to get outside or exercise. Combined with an increase in food intake, this can cause weight gain.
Action Plan: Best way to deal with this is to keep yourself occupied in some activity- walking / working / listening to music / watching something on TV. In addition, follow Dietician advice and persuade depression patient to follow it.
12. Aches, pains, and physical symptoms
A person with depression may experience persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment. These include:
- headaches
- digestive disorders
- unexplained aches and pains
Action Plan: Regular exercise and follow the suggested diet constantly.
13. Trouble ‘switching off’ the brain
People with depression may have persistent negative thoughts that they find it hard to stop. They may find it difficult to control their worry.
Action Plan: This is called self-talk in the brain. To eradicate this, do not sit alone and when alone, use headphones to distract negative thoughts.
14. Thoughts of death or suicide
A person with depression may think more about death and dying. They may also think about suicide and how they could end their life.
Action Plan: Let me deal with suicidal thoughts. This is God’s decision who should or should not live in this world. So its not my job to decide to end my life so why should anyone has a thought of self harm or suicide. Let God do his job and let’s do our job- work, live and be happy.
In the end, I would suggest please make an honest self-assessment of all the above symptoms at least once a year and make sure you are not falling in any of these categories. If yes, follow the respective action plan in addition to medical advice for recovery from depression. The best assessment test is to logically analyse why lots of people are happy around me except myself, it means it is time to review the above symtoms and start the recovery process.