Depression Road

So you've been depressed for months or years... and no matter what you tried, you hover on the bottom with a few periods of somewhat better times. There is no one answer to why YOU are stuck in the vicious cycle but chances are, it falls into one or more of the below categories. You may have a genetic disposition to depression (I wrote about this before). Truthfully, if you have it, then depression will always be a part of your life. BUT, it is not a reason to always feel bad or give up on having a relatively peaceful mental state. However, you need to look at it as a condition like any other (like ADD, diabetes, whatever) that you can manage. So, shift your mindset from curing to managing! You've tried therapy, medication, behavioral changes (good or damaging), mind over matter tactics, coping mechanisms, self-medication, environmental and social changes, and everything you could think of... but nothing gave permanent relief. Why? Because your efforts focused on relieving/elim...

It is completely okay to acknowledge that we are struggling with depression! The problem starts when such acknowledgement turns into self-sabotaging habits. Have you skipped exercise one day which turned into days? How about getting take-out food rather than cooking which led to eating out most days? Habits start with an good and necessary decision to take a break from something that is repeated.  This happens when we don't put a limit on the behavior. Here are some examples and possible solutions to depression created self-perpetuating habits in no particular order. Oversleeping Sleep is necessary and wonderful for regenerating the body. However, when we sleep more than our body needs, it can turn into sluggishness. Depression often makes us try to hide from our pain and suffering for which sleep is a 'perfect' solution... for a few times but repeated use will have diminishing positive effect and increasing inability to get out of the vicious cycle of depression...