Coping With Depression And Anxiety

People all over the world have finally started to understand and recognize depression and anxiety as major health issues. People have become aware of the dire consequences that can happen if these problems are left unchecked. However, the big concern with regards to depression and anxiety remain that they are difficult to identify in the early stages, and by the time that people do understand that they are suffering from this problem, often it is already too late.

Hence, the first and the most important thing that one needs to do in order to cope with this problem of depression and anxiety is to recognize the early signs of the same. Some of the most common signs of depression include:

• Feeling tired all the time and loss of energy on a daily basis.
• Feeling guilty and worthless about yourself.
• Inability to take decisions and loss of concentration.
• Excessive sleeping or insomnia.
• Reduced interest level in almost all the activities in life.
• Feeling restless all the time.
• Having thoughts about suicide or death.
• Sudden weight loss or weight gain.

If you notice the following signs in your life, you need to make some immediate corrective changes in your lifestyle.

Lifestyle Changes For Coping With Depression And Anxiety

• Take some time out of your daily life and relax yourself. The depression can be the result of excessive work pressure, and by simply doing a little yoga, meditation, listening to music or other such simple activities, for relaxing your mind and body, can help you come out of your depression.
• Skipping meals is never good. A well balanced and healthy diet will keep your energy levels up and increase your interest levels in the activities around you.
• Reduce consumption of intoxicating items like alcohol, drugs, etc.
• Even if you are unable to, try to get a good night’s sleep. You can take the help of medicines for this purpose.
• Start walking and exercising.
• Practice long inhale and exhale breathing to let go of some of those negative energies and thoughts inside of you.
• To calm your nerves, count till 10 or 20 or till as long as you do start to get that sense of calmness inside you.
• Do not expect yourself to be perfect all the time. Just do your best, and leave the rest to god and destiny.
• Accept the fact that it is not possible to control everything in life. Learn the art of simply letting go.
• Read and listen to jokes. Humor is the best cure for depression and anxiety.
• Get involved in other activities like community service. By helping others, you would feel good about yourself and this will help you come out of your depression.
• Do not hesitate or feel shy in talking to someone and asking them for help.

If, even after making the above changes in your lifestyle, you do not feel that you are able to come out of your depression or cope with your anxiety levels, it’s time for you to get proper medical help and guidance.

Professional Help In Coping With Depression And Anxiety

There are various ways in which a professional doctor will help you in dealing with your depression. Some of the medical ways of dealing with this problem include the following:

Talk Therapy: By simply talking to you, and giving you an opportunity to openly share your feelings and thoughts, these therapists help you gradually come out of your depression. They use various techniques like cognitive behavior therapy, where they teach you how to adjust your thoughts with your actions, Interpersonal therapies, to help you communicate better and release all your pent up feelings and problem solving therapy, where they teach you how to cope and manage your problems.

Medicines: The doctor would prescribe you with antidepressant drugs, which prove effective in dealing with both depression as well as anxiety disorders. There are many medicines that are available these days for this problem. However, you need to share all your symptoms with the doctor, so that he is able to correctly decide which medicine would be best for your specific case.

Group Therapies: You are not the only one suffering from this problem. There are many other people who suffer from depression and anxiety. There are support groups present for such people, and by attending these meetings, you would know how others are dealing with their situation and this can inspire you to manage your depression and anxiety in a better manner.

Family Counseling: Often the cause of depression is family problems or lack of support of family. By choosing to go in for family counseling sessions, you will be able to work things out with your family. Besides this, even if you have no issues with your family, family counseling is required to teach them and guide them about how they can lend their support to you, so that you are able to come out of your depression faster.