How does one lift oneself out of textbook depression?

[WhitewaterWoman]

When I am feeling bad/down/depressed etc., I find it is helpful to help someone else. When I was working, this was part of my everyday worklife. Now that I am retired, it is a bit more difficult, but I have found opportunities.

A very interesting teacher in Master Class said that if your goals are to lose 30 pounds, or swim the English Channel, you are setting yourself up for failure, because the goal is too far in the distance. Any improvements we make on a day to day basis seem puny. His advice was to tell yourself, I am going to do X for 10 minutes a day. So if your goal is to lose 30 pounds, lose that goal and instead just commit to 10 minutes a day of walking (for example) and do that every day. Do not skip even one day.

I have found this to work well for my music and my writing.

 

[spacealien]

Depending on how bad it is, you might want to consider medication and/or psychotherapy. Medication especially if you don't feel capable to tackle those things like lifestyle modifications in the first place. And if you have suicidal thoughts and/or do self-harm, consulting a professional would be a very good idea, too. If things are really, really bad, you can and should go to an emergency room.

Apart from that, I'd suggest:
- Getting outside once per day, for a walk or even a run if you want, but a walk is completely fine too. Try to get some fresh air and sunlight.
- Try to get back to a daily routine, at least a rudimentary one, if you don't have one right now. That can just be getting up, having breakfast and, after that, decide on one or two things you're going to do that day - they don't have to be big.
- Depending on how social you are and whether being around people usually helps you or makes things worse, you could try to get around people e.g. every second or third day. Of course it would be cool if that would be to meet a friend, but if that's tricky, it can also just be to enter a store you like and exchange a few words with the cashier. Just to get around people.
- Try to take up things you used to like.

What you could do, if you don't want to consult a professional and/or try medication for now, is setting yourself a deadline, like 3 months for example, in which you try without. And if things didn't get better or even got worse, you can re-evaluate.

I have a really hard time getting out during the daytime for a walk or exercise. I feel too stuck and incapable.
I know how good these things are, but I feel anhedonic.
Being around people really helps for some reason. I don't know why, but it does.

 

[Aspychata]

This is very helpful advice here. When l am low, l try really hard to find one thing to be thankful for. Gratitude for just one thing only. It's better then finding 50 reasons why you are depressed. I know because I have all 50 of those reasons. Getting out is hard if you don't have transportation, can you pick up a very part-time position like weekends only at your gym? Then you are getting out, and sort of have forced social interaction.

 

[thejuice]

yes usually for every 1 thing wrong there is 99 things right

 

[Jonn]

yes usually for every 1 thing wrong there is 99 things right

A minister once told me that it isn't healthy to be pessimistic, but being over-optimistic is a problem, also.
However, I agree that we should see the positives where they are.