The depression thread.

[AGAG]

Finally! Now we ALL have a home!

Bring a friend and let's hug.

The soviet anthem can be the background music, you decide!

[robocop656]

Some basic advice to aid you in defeating depression:

These are some general things you should do - they absolutely won't harm you and they have a very high, fully proven success rate at getting people out of a dip:


1.) Change your diet:

Almost everyone dramatically underestimates the degree to which what you eat influences your mental health. The issues are numerous - effects of preservatives, colourings, too much sugar/salt/msg, blood sugar, small intolerances etc etc.

The fact is that good physical health has a knock on on your mental health - mind and body are not entirely separate.

A correctly functioning and happy digestive system can make a staggering amount of difference - you may think I'm full of shit, but if you're full of shit then it affects your mood, this is a fact.

So, eat more fibre. Eat regular meals. Don't overeat. Eat unprocessed food wherever possible. Good for your body, good for your health.


2.) Get some exercise.

Yeah, I know. You can hardly bring yourself to get out of bed - exercise? Am I fucking crazy?

Well, no. You don't expect to be cured by magic do you? Forcing yourself to do something physically when you're depressed, even though you may not see the point in it at all, is often easier by far than just being able to change the way you are thinking.

So you have to make an effort, and this one is simple enough for everyone. Go exercise - frequently and regularly, at least 30 continual minutes per day. I said "at least". Get back to us in a week if you are still fucked up.

Exercise gets the happy chemicals flowing in and of itself. It makes your body healthier, which feeds back into your mood. In combination with the new food you are eating, you are onto a positive feedback cycle here which can only be a good thing. So go.



3.) Maintain or improve your social routine:

Every second of social contact you have right now is of critical value - one of the first things many people suffering from depression do is to reduce or eliminate their contact with others. They stop going out with friends, they don't visit family, they don't pick up (or answer!) the phone and speak to someone for a chat. Don't do this. You may not see the point in a typical bit of office or home smalltalk, it may seem trivial and pointless and like hard work - so all you can do is to take it on faith that this sort of contact with other people is like water dripping on a moderately soluble substance - it will have a gradual effect on your problem, and - perhaps more to the point - cutting it out will have a marked negative effect on your state of mind.


4.) Lay off the drink and drugs.

Oh, Ouch. Unpopular advice - that's how you know it's good for you.

All or most of your mental health problems are exacerbated (made worse) by most drugs, including alcohol.
So cut back or if humanly possible - stop.
You feel bad already, what have you got to lose?

You may believe that these things are helping you, that they are one of the few things keeping you going. Sadly this is an illusion - life doesn't tend to give out free gifts like that - you have to work for the good stuff (see: exercise).


5.) Sleep the correct amount.

Too little sleep plays havoc with your mental balance.
Depression tends to make people sleep more, and so too little sleep isn't often a problem.. too much sleep, however, is just as bad.

In fact, where depression is concerned, too much sleep is probably worse than too little. You need to be active, and the chemicals you produce through oversleeping or just laying in bed all day are disastrous for depression. Aim for 7-8 hours uninterrupted. Try to force yourself to have your sleep at the "conventional" times - rise with daylight, sleep at night.

Not only are you biologically keyed to do this anyway, but your connection to the world and opportunities for social interaction kind of depend on you keeping the same daily calendar as.. well, pretty much everyone else.

Furthermore...


6.) Natural light

You need this. There's a reason that people get gloomy in winter (Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD (ooh clever)). Low levels of exposure to natural light affects the release of various chemicals in the pineal gland in your brain, and is very similar to sleeping too much AND too little at the same time.

So if you are closing the curtains to avoid the world - open them. If you work in a window-less environment, take frequent breaks by a window, seriously. It's a small small change to your life which has enormous results.

[Ilsekena]

I'm the girl who is lost in space,
the girl who is disappearing
always, forever fading away and
receding farther and farther into
the background. Just like the
Cheshire cat, someday I will
suddenly leave, but the artificial
warmth of my smile, that phony,
clownish curve, the kind you see
on miserably sad people and
villains in Disney movies, will
remain behind as an ironic
remnant. I am the girl you see in
the photograph from some party
someplace or some picnic in the
park, the one who is in fact soon
to be gone. When you look at the
picture again, I want to assure
you, I will no longer be there. I
will be erased from history, like a
traitor in the Soviet Union.
Because with every day that goes
by, I feel myself becoming more
and more invisible...

[NeverendingAbyss]

DID SOMEONE SAY DEPRESSION THREAD?!

[browneyedgirl]

Wasn't that man on a Zoloft commercial once? Or was it Cialis? He looks familiar.

Maybe I should post that semi-nude pic of Kathryn Morris--a beautiful blonde always cheers people up!

[AGAG]

Where are your friends?

[ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ]

DID SOMEONE SAY DEPRESSION THREAD?!

Please Moderator! Take this post to "Various threads hidden from Google"-and me! It makes me so depressed. Christmas and all!

[robocop656]

This is my Tolkki face. It is very, very bad.

[ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ]

Haha! Not depressingly! At all! A Cristmasface?

[robocop656]

Nude Christmas face. :bounce1: :bounce1:

[AGAG]

Were you nude for christmas?

[robocop656]

YES.

[AGAG]

YES?

YES!

[AGAG]

Let's cheer for the new year.

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[robocop656]

http://articles.cnn.com/2008-10-07/heal ... =PM:HEALTH

[ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ]

We seem to be the last ones on this ship...

Ouote!
It is pretty clear, if you look at certain pics you will be a very obsessive, kind of ruminating person. The pic in question here, needs to be annotated and the annotation needs to be annotated again. You can't stop to look at it and there is a big risk for depression if you do.
So take it out of sight!

[doc_holliday]

http://articles.cnn.com/2008-10-07/heal ... =PM:HEALTH

very interesting

[AGAG]

This is a boat I built, I will sink with it.

[robocop656]

I am a drowning dolphin in a wave of infinity symbols.

[ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ]

...swisch...swisch...

"Huh, what was that? It went so fast?"

"It was your life!"

"Oh dear, can I have a new one?"

"No!"

[Ilsekena]

Life is like a roll of toilet paper ...
the closer you get to the end, the
faster it goes.

[AGAG]

...swisch...swisch...

"Huh, what was that? It went so fast?"

"It was your life!"

"Oh dear, can I have a new one?"

"No!"

Haha!

I will sink with that!