Depression
If you feel like any of these issues effect you then you should contact your GP or an appropriate healthcare professional that specialises in the treatment of mental health illness. This text is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose or outline a course of treatment for any particular individual or any particular condition. It is also not meant to contradict any existing diagnosis or treatment for any individual or condition.
What is Depression?
Everyone can feel down, but Depression is more than just spending a few days feeling sad or unhappy. Depression can make you feel persistently sad and down for weeks or months at a time.
Symptoms of Depression
Symptoms of Depression vary from person to person. However, as a general rule, Depression leaves you feeling hopeless, sad and lacking interest in things that used to make you feel happy. Symptoms of Depression can influence social interactions and also produce physical symptoms.
Physical symptoms can include:
Speaking or moving more slowly.
Aches and pains.
Losing, or sometimes gaining, appetite or weight.
Constipation.
Loss of sex drive.
Disturbed sleep patterns e.g trouble falling asleep or waking up very early.
General tiredness and fatigue.
Changes in your menstrual cycle.
Here is a link for the NHS Depression & Anxiety quiz.
Lifestyle advice to help with Depression
The NHS recommends the following positive lifestyle changes to help with Depression:
1. Connect with other people
Good relationships can:
Help build a sense of belonging and self-worth.
Give opportunities to share positive experiences.
Provide emotional support and allow you to support others.
These relationships can include personal relationships or volunteering at a local school, hospital or community group.
2. Be physically active
Being depressed can leave you with low energy making you feel less inclined to be more active.
However, regular exercise can boost your mood and energy if you have Depression. Exercise can improve mental well-being by:
Improving self-esteem.
Enabling you to set goals and achieve them e.g. the NHS couch to 5k podcast.
Releasing ‘feel good’ chemicals in your brain.
Exercise doesn’t have to be structured exercise in a gym it can be activities you enjoy doing.
3. Learn new skills
Learning new skills in the form of, for example, hobbies, writing a blog or DIY can improve mental well-being by:
Boosting self-confidence and raising self-esteem.
Building a sense of purpose.
Fostering social support by connecting with others.
4. Give to others
Acts of giving and kindness improves your mental well-being by:
Creating a positive feeling and a sense of reward.
Giving you a feeling of purpose and self-worth.
Helping you connect with other people.
This can include small acts of kindness such as saying “thank you”, or larger ones like joining a volunteer group.
5. Pay attention to the present moment (Mindfulness)
Paying more attention to the present moment can improve your mental well-being.
Paying more attention, and being more aware, of a particular moment in time can include:
An open-minded curiosity to explore and challenge how engrained thoughts, feelings and beliefs influence why you think, feel and act in a particular way.
Being aware of how your body is feeling e.g. doing a ‘body scan’ to see if you are holding tension anywhere. For instance, are you, at this moment, holding tension in your shoulders or jaw? Is your breathing free flowing and easy?
Being aware of the world around you. For instance, you might draw all your attention to the present moment by fully concentrating on the sound of the wind, or the birds, or the feel of the wind against your face.
By drawing all your attention to a particular thing in a moment in time it enables you to stand back from your thoughts and feelings. This helps you realise their patterns and the perspectives that led to them. It enables you to be open-minded and curios entertaining conflicting ideas and arguments that inspire you to explore new potentials and new possibilities.
This allows you to realise that thoughts do not have control over you; they are a ‘mental event’ that can be challenged by challenging your perceptions and redefining yourself.