My biggest problem is I can’t able to share anything with my friends… I just feel happy while talking to them.. N that time I feel ok forget.. n I become normal… but I don’t share with them… I don’t understand why?

Now when I went to doctor.. (Not previous one..) He suggested me… if u go to psychiatrist now n have pills.. All your last 4 years efforts will go in vain..
Now my condition is I just can’t able to concentrate at all… I make up my mind.. talk with myself.. Write down something.. I feel fine.. But after some days I get all upset… n this is consistently happening. & in those time periods i even avoid doing meditation… I avoid friends.. Avoid reading… everything what I love.. I avoid it…
I just can’t able to push myself up or pull together my self to do the work… or to do something I can enjoy..
All the time last all years my counselor, (Even I meet her rarely… ) was telling me to go for medicine.. n every time I go on telling her… no I will manage.. I will motivate myself..
When I look back now I see how much bad experience I have had undergone through.. all the problems in my family.. all operations etc.
N now I don’t have any stamina… to motivate myself again n again… I feel to take some support…

So should I go for medicine now?

Get some St Johns Wort and for the first month take 1 – 100mg capsule of 5-HTP.
These are both herbs, not prescription and yes, they can be taken together.

Next, find a Church and start going. Talk to the Pastor there.
Tell him right away you need prayer for health issues and in minutes, you’ll have a whole congregation praying for you.

Prayer works wonders!!

I’ll be saying a prayer for you too.
Please keep me posted on how you are.

Trying to get over it natrually is really hard, but you have to find out whats causing you to be depressed. After you do that, get it out of your life or improve (or fix, whatever) that problem.

My advice is to do what you like to do when you are happy, no matter how hard it is. It’s what I did, and it works. I go for walks a lot, too when I’m feeling down. It’s a good time to think.
I read about some study saying that people who excersise regularly, even walking, are happier.

Hello,

Medicine is good for some people. I took Wellbutrin for a year. It didn’t make me happy. What it DID do was fix the things that were making it hard for me to get myself happy. Only YOU can make yourself happy. The medicine might make it easier for you to do the things you need to do to be happy.

The medicine helped me be sleep better so that I wasn’t so tired ALL the time. For me that was step number 1…I had to stop being tired!! I was so tired some days that I only got out of bed to get unhealthy food from the kitchen.

Once I began sleeping I wasn’t so tired. Then I began eating healthy and exercising.

If you can eat well and exercise..every single day!!!!.... you may not need the medication.

For me, when I don’t exercise more than 2 days in a row I feel my mood getting worse.

Even after 2 years of being happy, I still sometimes have to force myself to exercise. It’s funny because once I’m actually doing it I feel wonderful!! But even though I know this will happen, there is always that voice in my head telling me I can just skip exercise one more day! If I do that too many days in a row I will be back to where I started unable to do the things I HAVE to do to be happy (exercise and eat healthy)!

You can’t leave it all up to the medicine. Beating depression also takes making changes in how we think and in our daily habits.

For instance, I am a very very bad procrastinator. When I procrastinate I get mad at myself and feel bad. So, I have to force myself to stop procrastinating. It’s a constant battle!!

I constantly have to force myself to do the things that make me feel good. It doesn’t make sense but maybe that is just how some of us are?

Medication works in some cases, but for me personally, the physical symptoms – stress, depression, what have you – were caused by mental issues. I first and foremost recommend asking questions of yourself, taking notes, and going to see a counsellor. Your issues, particularly lack of motivation, sound quite existential…I myself was in that place very recently, and I only got out of by looking at these huge questions I was asking – who am I, what do I want, what is important, is there a God – and then and only then did I come round to getting back into the wider world: but this time on my own terms.

Some people DO need medication – but I’d hazard that for most people it’s the mind that’s driving things, and that talking to a counsellor would eventually crack your issues, as long as you’re patient. For me it has been immensely rewarding and humanizing, but tough. I’ve learned that I crave intimacy but have suffered enough to the point of self-hatred, rage and emotional destruction. You can become so numbed to it that it feels normal, but that’s bull. When contact with your parents or friends becomes too painful to bear, it’s natural to want to be an outcast or a maverick, but that eventually leads to alienation, first from others and then yourself. So let it out – your peers may not know what to say, but talking to a counsellor feels so good! Yes, eat well, yes, exercise, these will clear significant roadblocks…but TALK ABOUT IT. Find someone who can give you some precious compassion and empathy, without which life loses meaning, and never give up. Only that will stop those demons in your head, your own self loathing made incarnate.

One other thing about motivation and procrastination – having questioned all the values and motivations of my peers and culture and found them wanting, being alive and part of the flow and energy of life is motivation enough for me. I decided that existential angst over my own mortality wasn’t going to cut it, certaintly as long as I don’t have all the answers, and definitely not at the expense of my current mental and physical health. Clear your head, and then gym it.

There is absolutely a way to beat depression naturally.

Is it easy? Nope.

Can it be done? Without a doubt.

I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and anxiety 16 years ago. Then, when I didn’t respond to medication that changed to a diagnosis of treatment-resistant depressive disorder.

As it turns out, it was treatment resistant because I actually had bipolar disorder. It was never recognized because I cycled so rapidly from depression to highly agitated states of mania that no one ever picked up on it. Please don’t get the wrong idea about mania, by the way. It’s not always happy, happy, joy, joy mania that many people with bipolar depression experience. My particular mania included being highly sensitive to stimuli (light, sound, touch), extreme agitation, inability to eat or sleep and suicidal thoughts.

So, this is what I was facing. I had been on and off of every anti-depressant imaginable for the past 16 years. Now they wanted to start me on mood stabilizers. Bad experience all the way around on several different types.

I was fed up.

I fired all of my doctors, threw out their medications and determined to find a way to fix myself.

When you are in a depressed state, you do not want to do anything for yourself.

The key here is that you must absolutely force yourself to do those things you do not want to do.

Does it suck? You bet.

Can you do it? Yes you can.

You are not physically disabled. You can make yourself get up at the same time everyday and go to bed at the same time everyday. You may be tired at all the wrong times, but your body will adjust itself over time. You can force yourself to shower every day. You can force yourself to go for a walk every, single day for at least 30 minutes. You can force yourself to eat 3-6 nourishing meals a day. You can force yourself drink water.

Finally, be aware of supplements. I take the following: Multi-vitamin, Vitamin D, Omega-3 Fish Oil, Garlic Oil, Echinacea, Ginko Biloba, Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc (very important when you are depressed). I’d say always check with your doctor first, but I have no faith left in doctors to cure diseases of the mind. It’s probably a good idea if you do. I didn’t.

Be warned coming off the drugs the doctors give you blows…ALOT. You are going to go through discontinuation symptoms and they suck. You are probably going to plunge through a state of severe depression, as well.

One key is to talk to and remind yourself that it will pass. Say this to yourself a thousand times a day if you have to. When you start to tell yourself “I can’t do this”, say out loud “I CAN do this”. You have to fight, fight, fight.

It took time. It wasn’t an overnight thing for me. It was a gradual thing where I realized one day that I was no longer depressed. Taking a pill is so much easier. But, you know what? I feel better now than I ever felt on any medication.

You can do this.

Read “The Power of Now.” I was severly depressed most of my life. At my worst, I was dangerously suicidal. I got through it without ever taking a pill and I owe it largely to the premis taught in this book. It’s not a religion or a psychology, just a new way to think about life. It’s been nearly 4 years now since I’ve read it and I hardly ever feel depressed any more. When I do still get an occasional bout of depression, I can deal with it now without letting it get the best of me. I know it sounds crazy that one book can change a person’s life so strongly, but I swear it changed mine completely!

I love the comment by travelingchris and I agree. The mainstream approach is making us victims. Make a choice to own your condition. The other book that I would recommend is “Happiness is a choice”

Medicine isn’t the only way to help cure yourself. Individual therapy is amazing, because it helps you voice your needs to someone who is neutral and removed from your situation, and who is also trained to listen to you, and interpret what you say. They can also help you figure out what treatments are best for you, since no two people heal the same way. I have been seeing a therapist for over two years now, [since I was 16] and I wasn’t too happy about going at first, but when you start talking, you see immediate results. Humans are very social, and crave interaction. It’s natural to want to share what you’re feeling with someone else, and a therapist appeals to that concept.

But, if depression runs in your family, or if you have chronic depression, it could be attributed to a chemical imbalance. That’s where medicine comes into play, usually. I’ve been taking 300 mg of Wellbutrin XL since I was diagnosed, and also took Deplin for awhile, although the Deplin kept me awake at night.

Pretty much, a combination of treatments is best, at least initally. You get a chance to see what’s best for you.

Another thing that changed my life was hanging out with people who are positive. A lot of my friends were overly dramatic, and talked about other people behind their backs, and I just didn’t want to be a part of that anymore, so I hung out with people who made me happy. Also, exercise is a great way to channel energy, and it also releases endorphins, which make you feel good.

You’re doing a great thing by seeking help. Good luck, and don’t lose hope! Remember, only YOU can decide what helps you and what doesn’t. Just be honest with yourself, and surround yourself with happy things. :) And like I said, you’re pretty much in control; don’t feel like you need a professional, or medicine to help you. There’s so much you can do for yourself to improve your quality of life. Stay open-minded, and let me know how things turn out, or even if you just need someone to listen to you. :)

Hope this helps.
-Alyssa

Brave heros, people who do it without pills. Or maybe they just got lucky.

For me, I take the pills. I took it for a year or more, felt better, went off them, but when I got to do something stressfull, it all went downhill again, and got IBS too.

But that’s not all I do. I don’t wait for the pills to do the job. I get my exercise every day, I do my relaxation exercises, and I try do develop skills that will help me with my problems.

I’ve tried supplements, but I have not found any that makes a difference.

Severe depression causes profound and measureable damages to the brain, which don’t reverse spontaneously. I don’t think there is a ‘natural’ way out of depression. You will either have to talk to a therapist about things you would rather keep secret, or you will have to take pills in some form (supplements included) or you will have to go and live in a monastery for a while.

For me, Prozac is affordable and effective, and it allows me to concentrate and work hard enough to change my life. I will stop taking it only when I have absolutely no symptoms left for a long time.

Taking medication is nothing to be ashamed of. You should always accompany taking meds with talk therapy, though… it’s just more effective in the long run.
Getting on meds until you can get your chemical imbalance under control and actually start rebuilding your life is not shameful at all.
I was on anti depressants for a few years, and that along with talk therapy made me the un-depressed person I am today, and I don’t take anything anymore.
But without the meds I wouldn’t have had the motivation or belief in self or even the physical ability to work on the issues that led to the depression.
You definitely don’t have to be on drugs forever. OH! And make sure if one drug makes you feel bad or doesn’t work you take care of yourself and ask your doctor to change courses and try something else… prozac doesn’t work for everyone.
good luck

My doctor said that baked beans helps. LOL.

I find a bit of chocolate helps if I feel a depression spell coming on. Oh, and something funny.

I have tried to cold-turkey myself off of anti-depressants, but I think it ends up causing more damage than you might think. If your depression is bio-chemical it kind of means there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s like you’re diabetic. The anti-depressants help level you out an make you fell better. If your depression is cause by an underlying condition, thyroid for example, it’s so worth a while checking that out. It’s kind of a self-esteem thing, too, to know that this “weirdness” is actually cause by something else, and it’s not you. In any case, it’s a good idea to discuss this with your doctor to see which is the case for you and go from there. And: It’s NOT A BAD THING to be taking antidepressants!

Vigorous, strenuous, heavy weight lifting helps me a lot.

In fact, it’s to the point where I plan to compete in a bodybuiding contest in 2009.

Also; disassociate with “toxic” people.

It depends on how severe your depression is. Natural aids like omega-3 oil or evening primrose or St. John’s Wort, can help a little. But if you are depressed like I was—and I tried everything from a macrobiotic diet to yoga and everything else—it was an antidepressant that turned me around. It didn’t make me happy—you will always have to do that yourself—it made me ‘not sad.’ It is much like putting a cast on a broken arm. It sets the arm, and you do the work to repair it with physical therapy and the rest. Medication and therapy is a great combo. Sometimes you have to search for the right meds, try a few different ones and different doses until it feels liek you don’t take anything (like taking a tylenol!) and sometimes you have to search for the right therapist. You shouldn’t have to suffer. Depression is a physical condition and there’s no shame in treating it like any other illness, with medicine!