If you feel a sore throat coming on, you can suck on zinc-&-C lozenges. If you feel a cold sore coming on, there's Abreva. If you can tell that you're starting mastitis, you interrupt the progression of the illness by clearing the schedule, taking a nap, using moist heat, and nursing a lot. With a cold, you start chugging orange juice and home-made chicken soup, and popping echinacea capsules. When a boil starts, you reach for a slab of garlic to tape onto the spot.
But what is the preventative measure when a person feels a bout of depression beginning?
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
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My help is to read very light fiction which transports me to *not here*. That and medicine and time. The medicine always helps me over the hump until time and circumstance change.
ReplyDeletehth
Depression entails that emotions or sentiment have failed; focus instead, though it sounds unpleasant, on the logic of the situation. Consider how you have dealt with the problem in the past, and what has worked. Have you done better when with other people, or alone? With strangers or with friends? In work or in play? and endeavor to recreate those circumstances in which you can best cope.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the nature of depression may exclude the possibility of attempting to find a way to fight it. Happiness is not something that often proceeds force. It may well be that the proper course of action is to accept the coming ordeal and simply find the best way to survive it.
My grandpa would have suggested working. He was the sort of man who had no patience for depression; there was too much work to be done. In my own experience I find that it's not so much work as it is duty and responsibility that pushes depression from my mind. That is to say, I cannot rely on my own motivation, but if there is some matter which imperatively requires my attention, the reflexes of my conscience will overpower my desire to be lazy. The hardest of work, also, leaves very little time for one to sulk and mope. At best, the work will take the place of the depression, and at worst, you will at least have gotten something done.
I agree with Presbytera, also, about reading. I keep a book with me at almost all times so that, if I am feeling too lazy to do anything else, I can at least do something that creates progress.
I state these ideas in some measure as my own, and while I have confidence in their potential, they are as flawed as I am. The only advice that I feel can be advocated with no hesitation is, of course, to pray to God; to ask for forgiveness for all your faults and also, if it be His will, that He may give you the strength to rejoice in all the blessings of this world and the things He has given you.
What's sometimes worked for me, when I've had the blessing of "seeing it coming." Too often I'm blindsided.
ReplyDeleteTo clear the decks of undone things what I know will drive me batty once the funk hits. I have to triage, always, and pick the 1-3 items that will I know will give me the worst grief.
Get enough sleep. (Not always possible!)
Call a friend or family member and let her vent at me. Bearing the "unloading" of someone else's burden into my ear or onto my shoulder sometimes helps me get out of my own head.
Try to arrange "creative" work time for myself. Time *alone* to work on something tangible, whether it be sewing, writing, or cleaning the garage.
I'm trying to get better at figuring out what triggers the slide and heading it off at the pass.
Take care of yourself. :)
At times lately for me, that is, at my age (ahem), I think that there are some hormonal triggers, which are very hard to combat. I am a big believer in sunshine, fresh air, exercise and along with my normal vitamins, magnesium/potassium and calcium. These, along with chamomile tea, are very soothing to the central nervous system. I think, too that it's important to treat ourselves with kindness and eat copius amounts of chocolate:)
ReplyDeleteAfter experiencing a postpartum depression that was incredibly scary (because it was so unexpected and intense), I try not to get too scared about what my body is going through---I try (not always successfully) to note that it is happening and move on through life. I would much prefer to always be on an even keel, but that is simply not the way things are in this fallen world---I hate that!
Beth
Let's see . . . how to ward off depression . . .
ReplyDelete1) If there's anything you can do to have a positive effect on whatever situation is bringing you down, do so.
2) If the thing is out of your control, get your mind off it somehow. I personally can't concentrate on reading when I am in this state of mind. Mindless TV and movies help, though.
3) If weight control and overindulgence are not issues (and I don't think they are for you), eat and drink freely! (But if you're like me, depression & worry kill your appetite, so I don't know if this will work.)
4) Pray a lot and ask your loved ones to do so, too.
5) Surround yourself with people who love you.
6) Sleep.
7) Change the scenery. (You will be doing this Saturday, yes? You could change the scenery a little sooner and come down Friday night with sleeping bags and pillows and hang out with the Magness and Horn families! And you could keep that change of scenery lasting a bit longer by staying over Saturday night, too.)
8) You've probably already consulted a doctor to see if there are any physical factors at work here, right?
Just stabbing around in the dark--probably not telling you anything you don't already know or haven't already tried. But there's my contribution!