Read online “How to overcome stress and depression” by Matthew McKay

Depression is a disease of modern man. Who hasn't experienced depression? Of course, not many people are familiar with the clinical manifestations of depression, which can only be treated with medications prescribed by doctors. However, almost every healthy person has been depressed or stressed at least once. That's why the online magazine psytheater.com offers its own ways to overcome depression.

Psychologists say that depression is a mental disorder that can only be treated in psychiatric hospitals. Everything else that people habitually call depression can be regarded as melancholy or bad mood. In fact, the depression of modern people is more hidden than is commonly believed. Here it is sometimes difficult to distinguish just a bad mood from depression.

Morning lethargy, irritability for any reason, constant dissatisfaction, loss of interest in favorite activities, a passive lifestyle - everything can be considered a hidden form of depression if it lasts for a long time. A bad mood is characterized by its temporary nature. A few days after the mood worsens, the person regains strength and becomes cheerful. Depression is long-lasting. If apathetic signs accompany you for many weeks or even months, then you are talking about a depressive disorder.

The reaction does not correspond to external stimuli.

Mood depends on external factors that cause positive or negative emotions. If a person is sad because he has just been insulted, then we are talking about a bad mood.

Depression is distinguished by the absence of obvious external factors that would cause a depressed state. For example, a person simply sleeps poorly, although nothing bothered him during the day. He can always be sad because the world is not nice and nothing makes him happy.

When there is no situation that caused negative experiences, and the condition itself lasts for a long time, then we are talking about depression. If a person is upset because some event happened, then we are talking about mood.

Change in appetite.

Both when mood changes and when depression occurs, a person’s appetite changes.

Appetite increases when events do not influence changes in lifestyle, a person falls into apathy, does not show initiative, feels useless, becomes despondent, and demonstrates passivity.
Appetite decreases when events cause serious feelings, aggression or energy for action appears.
Sleeping mode.

A person who is depressed and in a bad mood begins to sleep more or less than normal. If in a bad mood this is situational (short-term) in nature, then with depression a person’s sleep pattern changes significantly: he begins to sleep either very little or a lot (at the first opportunity).

Rapid excitability.

If a person quickly flares up, “loses his temper,” or gets irritated, this indicates an exhaustion of the nervous system. She is in a state of "combat readiness", although she can be depressed in calm situations.

Distraction of attention.

It is difficult for a person to concentrate, collect his thoughts, adjust himself to work, etc. This significantly affects the decrease in productivity and quality of work. As mentioned above, in a bad mood this condition is temporary, and during depression it is permanent.

A bad mood is good because it can be easily eliminated: please yourself with something, do something you love, solve the problem that caused negative emotions. Depression is much more difficult to deal with because it has more to do with a person's beliefs and attitudes. Simple sweets and joys of life cannot eliminate depression. Here you will have to change the circumstances of life so that a person begins to change his worldview and mood.

How to overcome depression?

In the conditions of modern life, when a person is constantly obliged to something, must be good and attractive, and at the same time reaches certain heights of success, which, perhaps, he does not need at all, many reasons can lead to a state of depressive affect. They are often associated with psychological characteristics that appear after certain stressful or traumatic situations. But there are cases of depression caused by unhealthy body or brain pathologies.

Symptoms of depression include:

Low mood for no reason. If nothing bad has happened to a person recently, and he is depressed, then we are talking about depression.
Loss of feeling of satisfaction. A person looks at the world pessimistically and does not enjoy previous factors that once made them happy or funny.
Passivity. The individual loses motivation to do anything, which leads to a lack of energy and strength.
"Mixed Episode" After prolonged depressed days, a person abruptly switches to an active lifestyle, which is prolonged until he again encounters failures and defeats.

Depression comes in different forms. It all depends on the factors that cause it, the severity of the symptoms and the duration of the condition.

Dysthymia, or chronic. A depressed mood appears for a large number of days. A person is able to provide for and serve himself.
Atypical. Characterized by overeating, drowsiness, fatigue, sudden mood swings, and increased sensitivity.
Bipolar or manic. It is defined by sharp alternations of states of depression and excessive excitement.
Seasonal. Occurs at certain times of the year under the influence of pessimistic thoughts or the state of the body.
Psychotic. Characterized by the presence of hallucinations, delusions, psychoses and separation from reality.
Postpartum, or postnatal. It is observed in mothers (less often in fathers) after childbirth.
Recurrent transient. Characterized by frequent occurrence for a short period of time. It may occur every month for a couple of days.
Dysphoric premenstrual disorder. It occurs in women a few days before menstruation and is expressed by drowsiness, tearfulness, irritability, and anxiety.
Children and teenagers. Typical depressive symptoms in children are observed.
Double. It occurs against the background of dysthymia and is expressed by alternating severe and moderate forms of its course.
Pseudodementia, or pseudodementia. It is observed in older people whose mental activity decreases due to depression.
Melancholic. Characterized by alternating severe forms and melancholic episodes.

You can add “Depression from VKontakte (Facebook)” to the list. This condition develops against the background of a person’s dependence on social networks, where other people’s photos and videos cause a feeling of dissatisfaction with one’s own life, which seems less interesting and successful.

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Types of mental disorders

The list of pathologies is quite extensive, but the most common are:

depression;
stress;
mental retardation;
childhood autism;
dementia.

These diseases are diagnosed in patients of different ages and do not depend on gender or race.

It has still not been possible to establish the causes of each disease, but experts have many explanations and many theories about the adverse factors that contribute to the development of mental pathologies. Based on practice and experience, doctors today can already cure various disorders of this nature and return patients to a full and healthy life.

How to overcome depression without drugs?

To overcome depression, you need to start by analyzing the causes of its occurrence. You need to influence not the condition itself, but the reasons that cause it. In a healthy person, depression is caused by various stressful, unpleasant or painful situations:

The passing of a loved one.
Death of a loved one.
Problems at work or with work.
Forced changes in life.
Decreased health.
Conflicts with other people, etc.

Often, depression can be affected by various diseases of the body. If this condition arose while you were sick, then you should treat the body, which will help in getting rid of depression.

In mentally ill people, depression is a consequence of their medical condition. In this case, you also need to influence the cause, and not the effect.

How to overcome depression? Experts suggest doing auto-training. A person must first sincerely want to change something in his life, which will entail recovery. While other people are trying to eliminate depression, the person continues to remain “sick”.

So, a person himself must want to get rid of depression. How to do it? With the help of auto-training. Start saying positive phrases to yourself. Encourage yourself, encourage, praise, etc. Start increasing your self-esteem, which is possible when you begin to achieve some goals. Don't sit still, but try to succeed at least in something, which will help you feel much better.

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Causes of mental problems

At the moment, psychiatrists do not reliably know the exact reasons that lead to disorders. But research and detailed study of the problems have led scientists to the conclusion that the causes of mental disorders have a polyetiological origin. The development of pathologies is provoked by several factors:

Heredity.
Biochemical disorders.
Immunological disorders.
Changes in the morphological structure of the brain.
Intoxication.
Parasitic infestations.
Infections.
Psychological trauma.

How to overcome depression and stress?

To overcome your negative state, you need to do something. Take up drawing, singing, sewing, sports or any other activity. Remember what you once liked, return to this hobby to take the first steps towards recovery.

Stress is simply a consequence of negative environmental circumstances. To get rid of stress, you need to remove the factors that cause it. Don't dwell on failures - believe me, they happen to everyone. Better think about how to achieve success, no matter what.

Don't forget to encourage yourself. If you can’t cope with depression on your own, then you can consult a psychotherapist. He will prescribe medications that will help calm the nervous system. They should not be taken on their own. But you can do it as prescribed by a doctor.

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Depression occurs due to stress

Depression is caused by real stress, which no longer brings any benefit to the body, but significantly worsens its condition. Depression has two forms:

Medium – the length is insignificant and lasts from one and a half to two weeks.

Severe is a fairly serious form of depression, it can last a month, but there have been cases when it reached a year.

When should you seek help from a specialist?

But if you feel that you can’t relieve stress on your own and the apathetic state develops into deep depression, you need to urgently seek help from a specialist. After all, depressive states are extremely dangerous and in some cases can even lead to suicide.

Psychologists and psychotherapists know how to get a person out of stress. They will teach you to think rationally and constructively, and, if necessary, prescribe a course of medication. Take care of yourself and your health and remember that not only physical well-being, but also social well-being depends on psycho-emotional health.

Video on the topic of the article:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYIe5sROeyE

How to overcome stress and depression: effective preventive and emergency methods

What stress is and how to deal with it is becoming increasingly clear. We also discussed the question of what steps should be taken in order to minimize the consequences of the influence of such nervous shocks, which no normal person has been able to avoid in his life.

But any problem, including a psychological-emotional one, is much easier to prevent and prevent than to treat for a long time and painfully. It will not be possible to completely get rid of risk, but it is quite possible to raise your own level of stress resistance.

It is also very important to learn how to quickly relieve the main symptoms of nervous overstrain, to stop them in the bud so that they cannot develop into such consequences that even depression will look like baby babble. After all, such cases when a person “driven” himself to the point of complete exhaustion, both nervous and physical, are not rare.

As soon as you feel like you are losing control of the situation, try to calm down. Take a bath or use a contrast shower, it will give you energy, refresh your head and return your thoughts to a rational direction.
If you realize that you are ready to explode, go to bed! This advice may seem strange, but it almost always works. After a long, pleasant sleep, the body is able to regain strength, and you will no longer look at the problem with such fear.
Drink a cup of aromatic tea with lemon, brew your favorite herbal drink and eat a few pieces of dark chocolate with it. This will force the body to release endorphins into the blood, you will calm down and be able to reason sensibly.
Don’t ignore the symptoms of stress, otherwise it can lead to prolonged neuroses, depressive states and even much more serious consequences; it’s better to speak out right away, and it doesn’t matter, just to a loved one or a specialist.

If stress has already developed into an acute or chronic condition, experts prescribe medications, like tranquilizers and nootropics, which help you relax and forget about the problem. You should never “prescribe” such medications to yourself, or abuse them.

Only after consulting a doctor will you be able to rationally assess the scale of the “disaster”, and only a specialist can provide high-quality and thorough treatment.

Symptoms of depression

The symptoms of depression are significantly different from stress, they are deeper and can sometimes lead to unpleasant consequences. Depression is expressed by the following symptoms:

A depressed person has a feeling of guilt towards the people around him. He considers himself responsible for all the problems happening around him.
A depressed person feels lonely and considers himself useless. He cannot find a soul mate and torments himself with thoughts of his own insignificance.
Such a person may experience feelings of rage for no particular reason. Most often, rage is directed at close people and things around him.
In a state of depression, a person gets irritated over all sorts of trifles and gets tired quickly, sleeps a lot.
Rapid mood swings are characteristic of a depressed person. One moment he can be joyful, and the next angry and aggressive.
A person loses interest in work, moves away from people, and becomes withdrawn.
Often accompanied by thoughts of suicide

Tips for overcoming stress and their classification.

According to professional psychologists and people who deal with stressful situations every day, proposals and methods can be divided into three main groups: general options, methods for men and methods for women, taking into account the basic characteristics of the psyche and worldview. There are several simple important techniques and effective methods on how to simultaneously effectively reduce the impact of stress on your own, without wasting your energy, and get rid of major depression and achieve a reduction in anxiety levels:

You need to add new colors to your life - this will tell you how to overcome stress at any stage.

This doesn’t mean that you need to radically change something or change everything, but you can add bright colors to your drab everyday life at any time and without additional financial investments. Start walking in the evenings near your home or vice versa in another, unfamiliar area of the city - it will help remove stress from your life. Just walking, looking around, meeting new people or walking alone - it doesn't matter how, but it's worth every calorie spent. A long walk evokes a feeling of vigor, will help the body find new strength within itself, will make anxiety and autumn depression go away, and will help you find a way to overcome stress. However, if a walk becomes a boring option for you, try something radically different from the usual course of life - for example, read the classics if you like science fiction or watch modern cinema if in normal times you are a fan of watching masterpieces of world cinema.

More rest, normal rest - forget what stress is and the causes of depression will become unimportant.

Need more rest. It would seem that anxiety increases precisely during the hours when you are doing nothing. Practice shows that this is not so - quite the opposite. In this case, rest is considered to be healthy sleep and the ability to go to bed at least at approximately the same time every day. When you sleep 8-10 hours a day, the body simply has no time to pay attention to stressful situations; the presence of stress-causing factors is sharply weakened when you are rested. In rested men and women, constant stress is practically absent, and depression is extremely rare. It is very easy to drive away stress, to overcome a situation that causes stress when you have rested. Just one, maximum two weeks of normal, restful sleep and it will become much easier for you to effectively drive away depression on your own. And the magic word, or rather the phrase, “sleep without hind legs” will help completely destroy your anxiety and autumn depression. Get a hotel room, drink a big mug of green tea - and sleep until you wake up - and then sleep some more. We assure you, it's a great way.

Drive away sadness and stress, out of sadness, out of melancholy - more humility and you can defeat stress and get rid of an anxiety attack.

Always remember the golden rule of psychology - if you cannot change the situation, you should completely change your attitude towards it. If you suddenly have to face troubles, just try not to think about them at all, at all. There are two ways here: the first is to try to put up with what is happening and take what is happening around you for granted. The second option is to completely control your thoughts at any time and replace the negative with the positive. It's not easy, let's face it, but it's more than achievable with a little effort. This condition happens to every person - the main thing in this case is to try to forget that there are excesses now and live an ordinary life, despite what is happening and psychological stress.

Don't stimulate yourself - stress loves alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

No additional stimulants! Remember - solving problems in one second, no matter how difficult they may seem, dousing them with alcohol or smoking a pack a day is not a solution, but a path down, for example, to alcoholism, into the worst stress and depression. Neither alcohol, nor cigarettes, nor medications or sedatives are not allies, but enemies in the fight against behavior that can relieve stress. Increased psychological stress and even chronic stress are not a reason to start drinking or taking any medications. By starting with small use, it is quite possible not only to solve your original circumstance, but also to acquire a bunch of new problems. Stress becomes a consumer of what you use to eliminate the causes of stress. It will only get worse, know and believe.

Travel as much as you can, as your budget allows - stress at work, relaxation on vacation.

Spend some of your free time traveling. It is not necessary to immediately buy tickets to the Maldives and Bali, spending a month’s salary - it is quite enough to go out of town, leave the city, and arrange some relaxation for yourself. You need to be able to start resting on time, eliminating stress and depression with a sharp change of place and rhythm of life. It may sound funny, but for a manager who is experiencing difficulties at work, chopping wood and lighting the stove, and for a strict manager, a girl, preparing food with her own hands, having first personally collected vegetables from the garden, is an excellent option for a change of scenery, psycho-emotional distraction and relieving moral heaviness on her own, especially in the autumn the time when the work burden is the heaviest and brings a lot of anxious thoughts and frustrations. If you are going on a long train trip, talk to your fellow travelers on any topic, and then gradually tell him at least part of your problems - the “fellow traveler syndrome” will always operate. The opportunity to tell something that not every loved one may know is a very valuable option not to be used in order to overcome anxiety attacks and reduce the level of pressure of circumstances on oneself.

Herbs, herbal preparations and salt baths can help a person experiencing stress and depression.

Herbal medicine and salt treatment. Nature and the centuries-old experience of mankind cannot offer anything bad or do wrong. Herbal decoctions (chamomile, St. John's wort, thyme, hawthorn and yarrow) are excellent sedatives that will help you relax and stop thinking about difficulties. Taking a hot bath with mineral salts scented with lavender, ginger, chamomile or rosemary will cause pleasant relaxation, give you a feeling of vigor, allow you to gather your thoughts and make the right decision. A solution that will help you emerge victorious in stressful situations and effectively relieve fatigue. Resting in moments of stress is important and necessary.

What to do with your stress, how to overcome anxiety and depression?

Thus, we can summarize - there are many techniques that help to relieve stress perfectly. Each of them helps the body fight and ultimately avoid burnout syndrome or its individual symptoms at a job you love. To prevent stress from arising out of the blue, follow the advice of psychologists; with their help, changes are noticeable almost immediately, everything in life falls into place. Following the advice will not get rid of your problems instantly, but it will help to seriously stop the negative effect. If you understand that one of the methods described or read somewhere else does not suit you, feel free to change your approach. You can do it - we are sure!

Conquering stress, depression and anxious thoughts will be a great time to take charge of yourself. Spend more time with your family, think less about work problems, enjoy silence when and where you want - and everything in this world will seem brighter, richer and better to you. Confidence in your own strengths appears only when these strengths are present - follow our advice and may everything be the best for you

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Where do you experience more stress?