There are good days and bad days when you are dealing with depression. If left untreated, depression can get worse over time, leaving us with more bad days to deal with than good. There are approximately 16 million adults in the USA suffering from depression, so the problem is a very real one indeed.
I have had many occasions where I felt my depression is getting worse and I have learned a lot from them. It took me a while to learn, but once I did, I was able to get a bit of relief from my depression symptoms. This post will share with you what I did to improve my depression and hopefully you can have some positive results by doing the same.
Signs That Your Depression Is Getting Worse
There are many signs of worsening depression. Usually, it is just a worsening of your current symptoms but sometimes, you have to deal with additional depression symptoms as well.
You’ve lost interest. On our good days we have many enjoyable activities that we partake in and look forward to. If you are finding that you have lost interest in doing these, then it may be a sign that your depression is getting worse.
Low motivation. Sometimes it can be hard to do even the most basic things to look after ourselves. Whether that be things that require greater effort, or just basic things like showering and self-care, it can be difficult to attend to these things when your depression is getting worse.
You want to be alone. It is very common for people with depression to want to isolate themselves. This can be for a number of reasons, including that they don’t want anyone else to have to suffer through their depression with them. It also shows a lack of interest and motivation to engage socially with others. If you find yourself wanting to be alone more often then that is a definite sign that your depression may be getting worse.
You experience a change in sleeping habits. Depression is just plain exhausting. Even if you don’t do much, the tiredness can be overwhelming. Trust me, I understand, as I used to sleep 18 hours a day when I was in the darkest stages of my depression. If you are finding that you are more tired than usual and wanting to spend more time sleeping, then it is an indicator that your depression may be worsening.
You will also know your depression is getting worse as your feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, sadness and worthlessness intensify, along with the other depression symptoms that you may be experiencing.
Why Your Depression Might Be Getting Worse
While it is common for depression symptoms to fluctuate over time, or even on a daily basis, there may be some contributing factors to your worsening depression.
Life changes. Or more specifically, life changes that have increased your level of stress. These can be things like a recent relationship breakup, an argument with a friend, challenges at work or challenges at home in your family life. Any of these changes can definitely make your depression feel worse.
Side effects of medication. It is not uncommon for the side effects of antidepressants to make us feel worse. Tiredness is a common side effect, and this can lead to increases in irritability and changes in mood. If you think this may be the problem, then speak to your doctor and explore the possibility of maybe switching to a different antidepressant or adjusting your dose of the one you are currently taking.
Doing the wrong things to treat depression. This can include substance abuse or alcohol abuse. I went through a time where I would drink 8-12 beers almost every night just to escape from my depression symptoms. This only left me feeling worse the next day (mentally worse rather than hung over) so I would drink more to make me feel better. It’s a horrible cycle to be on, and one which leads nowhere good. Alcohol is a depressant, and it will only make depression worse. On top of that, drinking alcohol while you are on antidepressants is never a good idea, as it can lead to additional side effects as well reduce the effectiveness of the medication you are taking.
Ineffective treatment plan. Maybe your antidepressants just aren’t working for you and you need to try a different one. Or maybe, you aren’t doing enough to help yourself and instead you are just waiting for the antidepressants to make you feel a little bit better, and then you’ll do more to help yourself. I found myself doing that for years, just waiting on a magic pill to help me. I’ll discuss more about what I did to break that cycle and improve my depression in the next section.
What I Did To Improve My Depression
Maybe you can relate to this. I found myself constantly in the waiting stage – waiting for the medication to give me some positive benefit. I always figured that I wasn’t capable of doing much that was positive to help myself, but once the medication kicks in then I can start doing more. But the problem I had is that medication didn’t work for me, and I found myself constantly in a state of waiting for it to work while doing absolutely nothing good to help myself. It was only when I realized this was I able to make a few changes and start taking control of my own depression treatment.
The hardest thing to do is to find motivation when your depression seems to be getting worse. What is strange however, is that I always justified to myself that I was too depressed or too tired to go for a walk, which is great for mental health. I could however, justify walking to the store to buy alcohol in order to escape from my depression. It’s funny how our minds work sometimes, especially when they are dealing with depression.
So, realizing that I actually could find the motivation to do a small amount, I decided that a daily walk would be my goal. It was hard at first, but I figured if my mind can convince me that I have the energy to walk to the store to buy alcohol to help my depression, then I can convince it to go for a walk every day to help my depression. And it would help it so much more than drinking would. Did you know that within just 5 minutes of exercising, you get a mood boosting effect? If you are not convinced on the mental health benefits of exercise, then read this post. Or, if you are looking to learn how to motivate yourself to exercise when depressed, then read this post.
As the days went by and I stuck to my routine of walking each day, I found it easier to do. Some days, even when the depression was bad, I would look forward to my walk. It became my new escape. Previously excessive sleeping and alcohol consumption was my escape, but I had successfully replaced that with a healthy escape.
I found that I had more energy to do things, even when I was feeling low. I also found that I was sleeping a lot better. Alcohol induced sleep comas are not actually a good sleep and often you feel more tired the next day. What I also found was that by walking daily I had a sense of accomplishment and achievement, and it left me believing that I actually could do more things for myself to improve my depression. I was also feeling better about myself and my self esteem improved, along with my depression symptoms. This was not the cure for my depression however, but it was the start of when I finally began to turn things around.
How I Successfully Got On Top Of My Depression
Once I realized I could not rely on medication alone to cure me of depression, I started looking into other ways to treat depression without the use of medication. I had yet to experience any benefit from the meds and I was just so sick of waiting for them to work. I’d proven to myself that just walking each day was enough to give me some relief of my depression symptoms, so I wanted to know what else I could do to help myself.
This is when I found a course called Destroy Depression. They advertise it as a way to overcome depression without using medication. That sounded ideal to me, and exactly what I was after so I whipped out my credit card and paid for the course. It was cheap to buy, especially compared to the ongoing cost of medication, and it came with a money back guarantee. It seemed like an absolute no brainer to me.
I wasn’t disappointed when I read the course. In fact, I actually felt excited for the first time in a very long time. It taught me all of the things I could do, like my daily walk, to get on top of my depression. It was laid out in 7 steps, and none of them were particularly hard even when struggling with the depression.
The second section of the course was an absolute goldmine. It taught me how to process all of my negative thoughts in a more positive and healthy way. And trust me, there were a lot of negative thoughts to process in my little brain. What I liked about this section is that I was giving myself a skill for life, one that wouldn’t wear off like medication does. I could take that skill anywhere and apply it to any situation.
This course really worked for my depression, and it has been a long time since I have been on medication, which my bank account is very grateful for. On this website, I only recommend products which I have used myself and have given me good results. For that reason, I actually only recommend 2 products, and Destroy Depression is one of them. I can’t recommend it highly enough and I’m sure that if you put it into action, you will see results like I did. You can use the link below to find out more.
Click here to learn more about Destroy Depression
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