7 Tools for Coping with Depression

Clinical depression is being diagnosed more every day. Here are 7 simple, every day things to give you tools for coping with depression.

7 Tools for Coping with Depression

Today, more and more people are being diagnosed with clinical depression, in one form or another. While the severity can vary greatly, depression can be a debilitating mental disorder that makes it incredibly difficult for people to go through their day to day lives with confidence. Coping with Depression can be overwhelming, knowing how to help or where to begin in half the battle.

One of the most destructive aspects of depression is that it causes people to engage in behavior that further strengthens the symptoms of depression. For that reason, it is important to learn to recognize the positive coping skills to fight depression, and be able to separate them from the negative ways to cope.

Positive Skills for Coping with Depression

It is important to use positive skills for coping with depression. These are 4 simple things you can do to help get you through that state of sadness and any negative feelings.

1. Develop physically healthy habits

It is so much easier to negate the effects of depression when you are feeling physically healthy. Getting the right amount of sleep, exercising, and maintaining a healthy diet are all physical things that go a long way to contributing to your mental health. When you are feeling physically inhibited and weak, depression has an easier time dominating your psyche.

2. Communicate with the people who love you

So much of the right treatment for depression hinges on communication, and knowing when you need it. Of course, it’s important to be able to function on your own, and it is even helpful to have periods of isolation that help you clear your mind in useful ways, but isolation and loneliness are also conditions where depression thrives.

3. Have a consistent morning routine

One simple step that is huge in dealing with the effects of depression is the ability to have a consistent morning routine. When you are feeling depressed, it can be easy to just stay in bed and neglect every responsibility you have to yourself and others.

However, simply having a strict routine that you adhere to every morning, including eating breakfast and taking care of your hygiene, gets you out of bed and makes you feel more ready for the day. Even just brushing your teeth improves your physical health, which helps improve your mental health.

4. Find relaxing triggers to combat negative triggers

Just as there are triggers for the effects of depression, there are also triggers that will relax your mind and help you calm yourself and deal with your depression in a constructive manner. These triggers can vary, depending on the person, which is why it is important to know yourself and what ways are going to work for you to combat depression.

To start, think of what makes you calm and happy, and try to find a way to utilize that in moments where your depression feels overwhelming.

Negative Ways for Coping with Depression

Here is a list of 3 negative ways of coping with depression. It is very easy to get caught up in unhealthy ways to deal with the struggles in life. Be aware of the negative and try to stay in control and not let that deepen your state of depression.

1. Substance abuse

One of the most common destructive ways that people deal with depression is by manipulating their feelings with outside substances. Indeed, this is such a powerful way of dealing with addiction that it is often the clinical response to it, through the usage of antidepressants. However, using outside substances to negate the feelings of depression can make you dependent on them.

This is why there is such a strong connection between depression and the abuse of prescription opioids, or even harder drugs, such as heroin. If you’re given medication to deal with depression, be scrupulous in your honesty with your prescribing doctor and only take medication as directed.

2. Overstimulation

Sometimes, instead of doing nothing, people with depression will try to cope by doing the exact opposite and going out to places that are full of stimulating things. This is often done by people with severe forms of depression, in an attempt to try to jumpstart their feelings and regain some semblance of emotions.

However, this method of coping with depression can often have the opposite effect, as it is difficult to calm your mind in these environments. After all, sometimes there’s no place we feel more lonely than in a crowd.

3. Taking out feelings on people you love

One thing to remember about communication is that there are constructive ways to engage in it, and there are ways that are not in the least bit constructive. Trying to yell at people or act abusively towards someone in an attempt to deal with your own feelings of depression are only going to hurt you, in the long run, as well as push away the people that you love.

As difficult as it is, it’s important to remember that the woe you are feeling on the inside isn’t always reflected in the outside world, as real as that feeling is to you, so don’t take out those feelings on those around you.

*Special thanks to Alek Sabin for this post.

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*Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link your cost will be the same, but My Mommy Style will receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated!

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