Dealing With Depression

Wondering if you’re living with depression? Let’s look at what depression is and some ways to help cope with it!

First off, what is depression? Well, sometimes depression is described as a feeling, but it is much more than just an emotion. It is not just sadness, “the blues”, grief, or a lack of motivation; these things last for a couple of hours, days, or weeks, whereas depression lasts for longer than a couple of weeks. Depression is what’s called a “mood disorder”, meaning that one’s feelings, attitudes, perspectives, energy, thinking patterns, and behaviors are all impacted by the experience. Depression is a cluster of symptoms that you might experience and can include changes to your emotions, thinking, actions, relationships, and bodily functions. Not only does depression create significant suffering for those experiencing it, but it can significantly change one’s day-to-day life and functioning.

So, in short, depression can alter many parts of your life, but you can identify depression by building awareness of a few of the key symptoms. Let’s look at some of those:

• Emotional Symptoms

  • Depressed mood (emptiness, sadness, numbness, etc.)

  • Decreased motivated or reduced interest in formerly enjoyable or pleasurable activities

  • Hopelessness/helplessness

  • Worthlessness

  • Excessive guilt

  • Recurrent or constant despair

• Vegetative Symptoms

  • Decreased or increased appetite

  • Significant weight changes (increases or decreases)

  • Sleep disturbances (not getting enough sleep or sleeping too much)

  • Decreased or lack of energy

  • Slowed physical movements

• Cognitive Symptoms

  • Difficulty concentrating or focusing

  • Difficulty making decisions

  • Ruminating (getting stuck in your thoughts)

  • Thoughts about suicide or not wanting to “keep going” or exist anymore

There are a few types of depression, with the most common being Major Depressive Disorder. To be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, you must continuously experience five or more of these symptoms for at least two weeks. Other types of depression include Persistent Depressive Disorder (depression that is ongoing for 2+ years in an adult), Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD; depression that intensifies during darker seasons due to lack of sunlight), and post-partum depression (depression occurring after the birth of a child). Depression can also occur within the context of bipolar disorder, substance use, or medical issues too.

Depression has far-reaching effects on your life. It can affect your relationships, finances, housing, occupational or academic status, medical and dental health, ability to complete chores/responsibilities, have fun, and/or engage in leisure. Depression varies in its intensity between individuals and can range from mild to severe. When mild, it can appear as decreased motivation to attend to work responsibilities, a lack of energy, urges to isolate from friends and family, prolonged sadness, or feelings of lacking direction. When more severe, depression can lead individuals to lose their jobs and important relationships, cause neglect of physical health issues and hygiene, contribute to ineffective forms of coping like substance use, gambling, or risky sexual behaviors, and lead to significant strains and stress in financial matters, housing, transportation, and other areas of life.

So, how common is depression? Well, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, it’s incredibly common, with large portions of the American public experiencing depression at some point in their life. In fact, NIMH (2020) reported that 21 million Americans, or 8.4% of the population, experienced depression in 2020, with 17% of 18-25-year-olds experiencing one major depressive episode in 2020. This means that you are not alone, “weird”, or “abnormal”!  

So, what can you do about depression if you’re experiencing it? Well, since depression affects thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, we want to use interventions that target changes to those three things. Ensuring that you are engaging in adequate self-care is a great place to start. For instance, see if you can:

• Talk to a prescriber about starting medications that may be helpful for managing depression. Combining pharmacotherapy with psychotherapy is often the most effective form of treatment to manage depression.

• Go to bed and wake up at similar times each day to improve sleep quality

• Try making regular, consistent meals for yourself each day

• Engage in exercise a few times a week (and yes, walking counts!)

• Avoid alcohol and other mood-altering substances

• Schedule positive events to increase pleasant emotions and break up the sadness or emptiness

• Engage in activities that help to challenge hopelessness, powerlessness, worthlessness, or helplessness and build a sense of confidence, competency, control, or capability (for example, making a meal, doing the laundry, or washing dishes)

The key with these ideas is to reduce your vulnerability to experiencing more stress and depression. When we don’t sleep, eat, exercise, engage in meaningful connection, or have fun and relaxation, we tend to feel more stressed and burnt out!

Other techniques that can be helpful might include:

• Examining your values, needs, priorities, and wants to help feel a sense of direction and active participation in your life

• Create SMART goals to help you create the life you want for yourself. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, & Time-bound. Ask for accountability in working towards your goals from one or two close confidants.

• Practice mindfulness to help manage unhelpful thinking patterns (see CPGR’s earlier blog posts on Mindfulness to identify ways to practice!)

• Identify five things each day you can feel grateful for and journal about them

• Volunteer to get a feeling of giving back and being a part of something bigger than yourself

If you’re already doing these things and aren’t finding relief, try asking a friend, family member, or healthcare professional for help! Asking for support can be difficult, hard, and intimidating, but it is only when you acknowledge that something is wrong that you are then able to work through it; working through things is always less daunting when you have someone to go through it with you.

Finally, if you are experiencing any thoughts of not wanting to live, are planning your suicide, or have urges to engage in self-injury, consider the following options to access support:

• Create and utilize a safety plan full of distracting activities, people you can ask for help, reasons for living, and ways to self-soothe like warm showers or eating your favorite meal

• Call your primary care physician or healthcare professional you work with most

• Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline – 1-800-273-8255

• Ask a loved one for help and to stay with you

• Go to your nearest emergency room for support

If you would like other ideas for managing depression or building support, be sure to give CPGR a call today to set up an appointment!

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Major depression. National Institute of Mental Health. Retrieved March 22, 2022, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression