If you’ve overcome depression/anxiety how did you do it ?

[Wolfscarf]

How did you over come it ?

I took the meds and did the therapy; but if I'm being brutally honest the real thing was lots of time passing. If it happened again, I'd ask for EMDR as that seems to be effective for PTSD.

I’ve got over the worst of it with anti ds, coping strategies from CBT and yoga / meditation. I’ve accepted I’ll always have it, and as long as I’m not actively planning doing anything, and not having regular panic attacks, then that’s as good as I’ll ever be. Are you struggling @Wolfscarf ?

I took Fluoxetine from February until October last year and have felt fine since very luckily.

A bit of counselling but in reality it was effort, stopped feeling sorry for myself and took action, making sure I was eating right, exercising (mainly walking) mindfulness, a journal that I got my thoughts down in and out of my head. Put myself in less situations where I had to wear a happy mask, carried on working as sitting at home makes things worse. Good luck!

I read a book that says happiness is something you do not something you have.

So do things that make you happy.

Find out about seratonin in, dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin. Do things which give you these.

Do happy things every day and your feelings of happiness will return.

When you have clinical depression, anxiety or panic attacks the ability to feel any pleasure is lost. There aren't any happy activities you can do. Things you used to enjoy either leave you cold or make you feel disgusted or irritable, and if you try to force it you can lose any pleasure in them permanently.
One thing that did help was making a timetable to follow each day, so I didn't feel like I'd wasted another day. In the early days it would be one thing a day, then a few weeks later two things a day, and gradually build up so I didn't feel overwhelmed.

Possibly sounds glib, but got rid of the major cause of my depression/anxiety: exh. Then had counselling and PTSD. Everything is great in my life now .

Well I was sectioned following psychotic post-natal depression. I'd had ECT and was taking lots of medication, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, lithium, tranquillisers, medication to alleviate side effects, some at higher than recommended maximum dose as I apparently have the constitution of a horse.
I took them for eight years because psychiatrist believed I would always need them to be stable. I had an unplanned pregnancy and stopped them all a lot faster than psychiatrist would have advised. Had baby, was to start medication once baby was delivered but had a massive allergic reaction on lowest dose, so plan was to let the reaction settle and then start alternatives.
Then I was doing ok no sign of PND so decided to watch and wait. Psychiatrist discharged me when baby was a year old, I had never taken any medication.
That baby is coming up to 20 now and I've had no need for MH services since I was discharged. I know I need to look after myself, eat and sleep well, take time out for me. If I feel my mood slipping, I listen to it and take extra care of myself, seems to work for me anyway.

I took sertraline and gave myself a home made course of EMDR, after reading up on that. My partner also pissed me off big time over an unrelated issue and I realised that my anxiety was irrelevant. All good with partner now and when anxiety rears it’s head now and again, I tell that that it’s not helpful and won’t fix things. Having a conversation with my anxiety as if it’s a person seems to work for me

I did my own research and found the true cause of my emotional dysregulation and racing thoughts (ADHD). I’ve been taking a stimulant for a year now and it’s transformed my life.

Therapy, medication, living alone and getting a dog. And having more money to be able to choose to live alone and get a dog. I realise that’s a massive privilege and not accessible to everyone for many reasons - I was able to progress in my career and increase my earnings and I hate to say it, but having more money really did make a massive difference because of the choices it opened up, not least the option of private therapy. Living alone was also the best thing I ever did and I got to know and care for myself in a way I hadn’t before. I also made sure that I never took more than 2 weeks off work for mental health reasons - sometimes I really needed the time off to reset and get back into a functional state but losing my job and career would’ve been much worse for me in the long run. For depression and anxiety specifically I don’t think extended periods of months or years out of work are a good thing.

@caroleanboneparte : what was the book please?

Agree eating healthily (lots of veg, unprocessed foods), sleep, fresh air, gentle exercise all help as well as making time for things you enjoy all help

Alcohol makes me feel low so I avoid it

In my darkest days it was keeping busy, walking & exercise, appreciating nature and animals, photography, DIY, in my spare time. Keeping busy in my day job too, moving jobs for a better working environment.

Basically, keeping busy and staying active and getting out of the house as much as possible! Not allowing myself time to dwell and languish in misery. Even on the darkest days, getting myself up and on with something. Making every day count, so doing something, however small, every single day, whether it's a walk, a visit to a local nature reserve, papering a wall, washing the car, gardening, or whatever. Just "something" to get the blood flowing and the body moving.

I'd often write myself a "to do" list with the smallest of tasks on it, and gain pleasure ticking them off, to prove to me that the day was worthwhile.

I started self care - lots of fresh air in nature, and exercise, meditation and TedX talks. Didn't want to do them but went through the motions. Also supplements - Vit D, B6, Passionflower etc. Lots of online CBT - mainly on my own via an app called Mood Gym which really made me realise how bad my attitude was, and also some self-compassion worksheets downloaded from a website.

But the thing that made the difference was doing something new every day and writing about it in a private blog. Whether I like dit or not, whether I'd do it or try it again, whether anything happened as a result of it. It just gradually woke up my interest in life and built my ability to cope with new things. When I started, I was genuinely nervous walking into a coffeee shop that wasn't Pret. That was how narrow my world had become. After six months I was in a new job and loving it. That was after a couple of decades of anti depressants not working. (I came off them about ten times slower than GPs recommend, to avoid any side effects.)

These days when I feel the depression kick in I catch it on Day 1 and do some hard physical exercise, eat walnuts, grapefruit, cheese and do something new immediately, on repeat. It usually kills it within 48 hours. Just had a booster last week as I was sliding down due to the early dark and WFH.

Thansk so much for the benefit of your experience

Some great tips here!!

Worked really, really fucking hard with the right therapist. Tried a few first who didn’t gel with me, found the right person and commited for years. Huge sacrifices so I could see her but knew it was that or a life of feeling numb from meds or feeling anxious/depressed.

@BlooberryBiskits

Paul Dolan Happiness by Design

Go out for a stupid walk every day for my stupid mental health

Lol that made me laugh.

I have to do it everyday too but it’s such a freaking chore to get going!!

Walked at least ten miles a day in rural places. Treated it like a job so scheduled it in.

Outdoor exercise is widely regarded as one of the best treatments for mental health issues and many people are able to give up antidepressants.

@Wolfscarf i wondering same thing OP. I’ve spent hours googling the answer as past few months hoping for an answer. I’m currently on my third AD with no avail. I need to get out of this deep dark slump so I will be watching this thread with interest. Sending you all my love 💐 we can do this

@WHEREEL can I ask what stimulant u take please? I am convinced I have ADHD but testing has stopped for the foreseeable where I am from. Which means I would need to go private, which I simply can not affford. It’s so frustrating as I’m trying to adapt to AD’s in meantime and they just aren’t working. Glad ur life has been transformed 💐

I take Elvase. You can ask your GP to refer you for a private ADHD assessment via Right to Choose, so the NHS pay the cost. I know a lot of people who have used Psychiatry UK via Right to Choose. The waiting times are around 6 months.

Realised I was autistic, got diagnosed, implemented accommodations in my life and lo and behold, my mental health improved drastically.