Desperately depressed. Has anything “woo” helped you?

[Chihowhow]

I have been depressed for years. I take 200mg Sertraline, ashwaganda, I have a flow headset, I try to stick to a Mediterranean diet, I do yoga when I can, i journal, I do mindfulness, I do gratitude journaling, I try to live in the moment, and I have two children and a dog. And I am still so depressed that even showering is the absolute limit. My house is a shit show. I can barely leave the house without having an anxiety attack. I am only allowed to drink every third day or I would be a full blown alcoholic. I just can’t beat this thing. I need advice and help desperately. Does anyone have any advice? Xx

Change meds, get an exercise bike. Also, frankincense for something 'woo'. Hope things get better

A medium-sized dose of ketamine (enough to feel something but not a “proper” recreational dose) has been clinically shown to help a lot for treatment-resistant depression (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/05/ketamine-found-effective-in-treatment-resistant-depression/). I have friends who have tried this and found it worked for them. As a PP mentioned, I would also consider psychedelics - you can get mushrooms pretty easily; they grow wild in the UK.

I find that properly-sweaty exercise is the best thing for my (mild) depression - can you start going running? Going to spin classes? Something along those lines, three times a week ideally.

What is a gong bath? And where did you do the magic mushroom psychedelic experience?

Don't do magic mushrooms whilst on anti depressants. There are retreats in Jamaica/Spain/Brazil/America for legal mushrooms and other psychedelic trips but you'd need to get off the ADs for a while before using them. Also if you have a lot of trauma stored up it will come out and it won't be pretty. Make sure you find someone who runs a nurturing and comforting type of experience. Do a lot of research, don't just chew half a bag of mushrooms by yourself at a mates house/in Amsterdam or start smoking DMT.

I think MMs definitely need a place in supporting people with stored up trauma to get it out and process it but please do some research. Maybe try a few different medications from your GP first if the one you're on isn't working. You'll also need counselling after a MM trip to process the things that came up.

Definitely give up alcohol altogether. I have similar issues with depression and any alcohol sends me into a 1-2 week depression phase. The depressive effects of alcohol certainly last longer than 3 days and you’re just continuously ‘topping yourself up’ so to speak. Give it up for a few weeks/a month and see if it makes any difference!

Please don’t forage your own mushrooms! The wrong ones might kill you.

Do see a doctor for another type of AD. All the best, sorry you are suffering. X

I know someone who had hypnotherapy for a bout their depression and they said it worked - thehypnotistman.com

Walking in nature daily can really help. Some GPs prescribe green therapy now because if the benefits.

I was treated for anxiety and depression for years, including medication, therapy, psychiatrists.

Actually, it turns out i am autistic and adhd. I was depressed because i was an undiagnosed ND pardon trying to live in a world made for neurotypicals. I'm in the process of coming off my sertraline and having had time to process and understand my Audhd diagnosis, turns out i don't need sertraline.

So glad to see pp's referring to magic mushrooms. They're absolutely transformative in my experience. Lots of people microdose, so they don't get the trippy effect, and this does help a lot- but what has worked for me is to take a bigger dose and a trip. It's not easy- I cried a lot and faced everything I hated about myself- but honestly, I have a new perspective on life now. They were so, so much more effective than SSRIs and therapy for me.

I would say not to take them with any other meds, and to make sure you're with someone experienced that you completely trust when you take them. I needed a hell of a lot of reassurance.

BTW, I'm not woo at all and don't do any drugs at all apart from this! Don't even drink and am very sensible.

This is available here but it’s expensive. I’d recommend ketamine assisted psychotherapy over ketamine infusions.

not remotely woo, hard empirical science!

agree psychedelics will be mainstream eventually, when our stupid backwards government stops making it so difficult/expensive to access.

Avoid the mediterranean diet https://www.fedup.com.au/factsheets/symptom-factsheets/depression

pp mentioned frankincense and that reminds me - I have an essential oil diffuser and have been really surprised at how it can lift my mood. I recently got some frankincense and it's definitely a favourite.

For a while I was doing a Miracle Morning Routine - started by Hal Elrod who is quite inspirational (amazing life story). I've had phases of various you-tubers that I've followed - I found I needed something to start every day.

I have a whole load of stuff I rotate - (exercise, videos, self-help and other books, music, including actually playing, a version of manifesting and other kinds of journaling) nothing works 100% but I find I can often knock it back or at least get through the day. I will get into something for a while - then need something new. Recommend 'The Artists Way' for some fun and interesting journaling type exercises. Partly it's about conjuring up some interest and motivation in anything as distraction and cut off the ruminating.

I agree with @Daffodilsandbagels that properly sweaty tough exercise at least three times a week does wonders for your mood. I felt fine when I did 3-5 tough workouts a week. then my work pattern changed and i couldn't. I have felt significantly lower moods and swings since then. seriously need to get back to it.

By complete chance I had a very short but brilliant gong bath the other day. first experience of it, but i'd definitely do more. It was only about 5-10 mins at the end of a yoga session but I felt almost weightless afterwards and slept through the night for the first time in weeks. It feels like every cell in your body is vibrating individually. hard to explain but it is bloody lovely, whether or not it lifts your mood afterwards.

i did discover when I was very low that it's worth doing things that lift your mood temporarily. It doesn't matter at all if that feeling doesn't last. The point is to include as many as possible every day until they eventually stitch together and you have more up or neutral moods than down moods.

Weight lifting supposedly is very helpful for depression.

I think there's a lot of this sort of misdiagnosis. I'm awaiting ADHD tests. My DS and my niece are also ADHD and on ADs instead of the correct dose of amphetamines. I tried some medical amphetamines offered by a friend and just felt calm, focused and a mood uplift. It made me wonder if i had been dosed up on citalopram and prozac for years erroneously.

Wow. that is very interesting. Thank you.

Exercise, a change in your treatment regimen, and stop drinking. I was a daily drinker before I stopped. It really is no friend to anyone’s mental health. I would have been the last person to stop drinking but really has been life changing.

Nothing woo but I spent time in quite remote countryside building up close relationships with horses; one horse in particular, and it helped a lot.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful replies!! Thank you! I would have no idea where to start with magic mushrooms, I’m so boring and straight! Am intrigued though, it is definitely trauma related depression so it would be great to have an experience that helped with that. I have an appointment tomorrow to change tablets (have been waiting since March!) so am holding out some hope for that.

I used to run and that definitely helped, so will go back to that, and love the sound of a gong bath. There are so many good ideas on this thread. Thank you all again!

Tbh OP whilst magic mushrooms do help you feel better and lift depression in the short term they don't work long term (unsure about micro dosing). There was an interesting documentary with UK trials but I can't remember what it was called to direct to.

Exercise, seeing/building up friends, helping others, finding a hobby, forcing yourself out for a walk everyday those things will have a much longer positive impact. I do understand how hard it can be to start and maintain that, but those things do help us. Doing new things like driving a different way can also trick our brain to thinking we're doing something new.

There are strong links between smoking nicotine and depression. Not sure if you smoke or vape or not.

Sertraline is not great for motivation. I had panic attacks on it. Vortioxetine is an AD that helps with focus and motivation. It was recommended to me by my ADHD psychiatrist and at the time when I needed it , it worked. The other two things that spring to mind are diet and exercise.

Vitamin D, more aerobic-style exercise, transcendental meditation, eating more fruit n veg

Not woo as such but I set my alarm abit earlier each day and do breathwork for 30 minutes, followed by either a guided mediation or hypnosis. Usually takes about 45/50 minutes in total but I've found it really chills me out generally and sets me up better for the day. If I'm not too tired do the same at night too, but spray lots of rose essential oil or white sage, and take some CBD oil drops. I've also found EFT (tapping) really helpful too, there are videos on YouTube, Brad Yates is quite good.