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

As someone upthread mentioned, alcohol is a depressant, if you are drinking regularly you will always be in withdrawal, it changes your brain chemistry, it will keep you depressed. Knock it on the head, you may feel like it is helping you in the moment but it is actually making things worse.

I can't believe so many people are suggesting to take class A drugs.
I am reporting this thread.

This is what I was thinking. For me, working on my boundaries, stopping doing things I wasn’t comfortable with, while actively planning to fill my life with things I enjoy has helped.

I may be wrong and haven't read the full thread but something is telling me you're not supposed to take ashwaganda with ssri's

You need to change antidepressant for a start. If you were in hospital they would take you off this as soon as it's clear that it's not working. And it clearly isn't working. If there is anything in your life they you just know isn't going to be possible for you to be happy with, change it if you possibly can. The antidepressant could be augmented with a mood stabiliser. If you have the chance to get away for a few weeks, take it.

Do have a look at the keto diet. I went on it for other health reasons and it improved my mental health so much I can't believe it. I'm now staying on it. I have had MH problems my whole life. Depression and anxiety. Now you could throw anything at me and I'm so chilled.
I researched it and there is evidence it works and a professor at Harvard is now treating patients with a low carb diet.

@renthead Can you tell us more please?

I do think that trauma can be worked through well with psilocybin, however I think it has to be very well guided.

I'm not an expert on trauma, there's levels, for sure. I do think there's hope though. Life can be hard. And it makes me sad to hear someone feel hopeless.

Talk to me about hope @Chihowhow, what do you want? Do you want to be happy, do you want to feel ok? What do you want?

Talk to me about hope looks for you?

Hrtft but have you had therapy, ie psychotherapy or trauma theri?

You need to be careful with green tea extract and liver damage:

'The food supplement that ruined my liver' www.bbc.com/news/stories-45971416

The extract is much more concentrated than green tea itself. Something to be aware of.

When I'm really bad I listen to different videos of frequencies on YouTube, I find them really helpful. There's loads on there so it's taken a while to find a few that really hit right. Meditation ones for when I'm not too bad and feel up to meditation, but if I'm really bad only the actual frequency sounds screaming in my brain will do. And actual exercise that gets the heart racing. The sadder I am the harder I go. If I miss a day I feel myself sliding backwards again. I found doing these things better than antidepressants, personally.

This is so true but I find when I am depressed I can barely throw away junk mail, let alone blitz the house. How do you get started when your energy and motivation are low?

I'm not reporting this thread but I agree. It is too easy to get hold of mushrooms online but actually, you need to be with a specialist medic to ensure the correct dose and monitor your reaction to it and offer therapeutic discussion afterwards. I wouldn't try this at home.

I took mushrooms once in my mid teens - being an idiot at a party – and had a really terrible trip. It may be a coincidence but my own depression kicked in right after that. I'm not convinced they would work for everyone. Our brains are so finely and differently wired. If you have ADHD or ASD (which you might be unaware of - it's underdiagnosed in over thirties) or a family sensitivity to schizophrenia then it could be a bad mistake. Only under proper medical supervision, and even then, the claims by departments like Nutt's at Imperial are inconclusive. I don't doubt their potential properties, recreationally and therapeutically, for some people but I don't think using them without supervision is a good idea.

I'm a big fan of woo BUT what I would do is make sure the building blocks are right. When did you last have your vitamin D, b12, folate etc checked? I would start there. It may need some time and reading to get it right because so many nutrients are co-factors with others. Magnesium is a big cofactor and most of us don't get nearly enough.

We can overthink so I've found getting out of my head and into my body helpful. Walking primarily but also doing something that stretches me out of my comfort zone. If you see something you like the look of. Don't overthink it. Don't tell yourself you can't .. do it.

I think journaling, gratitude etc can be helpful to some, but for others (like me) they just keep us stuck in ruminating and not acting. (Finding gratitude in place of making small changes toward changing a shitty circumstance feels like a real possibility) Actually moving my body helps me unstick myself and make the changes I need to. (I have never been considered sporty so it's all out of my comfort zone).
Doing something creative could be helpful too, pottery, or something where you're just playing with sloshing colour around etc.. ...

I think feelings and sensations in our body are that... Feelings and sensations. They may have come from a fleeting thought that you can't even locate. That thought may or may not even be true. I've found ferreting around in my head to be pointless so I try to let the feelings pass through knowing a more pleasant one will eventually follow.

Yoga is great. There's yoga and then there's yoga though. If you try it, it might take a few trials classes to find one you like. Gym yoga is totally different to yoga with a more spiritual slant. However the one I do (more spiritual) still keeps us tuned into our body and out of our head.
Pilates is also excellent.

Breathwork - we do it as part of yoga and the one I find helpful outside of class is where you fill your belly, chest and lungs as much as possible then let it go with a big noisy sigh.

Youre a bit late it's a zombie thread from August 2023