To try and beat depression without medication?

[Dumbledormer]

Just that really. Anyone that’s done it? What worked for you?

My husband tried and it just didn't work. He's in medication
Now and has been much better

Im trying, you can self-refer for CBT.

I don't think you can - your brain literally isn't making the right chemicals.

Take the medication and then start with all the things that will make you feel better, as you’ll feel much more able to. Exercise is the main thing that helps me.

I used medication for a short term fix and then spent a lot of time and money on intense therapy and came off medication.

It's doable if you have the resources including time but if you are severely depressed medication may help as a stop gap.

Is it depression you have? With a diagnosis?

Or is it "shit life syndrome".

Shit life syndrome probably changeable without medication so in a way that's better.

Once my life situation improved and the reason for my anxiety and depression was resolved I came off them for several years.

I won’t stop taking them now I’m back on them though. At one point I was in the blackest hole ever and was actively planning my suicide. I’ve accepted I will be on them for life, and that’s okay.

Why are you so against medication? Would you try and heal a broken leg without visiting the hospital, or try and cure an infection without antibiotics?

I have several times. But it can rob you of your life by soldiering on.

I had PTSD and PND for a year and managed to beat it without antidepressants.

Happy to discuss.

I believe you can but it’s hard. I’ve suffered from both depression and anxiety since I was very young. Had three major ‘episodes’ of it - think being unable to function, suffering debilitating panic attacks etc
Two times I managed to get through it without medication. Exercise was the main thing that worked for me but each time it took a year or longer to get back to being ‘me’
The last time I took medication. Low dose, for 8 months and also had therapy. The last time was much easier, the medication helped massively by giving enough space to fix the issues I had and I’ve been off it for a year now and symptom free.

Based on my own personal experience, if you are clinically depressed and it’s more than a ‘mild’ depression, I would use medication.

But we aren’t all the same! If you want to try without medication, I would firstly suggest getting bloods done. Some vitamin deficiencies can exacerbate symptoms (vit D, magnesium and Iron for example) also check Thyroid etc. then you have to nurse yourself back to health and be very strict. 8 hours sleep every night, daily exercise (mild exercise - don’t over do it as it can make you worse) as close as you can to a good diet… keep a journal, learn meditation, speak to a professional and lean on your friends/family for support. Find purpose in your life if you don’t already have it.

Good luck!

Oh and don’t self medicate - giving up alcohol is important

I'm extremely sensitive to most medications (tried lots of different ones) and the side effects were unbearable and there was little to no improvement taking them. I know they work for most people, frankly if medication can work for you, then you should absolutely take it.

Exercise really does help. I'm 'addicted' to running now, if I don't run every morning I am miserable all day. I also do a lot of yoga in the evenings to help wind down and clear my head. If you want it to help depression you really do have to make it a daily routine no matter how rotten you feel that day.

Cut out all alcohol. I stopped drinking and it was actually hard at first socially but now I'm much more able to regulate and don't use alcohol as a crutch which is a nice feeling. I still do have the odd glass of wine but rarely now. You should probably completely quit, at least for a few months, just to see how it effects your base level mood. I can feel the effects of even 2 glasses of wine a day or 2 later.

You need healthy distractions. Watching TV, scrolling social media, browsing online etc are all distractions but generally lead to anxiety. Comparisons on social media to others lives aren't healthy. Also after 2 hours of binging netflix it's easy to then start to feel guilty, that you didn't do anything, that you wasted the evening, again etc. Find things that make you feel productive, it doesn't matter if they are actually productive or not but staying busy and focused on your own things also helps with a sense of self. You can choose something that you're bad at and aim to progress/improve. If you stick to it, it can lead to some sense of achievement which I know feels almost impossible when you're depressed but now I look at progress I've made and about half the time I'm sort of proud of myself, the other half of the time I'm still stuck in the 'what's the point' mentality but it's worth it for the positive, when I can see the achievement for what it is. You could try yoga, painting, a language, an instrument etc. Lots of free resources online it doesn't need to be anything expensive. As I say it helps give me a sense of identity and that you are moving forward and not just stood still while life moves around you.

You can practice mindfulness as well. Lots of resources online again. Often that involves experiencing a feeling and understanding it will pass. I use a form of this to effectively close the door on certain habit forming behaviours, thought spirals etc. It takes practice but it does work.

Find joy anywhere you can, sometimes you really have to look for it. I actively seek out reasons to be happy, chances to smile, no matter how small. I know it sounds a bit corny but sometimes you really do have to chase it, I don't think happiness just comes for many people.

Many people have beaten depression without medication. Many people have been unable to beat it or even still have it despite medication.

I tried. It didn’t work because I wasn’t well enough to access therapy.

3 months on antidepressants and I was stable enough to begin councelling and then CBT. Over the course of two years I was able to access them enough to allow the therapies to help and to learn techniques that would work.

i am now off the medication (still need the occasional propanaol for anxiety but a lot less than previously) and generally in a position where I can use what I learnt. That won’t work for everyone though obviously

No diagnosis. Spoke to the GP briefly about some health anxiety but backtracked when she suggested medication (I just panicked). I’m known for being the strong, capable one but I just feel like I’m drowning and some days I just want to stop swimming altogether. It’s easier to be honest on an anonymous forum than in real life. My default is to pretend everything is fine.

That's nonsense.

I did.

Exercise, sleep,.cbt, good food,.no alcohol. It was hard but I had severe anxiety about taking pills. I rarely get low now.

Look up CHIME framework. It focuses on connectivity, ie friends, groups, family networks, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment. When we improve these, it has a positive impact on our mental health. Speak to your GP and see if you can be referred IAPT services.

I think the jury is out on this.

Depends upon the reason for the depression.

Get rid of the abusive, coercive, gaslighting arseholes in one's life, for example - and you tend to find a lot of symptoms of depression vanish overnight. Sometimes the medication prescribed is inappropriately squashing down the ability to realise this and say 'actually, fuck this'.

I reckon there are lot of people, particularly women, who have been led to believe that

a. they're mental/crazy (as per the trope about the ex)
b. it's nothing to be ashamed of, it's just their brain not making enough of the right chemicals and you wouldn't refuse a plaster cast for a broken leg (when the reality is more akin to you'd probably not jump straight back onto a high wall and start jumping if you've already been pushed off it once, would you?)
c. it's their age/hormones/being overweight and not their circumstances
d. it's only other people who have the exact same symptoms that scream Autistic/ADHD/ND burnout and get treated appropriately. They, however, because of their sex/age/appearance, just happen to be 'depressed' instead.

I suffered with profound Depressive episodes from my late teens all the way into my 40's. I went through a gamut of anti-depressant prescriptions, faithfully went through CBT, psychoanalysis, regular care of a CPN, absolutely nothing shifted it.

I have not medicated in nearly ten years, and I haven't had any sort of serious episode in that entire time. I do, very rarely, like perhaps once every couple of years, have a day where I don't quite feel able to get on with it, but it's a totally different phenomenon to the darkness that often saw me unable to get out of bed for weeks on end and left me housebound for months. I'm familiar enough with the black dog that I recognise it for what it is, know it will pass, and don't give it any headspace any longer.

What worked for me was a change of environment and lifestyle. It's obviously not possible for every person in every circumstance, and it sounds trite, but it is often as simple as removing yourself from the situation that is exacerbating your low mood. I changed job from a hellish public sector grind to third sector. I work even harder, but my colleagues actually give a shit and are reasonably diligent now, so I no longer feel like I am having to do the work of three people just to tread water and get no thanks for doing it. I left a long-term relationship after I realised our differing aspirations were a huge factor in why I always felt under pressure, even at home, and that I'd generally failed at life. I live alone now, no longer have to 'answer' to a partner, and I'm much happier as a result because I can concentrate on living in a manner that suits me, and spending my time doing things that make me happy without constantly having to sacrifice and compromise.

Anti-D's are the route out of it for the majority, but it is absolutely possible to make a full recovery without them provided you can understand and recognise what the route cause of your low mood is and address it, and yes, the cliches like more exercise, better diet, and especially so good sleep hygiene are absolutely vital.

I did because the medication made me collapse but I made some pretty big changes too.

I had CBT quickly (paid privately)
I handed in my notice on a part time job I had with a toxic boss
I continued a part time job I had which was in no way adding to my stress
Used spare time to catch up on stuff that I wanted to do but was sidelining whilst ill

And

Space and time has given me the ability to be more self aware and I'm pretty sure I'm ADHD and so if I learn more I may be able to understand me better than I had.

I realise I'm incredibly lucky to be able to have made the choices I did.

If it’s that easy to beat without medication, why has anyone got depression in the first place?

Thank you. This is so lovely to read. I also used to run a lot and I think I need to start again. Having a c-section not that long ago has prevented any exercise for the past few months and I think this is probably a factor.

I though the latest research showed that medication doesn’t work other than through the placebo effect and there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance?
Apparently the pharmaceutical companies are more than eager to push medication as they are making vast profits from anti depressants, so the more people who take them the more money they make.