| I suffered from severe depression for years (to the point that suicide seemed preferable to enduring more failure), and only recently (the past year, really) have managed to stave it off entirely. I didn't do so through the normal approach: Pills and talking about your feelings. I didn't do much of anything, really. * The major sources of stress in my life worked themselves out. (I don't want to go into detail about this one.) * I went on a ketogenic diet for a while, which helped with the anxiety significantly. I stopped six months ago because of unemployment (keto diets are expensive!), and the anxiety has not come back. * I truly accepted that, no matter how much weight I lose or how successful I am in my career, I'll probably never be attractive enough to find a boyfriend. This was something that used to torment me with feelings of inadequacy (magnified by having to be in the closet to my religious family). Recently, I started working a job that actually provides a livable wage AND health insurance benefits. (Also, paid time off. I haven't taken a vacation in five years!) Now that I might actually be able to afford mental health care, I'm waiting to see if the depression will come back, because conventional wisdom says these small tweaks to my life are temporary measures at best. (However, if it doesn't come back, I'm cool with that.) These were my experiences with depression. I'm sure many more people have suffered through it than will admit it. |