[taco_emoji]

I had a lot of success with a combination of SSRIs and the cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques laid out in the book Feeling Good by psychiatrist David Burns. It's a pretty dry read, but my overall takeaway is that many forms of depression and anxiety are the result of flawed cognitive biases, and that with some practice you can learn to recognize them and catch yourself. (The SSRI helped dull the despair and worry enough to make that self-analysis possible.)

In a weird way, it's like you learn to treat yourself like any other human. If I got stood up for a date, my Asshole Brain would tell me my life was pointless, I'm ugly and unlovable, I'll be alone forever, etc. If a friend was in the same situation, my Good Guy Brain tells them the real, logical things: that it sucks but it's not your fault, the date probably had an emergency or just sucks at life, there are lots of other people to date, etc.

So it's a practice of learning to treat yourself like you'd treat that friend. Obviously it's not that simple - you can read these words and nod your head along with them, but in the middle of a depressive episode, it's like the engines cut out on your airplane and you don't know how to fly and why bother flying anyway. Pilots have to study and train for hours before they can fly a plane, but life just throws you right in the mix. It takes a BUNCH of study and training and thought experiments, plus maybe discussing with a therapist or support group or Internet strangers, but eventually you can learn to recognize these emotionally difficult situations and engage the Good Guy Brain before the Asshole Brain takes over.