| I've dealt with a couple major depressive episodes in my life. In addition to the standard advice of 'Go see a therapist!' heres some things that help for me: 1) Committing to myself that I'm getting out of this state, and reminding myself that I'm working on fixing it. Then having the leniency on myself that depression is not a solved problem, and I will keep trying until I actually have accomplished my goal - however unclear my progress may be. 2) Consistently enforcing myself to complete small achievable goals. For me, this is stuff like: getting out of bed within 3 minutes of my alarm going off, having an ironed shirt, show up at the gym and do some sort of exercise daily. If you have motivational trouble, start with even smaller goals eg 'I will put water in my cereal bowl after I put it in the sink so the milk doesnt dry and get gross.' Then work up to 'I will put the bowl in the dish washer after I am done with it.' 3) Creating arguments for why everything is actually all okay. Many of them don't convince me, eg 'You've got a steady income', but some of them do eg 'Well I've read several papers that forcing yourself to smile releases neurochemicals that make you happier' was pretty convincing. 4) http://examine.com/topics/Depression I'm not a medical professional, but the evidence gathered for supplements listed on this site is convincing. In addition to Fish Oil and Saffron, I've seen a lot of evidence for supplementing Vitamind D and found it to be very helpful. 5) Go see a therapist that you like and respect. It was important to me to find one who I thought was smart and practical - I didn't want a ooshy gooshy feelings therapist. I've had the most success with CBT. 6) Learn to refocus your thoughts. This is tough, but, the worst part of depression for me is often the sad thoughts that come with it. I find that days are better when I don't allow myself to indulge in thinking sad thoughts. So this means 1) catching myself when I've starting thinking something sad 2) Successfully putting my thought train on a non-negative track. If you take the meds, just be aware of the side effects of being on the meds and also be aware of the side effects of coming off the meds. I've found no doctor that really sufficiently warns of these. If you ever want to chat, my email address is in the link in my profile. |