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Depression And Anxiety Medications - Page 2

I had a nasty case of anxiety/depression during the start of my junior year in high school, and I had to take the first semester off. I am trying to eat right and get regular exercise, however I'm still working on the hobbies bit.

Medications Anxiety Depression

I'm no doctor and I do not know your case but I've found that:

Exercise - more than simply a walk, something than heats up your body and gets your heart pumping for an extended period causes a natural chemical effect that relaxes and makes you feel good. Of course you will need a physical before starting a serious exercise regime.

Diet - not just fat, but sugar exclusion and avoiding chemically enhanced processed foods can work wonders. The body has to try so hard to get rid of what we eat, if we allow it the freedom to gather up the waste in our bodies it again causes a natural calming and well being effect on us.

Facing fears - maybe there was something initially that 'set you off', whatever it is you may need to face it or learn to deal with it. Nothing can change the past but your outlook towards the future can change - it is inner management - something we all deal with daily. Time structure and clear goals helps you to focus on your objectives and not your fears.

As a father with three hyper autistic boys this is how I cope.

Depression And Anxiety Medications Health & Special Psychology

Thanks for the tips JB,

I've joined a personal fitness class at my school, in order to work in time to exercise. I am receiving some help there on how to set up an exercise plan and how to eat properly.

Regarding diet, I have a question. Is it good for a person to have small healthy snacks throughout the day? I consider myself a fairly healthy eater, it's just between meals, I get a bit hungry, and I might reach for something unhealthy.

Finally, regarding facing fears, I think I have really improved on that. I used to be very shy and afraid of social contact, but now I have a more confident, extraverted personality. But I feel that there is something deeper that I need to address: take hobbies for instance. I find that other than the schoolwork that keeps me busy, I don't really have anything that I like that I can look forward to. I guess trying out this online RPG is a start...

(P.S. I hope you and your children are doing well.)

Edited: corsava on 8th Sep, 2012 - 4:45pm

Page 2 Medications Anxiety Depression

I do not want to go into more depth here but you should look over this Thread thoroughly: Source 5 a change in diet by eliminating food items that ADD to depression and anxiety is a great beginning.

Medications Anxiety Depression

I suffer from chronic depression and anxiety. Unfortunately most medications for these disorders (such as SSRI's) cause me severe side effects. Even without the side effects that make them contraindicated for me, they cause me to feel like I'm losing myself, forgetting who I am, losing touch with what is real and important to me; they totally obliterated my creativity. My poetry and writing projects are too precious for me to erase them with a pill. (Sometimes when I look at the lives of famous writers, I wonder if a certain amount of suffering isn't needed for some people to 'birth' their creations. It seems to be that way with me. I write my best poetry when I am in pain, unfortunately.)
Writing in my journals, my poetry and short stories helps me a lot. Getting things out of my head, outside of me, and onto paper is a great outlet.
When I'm published or people just enjoy my writing, I feel good even if sadness caused me to write it.

I took training in Reality Therapy, which helped me and gave me tools to help others. It focuses on four components that make up a person (like the four wheels of a car) - Thoughts, Emotions, Actions, and Physiology. One malfunctioning 'wheel' influences the way the 'car' functions. I suggest "Control Theory", "Positive Addiction" and other books by William Glasser.

Diet changes your physiology definitely and brain chemistry.
Exercise changes the chemicals in your body, affecting your physiology as well as what you are doing (actions), and in a chain reaction can affect how you feel and think. The same thing with hobbies - doing something physical you enjoy.
With Cognitive Therapy, by changing your thoughts, you can also change how you feel. Since thoughts and feelings trigger chemicals in your body, this results in physiological changes, too.
Many people don't realize "Thoughts are (biochemical) things", not just abstract nonentities. They have consequences on us, our bodies, and our lives.
Depressed and anxious people tend to think negative thoughts, usually exaggerated, such as "I always fail", "I can't do this", etc. That have become automatic for them. Thinking fallacies.
A person can learn to recognize and correct negative, automatic thoughts. Over time, a depressed person can discover and correct deeply held but false beliefs that contribute to their depression and anxiety.

Studies have shown Cognitive Therapy can help with mild to moderate depression as well as anti-depressant medications and be just as effective in preventing relapses and residual depression as drugs, perhaps more so. Just medicine without changing one's behavior and thoughts isn't a great long-term strategy in my experience, personal and professional.

When I find myself thinking like this I say "Stop!" mentally - I used to even say it out loud and sometimes several times before I could interrupt the negative train of my thoughts. I look in the mirror every morning and tell myself 10 things I like about me. I also think of at least 10 things I'm thankful for everyday - it's been so bad at times I've resorted to things like "I'm glad I didn't have a car wreck today". Some were so ridiculous they made me laugh in the end. I've also used visualization to stop the negative thoughts - picturing pleasant scenes, remembering happy times, seeing myself happy in the future, as well as using colors - for me I pictured dark colors that gradually changed shade by shade to brighter, lighter colors and, after a while, by the time I reached the light 'happy' colors I always felt better.

I'm NOT advising anyone to do this, but when obsessive negative thoughts bothered me excessively, I wore a rubber band on my wrist and would give myself a gentle pop with the rubber band if the thoughts repeatedly returned, as a distraction, and that worked when other methods failed. Now I've progressed to where "Stop!" and changing what I'm thinking/doing is enough. Again, I'm not telling anyone else to do this. I read about it and it worked for me when I was first attempting to change my thought patterns. Each person has to find what intervention works for them to stop the negative, unrealistic thoughts that cause the depression and anxiety. Keep trying until you find what works for you.

I still struggle with panic attacks periodically, but that's a story for another day.

Depression And Anxiety Medications

Very true, just having a positive happy countenance already starts the healing process. In my particular situation, it is very difficult to be 'happy' about anything when challenges are at every turn. In my Blog I often use the analogy of someone sticking you with a pin constantly... Eventually it alters your thinking and feelings towards different things because there is not a 'break' at anytime to be 'happy' - you are always reminded of the pain instead. People who have been severely teased and tormented both at home and school may be able to relate to the lack of peace they have - often you turn within for solitude but it does not always work. Medications in my opinion are not a healthy long term alternative, if an alternative at all. Fortunately, I have never had to go down that road and hope I never have to hence my emphasis on natural chemical altering actions: diet, exercise, and facing fears.

Depression Anxiety Medications - Page 2

I grew up in a home where I was tormented, abused in several ways, and constantly faced rigid unreasonable demands from my parents, always on egg shells. Hence (I believe) my diagnoses of depression and anxiety when I sought professional help in my early 20's.

I was lucky enough to have one set of Godly grandparents who provided a place where I could escape sometimes to receive unconditional love and nurturing, but I can relate to feeling as if 'someone is sticking me with a pin constantly' - that's been my whole life. I still feel that way around my parents now, even at my age. Any contact with them hurts. They are toxic for me. It's painful to wish for parental love that you know you'll never get, that they aren't capable of giving; to know as they age that time is growing short for reconciliations and a longed for relationship that really can never be...and to accept the reality of that. To accept my life. To tell myself everything happens for a reason. To look for lessons to learn from my suffering. To try to make sense of senseless things...

Rather off topic, but...
I can never understand your situation exactly or what you go through daily, but I greatly admire your efforts to deal positively with the challenges you've been given; and I do pray for you, for your family...that God give you strength, wisdom, fortitude to cope with problems you face. And surround you with His peace, to repel or heal life's pinpricks.

I do understand about turning inward. As a child I was severely punished if I let anyone outside our home know any 'family secrets'. For example, I had to behave normally in public, as if nothing wrong, when my parent had just whispered to me that I would receive a beating when we got home for some minor childish transgression, or it would be worse for me, while inside I felt sick to my stomach and frightened. I wore long sleeve shirts and pants in the hot summertime to cover bruises and bloody welts. I watched other children playing so carefree and wondered... As children, we accept the hand we're dealt and don't know enough to realize it's not like everyone else, that it's not 'normal'.

After I left home I began to read about problems I had and realized I needed help. Having been forcefully trained to hold everything in my entire life, my psychologist said my outward demeanor and what my psychological tests showed were vastly different. At that point he had been seeing me twice/week for six months for 'talk therapy' and still expressed great surprise at my test results. My personality tests (MMPI etc) showed depression and anxiety off the charts, but I hid behind jokes and smiles all the time, focused on helping other people, repressing myself and keeping my pain locked up away from others. I thought about suicide a lot but had two small children which saved me more than once. People didn't know what I really felt like inside.
That is such a lonely, isolated place to be....

As far as medication, I agree with you 100%. I told one doctor (who kept insisting I be medicated) that I had a reason to be sad and I had a right to be sad. For me, taking medication to control my feelings would be the same as getting drunk, whenever I stopped taking the drugs my same problems and feelings would still be there staring at me, unresolved. I insisted there had to be a better way and set about finding my own way to deal with life, which involved talking about my issues and educating myself about coping skills. Music, writing, hobbies, helping others as a nurse, my son and grandson, my spirituality and faith...these are the best answers I found.

Don't just accept what someone else tells you to do.

Rather off topic, but...
Look inwardly and to God for answers....they will come.

Depression Anxiety Medications Psychology Special & Health - Page 2

You have definitely been though many things that left a deep rooted effect on you and it maybe that when you have extra time to think you recall the negative past. One thing that I find helps this is keeping your mind busy on things, for instance for me it is work. Working on a project helps me 'forget' my circumstance for a moment in time. Added to this exercise really burns out the 'bad' - bad thoughts, bad actions, bad being - it really helps.