Psychologist Advice: Depression

Depression is one of the most serious diseases of the twenty-first century. Living with her is hard and risky. The editors prepared the advice of famous psychologists how to overcome depression and improve their lives.

Mikhail Labkovsky

The famous psychologist emphasizes that depression, first of all, needs not to be treated, but to carry out constant prevention to prevent it. For this, he recommends the following exercises:

Conduct continuous monitoring of your condition. Self-reflection is your main assistant in the prevention of disease. If you feel, as Gogol wrote, that “I have had no taste of coffee this morning,” this is an alarming signal, which is important to listen to.
Do not try to solve all your psychological problems on your own. Forget about such concepts as "I'm a man," "I'm all by myself," the main thing in the prevention of depression is the ability to share your problems with other people. It is not necessary (but desirable) to be an expert, a good heart-to-heart talk will ease your condition.
Do what you want for you. Do not be afraid to sometimes succumb to sudden impulses: an “extra” blouse or going to a cafe at some point can save you from the onset of depression.

What to do if depression has already begun? In this situation, Labkovsky believes, the first thing to do is to turn to a professional psychologist. Do not try to treat yourself by any means! The longer you postpone the visit, the worse the condition becomes. This is not the case when you need to save money.

Recognize and become aware of the fact that you are depressed. It is a disease, but a treatable disease.
Do not allow yourself to love your suffering, do not feel sorry for yourself without a reason. Real life is not a Brazilian series, and you should not wait for the moment or the person who will pull you out of depression. In this situation, follow the rule: "the rescue of drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves."
Get rid of negative environment as soon as possible. If your friends during meetings only do that they complain about life, low salaries, poor government, stop communicating with them.
Look for motivation in the environment. It does not necessarily have to be exclusively positive emotions, as long as this situation touches you, arouses internal interest.

Andrey Kurpatov

Andrei Kurpatov is one of the leading specialists in the field of psychology, who deals with the problem of treating depression. He wrote two practical tools to combat this ailment: "5 saving steps from depression to joy" and "remedy for depression." Tips from Andrei Kurpatov:

To start a treatment for depression, find the alarm behind it. You need to turn your depressed world, and for this you need a fulcrum. There can be three such points: a serious tragedy that has been drastically changing all my life; a large number of "small problems"; problem of choice, when this or that situation pushes into a dead end
Get rid of the "inner snow" - thoughts that you are trying to unsuccessfully hide an alarming state. They paralyze all activity, make it impossible to cope with internal stress and turn acute anxiety into chronic.
Take an inventory of your thoughts. Write them down. Make sure everything in this world is just awful. Throw this piece in the trash and never remember about it again.
Never feel sorry for yourself! Realize that suffering is an illusion. When getting rid of inner self-pity and their fate - the depression will begin to recede.
Take care of business. Take on the work of an important project that will not leave free time. Create daily schedules: let the schedule be as tight as possible.
Get rid of bad mental installations in your head. "As you call a ship, so it will sail." The same applies to thoughts. By perceiving everything negatively, you create a hostile world around you.
Watch for yourself: what assessment do you give to the events? If the depressive (everything is bad and will only get worse), then the disease gets more development. Try to change the vector of vision - everything will change.
Passivity increases depression. Actions should not be violence against themselves, but it is better that they are. At least a little, but regularly.
Do not try to overcome depression only with antidepressants. The problem lives inside your thoughts, so you need to fight it in the "inner field".

Depression is formed when there is no positive reinforcement in life, when there is no pleasure. And after the onset of depression, everything remains the same, and the surrounding people start to avoid it. There is a vicious circle: the lack of positive reinforcements - depression - an even more tangible lack of positive reinforcements. As a result, not activity is fixed in the brain, but passivity, since it is she who brings the least amount of trouble.

Mikhail Litvak

The psychologist believes that depression is given to a person so that he can think about himself. But you need to fight it. The specialist offers a number of recommendations to those who are faced with this disease:

Contact your psychiatrist. This is the only person who can provide you with real help in fighting depression.
Do not try to look for "yourself" in other people. New relationships will not save you from depression
Learn to distinguish between depression and depression
Do not build unrealistic plans, set yourself achievable, close goals. When you achieve the desired, the feeling of joy outweighs the anxious state
Get rid of the feeling of guilt: that you are sick - there is no direct guilt. It is just a circumstance, accept it as a fact.

Anatoly Dobrovich

A specialist in his book “Get Out of Depression” gives a number of recommendations; by doing this, you can cope with the disease. The author believes that it is important to recognize the disease in time and start the treatment, the task of which is to eliminate temporary malfunctions of the biochemical level arising in the brain.

Find the cause of your own depression, and not compare the diagnosis with forums on the Internet. Write down on a piece of paper everything that disturbs you, and then throw away what society imposes on you from the outside. For example, the unsuccessful reform of the government was hardly the cause of your illness.
Find your hobby. The less free time you have, the better. Constantly try something new.
Change jobs. Often the cause of depression becomes unloved work. If you feel every day that you are going to hard labor, then this is a serious reason to start considering new vacancies.
Create your own ideology and strictly adhere to. Remember that your thoughts form the world around you. The more positive attitudes, the more often life will delight positive moments.
Stop thinking constantly about the bad. Get rid of information noise, reduce the time you spend on the Internet. During depression, it is better to abandon social networks: beautiful pictures with perfect faces only contribute to the appearance of depressive thoughts in your head.
Stop communicating with whiners and losers. The environment directly affects the psychological state. Successful people usually think positively. Try to contact them more often.
Play sports. Exercise is a great way to fight the disease, since endorphin, the hormone of joy, is secreted in the human body.
Make your life bright. This advice should be considered in the literal sense. Surround yourself with things of light colors, in clothes give preference to white and pastel colors.
findings

Fighting depression is a rather complicated process. Summarizing the above tips of famous psychologists, we can draw the following conclusions: