So I figured out the main reason I'm depressed

[soulslicer]

Ok. You're half way there from what I said in your last topic. Last topic I told you to go out and exercise (specifically cardiovascular). For instance, running. Go run and run and run and run. Once you're tired, run some more!! After that? Keep running. You will be so incredibly physically and mentally exhaused you literally will not be able to think. Beyond that, your body will release chemicals giving you a "Runners High", making you feel happy and good about yourself.

Trust me, theres a reason why most kids in sports who try real hard at those sports are not depressed. It's because the sport gets you that exhaused and your body will release chemicals making you feel happy.

QFT. Sports and exercise and gyming makes you alive (and dead). No seriously, it's freaking awesome. Do it! Secondly, I agree, create something, write a book, put your thoughts to good use..

 

[Phobie]

Well, if you want to quit drugs, I'd say get a hobby making stuff. Some forgework is fun, as is miniature painting.

If you just want to supplement your drug use, you're best not bothering. You already sound drug reliant, and that's enough.

Don't be a huge cock, you don't even know the guy.

He's not saying he's drug reliant, and I've KNOWN drug reliant people, this is nothing like addiction.

It is easy to become drug reliant when you're depressed, but smoking weed once a week is hardly that. Plus the fact that he KNOWS why he is depressed and wants to do something about it probably should tell us that he isn't reliant on weed.

GODDDDDD I hate when people judge and think they know best about everything. It doesn't help at all.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I also get depressive episodes from overthinking. However, I'd never give up the ability to think so much. Yeah, maybe I think about things more than other people, but I like thinking.

Typically, I try to immerse myself in something to the point where I'm just overthinking that. As nerdy as it sounds, programming and making those little Warhammer dudes gives me a much needed break from myself.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[phantomdesign]

Medication is the last thing I want to use. Weed, like I said, is an occasional recreational thing I do. I'm not using it as a crutch or in the place of medical intervention. I use it maybe once a week at the most.

Not entirely true. According to my therapist (who is the head of the psych department at the hospital she works at), chemical imbalances in the brain can be changed through behavioral changes. So in some cases it can merely boil down to a positive reinforcement situation. Fighting depression without medication is entirely possible and is the route I'm going to choose.



Working on it

So you're making progress! :cheers: Since you know you have the ability to make progress, you should also know you have the ability to overcome this. You should also know that the end goal is more than worth the necessary actions along the way. You must demand continuous progress towards eliminating stress and depression, and before you know it you'll be transformed into an unstoppable freight train . . . that's an UNSTOPPABLE FREIGHT TRAIN OF HAPPINESS!!! ha ha.

The Headache Monster!
by: Some Wiseguy
Perhaps one of the best ways to illustrate this is that I had constant horrible headaches for 10 years straight. To put this in perspective, no other source of pain in my life has ever compared to the average worst headache per week. After a 4 years or so of headaches I told myself that I couldn't live this way & told myself that I would learn to get rid of the headaches. I didn't see progress for about 4-5 months, but every day I would stop myself, focus on the pain as if through a sniper scope amplifying it, then try to transform it into nothingness, like white-noise, ignore it, and force myself to go on like the pain didn't' exist. This was especially difficult because my headaches were throbbing, varying, and moving constantly.

After about 6 months I noticed that I could get rid of about 15% of the pain and even ignore it occasionally! I became more determined in my efforts and was able to reduce it more noticeably to about 50% and ignore it 80% of the time after a year. Over the next few years, I was able to ignore 95% of the pain and ignore it almost all the time (yes, the headaches were still very there . . and quite noticeable if I intentionally dropepd my concentration . . OUCH)! Unfortunately, these headaches still drained my physical energy, but over time I even trained myself to ignore all pain!

I can feel the pain just as well as anyone else, but to me it is nothingness. To put this in perspective, I've been in fights, 25 mph faceplant into a sidewalk, tons of scrapes, walked on a BROKEN leg for days, headfirst through a car windshield, cut myself badly numerous times, etc . . . but all of this I barely felt ("tis but a scratch!" "It's only a flesh wound!")! Sure I know the location of the pain, however to me it is nothingness! I'll even let people snap a large rubberband on my arm numerous times without flinching or caring; I can even transform that pain to the point it feels good!

Eventually it was discovered that my headaches were caused by food allergies, and since that discovery they've mostly disappeared, so I wasn't JUST crazy, lol. It was discovered that I was allergic to corn, soy, slightly allergic to wheat, and I discovered on my own that I'm allergic to melons like watermellon, cantelope, etc . . . though the other type of "melons" are quite tasty! Even post-major-heache-era, my subconscious thoughts are trained to eliminate pain (about 1/10th a second), though I still force myself to make a conscious effort to suppress it.

So, if I can quite literally overcome physical pain, what's to stop any of you from overcoming depression or anything else for that matter? I've used this methodology to eliminate stress, and become happier and more energetic myself! I started applying it to my special life a few years ago and it's made a huge change. Right now I'm trying a variation of it with the goal of becoming quite rich and a prominent designer; and about 10 days ago I got a major break and was able to seal the deal yesterday (it's a big step in the right direction, but still a long ways to go)! DESIRE (to achieve X), PERSISTENCE (to never stop trying), FAITH (that you can do it), and ACTION (getting off your ass and doing it)!

P.S. I'm not trying to brag or be a tough guy, I'm being totally serious and hope to encourage people to do similar things with their own minds. And if you think I'm totally nuts, well . . . ummmmmm . . . I am!

P.S.S. This long post has just officionally been made even longer by this P.S.S.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

The whole point of taking medication is to stall the feelings enough for you to figure out how to break the negative feedback loops, by the way.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Cole]

Fighting depression without medication is entirely possible and is the route I'm going to choose.

I highly suggest that to. Join a sport, make it a priority. When you're bored, force yourself to practice something for that sport.

 

[Cavalry]

Get into airsoft or paintball, shooting stuff always helps, and its a sport to take your mind off things, do you drive?
If so, car clubs are a great way to cheer you up.

 

[PvtRyan]

Get into airsoft or paintball, shooting stuff always helps, and its a sport to take your mind off things, do you drive?
If so, car clubs are a great way to cheer you up.

Or: do drive-by shootings. Two birds with one stone!

 

[[Matt]]

QFT. Sports and exercise and gyming makes you alive (and dead). No seriously, it's freaking awesome. Do it!

True. I also used to suffer from chronic depression which completely disapeared after 1 month of going to the gym. I now goto the gym at least 3 times a week and not only do i feel emotionally far better than i used to but I'm physically healthier too

Give it a try!

 

[Cavalry]

True. I also used to suffer from chronic depression which completely disapeared after 1 month of going to the gym. I now goto the gym at least 3 times a week and not only do i feel emotionally far better than i used to but I'm physically healthier too

Give it a try!

Would going to the gym help increase a persons stamina?
I would try, but I get tired after 10 minutes.

 

[Dynasty]

I think you need my special treatment:

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=118639&highlight=golf+balls

You're welcome

 

[Dan]

I think depression is a byproduct of parents always telling their children that they are special and capable of anything they set their minds to. The difference between what they are taught and what they learn in reality causes mental anguish and feelings of inadequacy for these children as they grow up.

 

[Xendance]

Listen to the Portal soundtrack or read something - not a book - just something, like a magazine, or an advertisment or something.

 

[NeptuneUK]

NeptuneUK says:

Weeeed.

 

[Druckles]

So I ask of all of you: Does anyone on this forum know of a good, drug-free way to help my mind relax itself? I'd really like to be able to not be depressed anymore

You seriously don't want to hear my answer.

 

[Cheomesh]

I still stand by the "drop weed and get a hobby". Burning things shouldn't go in, and I wouldn't be a good person if I said "smoke moar".

Sports are fun for most guys, take up one.

 

[Cheomesh]

I think depression is a byproduct of parents always telling their children that they are special and capable of anything they set their minds to. The difference between what they are taught and what they learn in reality causes mental anguish and feelings of inadequacy for these children as they grow up.

Ah yes, telling your children that they can't do much of anything is a beautiful cure.

 

[Druckles]

I think there's no point in trying to distinguish where depression comes from. There could be many causes.

Anyway, what difference would it make. No-one cares anyway, right?

 

[Narcolepsy]

I know exactly how you feel, Stigmata. I have episodes like that too. I've found that I simply must have some kind of external project to funnel my mind into to be happy. Put another way, you need something to distract you. I've found if I just spend a lot of time alone, thinking, I slowly go crazy - don't let that happen to you. Like someone else was saying, write, create something, throw yourself into a project, whether it be school, work, or something else.

Our brains are huge, and we must exercise them. Your job is to exercise your brain in a constructive way. Easier said than done, I know.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Ah yes, telling your children that they can't do much of anything is a beautiful cure.

In a direct sense, he's wrong, yeah. If you tell your kids they'll never amount to anything they'll just be perpetually depressed anyway. But I think it can have alot to do with the disillusionment of growing out of childhood and realising the world isn't the magical place you thought it was and that you aren't, in fact, a beautiful and unique snowflake. In other words, angst. Not that this amounts to depression really, but it can have an influence on it if other things occur to trigger it around the same time.

Like, say, high school. :|

 

[Sulkdodds]

Aw hell naw Stiggy <3

I don't know how much it will help for you but writing things down might be a good idea. When one is thrashing and writhing against the walls at 2am it is a distraction to try and capture your feelings. Make sure you address the writing to someone, even if in your heart of hearts you don't intend to ever deliver it.

It won't exactly make you stop thinking, nor will it make you happy. But it will make you forget everything but how it felt to try and represent something truthfully. It will make you forget like it sounds like you sometimes want you - the act of mimesis, of trying to record the essence of a thing, might distract you from the pain of the real object. Maybe that's why people make art.

I don't know how well it'll help you in the long term. But within the coldness of the moment, writing is a good hit.

 

[Insano]

Reading can really relax my mind. You just need to find the right books, and lean back.

 

[Sulkdodds]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotherapy

 

[Pesmerga]

I can't really suggest reading as a cure for depression. When I read, I get urges to write, and we all know writers are bar flys and suicides.

 

[Stigmata]

I've been reading more this week, and so far it seems to be working a bit. I'm reading House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, as I only ever got halfway through it before I had to return it to the library, and sparingly going through I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert.

I'm going to be going out looking for a job soon, and hopefully seeing friends more often. Might try writing some too, Sulk, though most of what I write I hate completely.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

You are not America Dave, you are Cananadia.

 

[evil^milk]

How's Colbert's book? I've been meaning to check it out.

 

[Stigmata]

It's actually pretty good. I've only read like... forty pages or so, but it's funny, and "to be funny" is the reason the book exists in the first place.