LifeTime Health
Wellness & Management
Depression usually requires professional physician intervention. However, in addition to professional treatment, your self-care and management is also crucial.
For starters, stick with your current treatment! Don’t give up! Don't stop taking an antidepressant or skipping psychotherapy classes/appointment without talking to your doctor first. Stopping treatment abruptly or missing several doses can cause withdrawal-like symptoms, and quitting suddenly may cause a sudden worsening of depression.
Besides sticking to a treatment plan, you can also work on some self-care steps to make more progress.
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Know better
Get to know more about depression. The more educated you are about this issue, the more power and courage you will have to fight against it. Likewise, for the family members/friends around a patient with depression, they can also understand more about depression to help and support the patient.
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Monitor warning signs
Work with your doctor or therapist to understand what may be triggering your depressive symptoms. Make a plan so you know what to do if your symptoms get worse. If you notice any changes in your symptoms or feelings, contact your doctor or therapist ASAP, and ask relatives and friends to help you watch for red flags.
It will also be helpful to get connected/engaged in some social interaction, a community.
Sleep well
To fight against depression, you need to build up yourself, both physically and mentally. Physically, perhaps you can start with getting good sleep – that will give you an excellent start! There are many ways that you can try to improve your sleep quality.
For instance, aromatherapy. Although more research is needed to learn if aromatherapy can help treat depression (clinically), some evidence suggests it might have benefits – at least can give you good sleeps.
More specifically, Lavender oil is commonly used as aromatherapy (inhaling) or massaged into the skin. Lavender has been proven to reduce levels of anxiety and depression, and is even given to people before medical procedures (or women giving birth!) Lavender can encourage improved mood, better sleep, and overall well-being.
Besides lavender oil, many other essential oils may also help, such as jasmine, sandalwood, ylang-ylang, clary sage, basil, bergamot, rose and so on.
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Avoid alcohols and recreational drugs
Alcohol or recreational drugs seem to reduce symptoms of depression, but only in the very short term. In the long run, they often make symptoms worse and make depression harder to treat.
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Meditation
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Game
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