There are pills, pills, and more pills designed to help people with their depression. I’ve been on more anti-depressants than I care to remember. Another form of treating depression is seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist. I was seeing a psychologist for a number of years and one of the ways she was able to help me was by doing light hypnotism. I wasn’t completely under the control of hypnotism but I was in a very relaxed state of being.

She would guide me back through the years by asking me to remember specific events in each year. If I got stuck on a particular year, or if a traumatic experience popped up she would walk me through the memory and we would try and figure out what happened and what I was holding on to. I remember really enjoying laying on the couch in a relaxed state and listening to my breath as we talked about what I could do to let go of any negative emotions that surrounded the unhappy experiences that I had gone through in the past. I really think sitting down with someone helps you to release pent up emotions that you have been carrying around for so long.

Exercising has been a lifesaver for me in more ways than one. Of course, exercising helps you lose weight, but for me it has helped me manage the depression that I sometimes experience. You don’t need to do much. For example, when I’m feeling depressed it’s difficult to think about getting up and going to the gym for a two hour workout. So, instead I’ll put my walking shoes on and head over to a local high school and start walking around the track. I like to take a couple of pieces of fruit and a water bottle so I don’t bonk out after only one lap. Before I know it, I’ve walked a mile and I’m feeling great.

Sweating rids your body of unwanted toxins and it mentally makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something. If you don’t have a place close to you to go and walk around a track, just start walking down the street and circle your block a few times. If you have a little more energy one day, try riding a bike, or playing racquetball. There are so many things you can do besides going to a gym.

Have you noticed a decreased interest or pleasure in doing things that you loved doing in the past? What about significant changes in your weight when you haven’t tried to gain or lose any? Do you have a hard time sleeping? Or if you’re like me, maybe you sleep too much. Are you fatigued or suffer from a loss of energy? Do you have thoughts of death or suicide? These are all symptoms of depression.

When you start feeling sad or empty inside and it goes on for longer than a few days, you may want to look into whether or not you are depressed. We all have those days where nothing seems to go right, that everything is falling down around us. That’s normal and shouldn’t cause too much fear. But, if these feeling are going on day after day, it’s time to get some help. There is a lot of information out there about depression. My first suggestion is to find a good therapist.

Have you ever taken Prozac? It seems like everytime I turn around I’m being told that Prozac has saved yet another person from a deep depression. I took Prozac 15 years ago when I first started having depression episodes. It definitely worked in the beginning. After a year though, 20 milligrams just wasn’t enough. So my doctor prescribed 40 milligrams. That helped for about six months and then it stopped working.

So the dose went up to 60 milligrams. Again, that worked for awhile and then it ceased. I don’t know if that is common, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were. I think our bodies have a tendency to get used to a drug and then it stops working and we need something else. I switched to a different anti-depressant and was able to find relief from my depression for a few years. Eventually I went off all anti-depressants and am feeling great. I guess sometimes we just need to look at what might be causing our depression.

The next time you are feeling a little down I suggest taking a vitamin B supplement. I’ve found that it gives you energy and makes you feel a little less depressed. Some people take melatonin to aid in depression. If you don’t catch the depression quickly it is only going to get worse. One of the things I do when I’m feeling depressed is turn on some uplifting music and make myself get out of bed. When you sit around and don’t do anything your mood tends to get worse.

Sometimes we need to force ourselves to do things we don’t want to do. That may mean just taking a shower, or making something to eat. I find that when I get depressed I eat more cold cereal. With that in mind, I now buy cereal from the store that contains the most vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. So before you turn to anti-depressants, try something like a vitamin B supplement and if there is anyway you can move your body, you’ll definitely begin to feel better.

It seems like depression is running rampant in the United States. Everyone is on some kind of anti-depressant or another. I know I’ve personally struggled with depression for a good portion of my life. I was taking three and four different anti-depressants at a time. Then one day I woke up and realized that my depression was a direct result of me not living my truth. What do I mean by that? Well, I was in a relationship that wasn’t working. Instead of moving on, I stayed and was depressed. I was drinking alcohol on a daily basis. HELLO!! Alcohol is a depressant!

What was I thinking? I quit drinking and left that relationship. I am so much happier now! You might be feeling depressed because you are in a job you hate. Maybe everything is crashing down around you. Whatever the reason, you might want to look at going to see a therapist. I’ve spent many an hour talking to a therapist. It actually helped me quite a bit, so I would recommend this approach in dealing with those blues.