The process of recovery from depression can be quite long. There are a number
of treatments existing for depression but the noticeable effect from these
treatments will take time. A number of weeks , sometimes months might pass on
between the time the patient visits a health care provider regarding depression
and the time when the person’s mood starts to elevate.
While there can be some improvement seen after the person starts to use
antidepressants, it can take minimum of three weeks to show impact on mood.
There is also chance that the initial medication or the combination of medicines
might not work for you. In such a case, the patient has to start the medication
all over again.
When depression affects a person, it is not the depressed person who is alone
affected. It impacts everyone around the person like family members, co-workers
and friends. The people around the person affected by depression should help the
person suffering from depression to cope with the problem. But it is easier said
than done. It is important that the person suffering from depression gets to
know the facts about depression, its causes and treatments. It is good to get
other people involved as well for this task. Meanwhile, while there are things
that a person can do, there are things that one can avoid to keep oneself away
from depression.
According to psychologists, the patient himself is responsible for the problem
to some extent but not fully responsible basing on the state of mind. The
psychologists opine that the patient has to develop an attitude that he /she is
not responsible for getting depressed but the responsibility of the person
should be to make some reasonable efforts towards getting better.
When one is in deep depression, the person should try to do something apart from
being active. The mood will be very much of not doing anything, but the person
should make an effort to be active. The person should question himself/herself
as to how much he/she is capable of doing the task. It is advisable for the
person, not to overreach while setting goal for the task. The person can set the
task to certain percentage of his goal.
According to psychiatrists, there is a tendency to take up highly ambitious
goals immediately in most of the people suffering from depression. It is
advisable to start working with small and definitive goals for easier
accomplishment than adopting larger tasks. It is advisable to break bigger tasks
into smaller ones and accomplish them.
When the person suffering from depression, withdraws from social arena, he/she
should take smaller steps towards getting back to normalcy. The person may start
with meeting few people like meeting friends for a coffee. It also helps when
the depressed person shares problems with people close to him/her. A daily
communication with people close to the depressed patient will prove helpful. The
people who listen to the patient should listen only but should not give harsh
advice so as to irritate the patient. An association with support groups also
helps depressed patients.
The patients suffering from depression should look to activities that they were
once interested in but not taking up anymore. It is advisable to start working
in smaller steps to start getting back to them. The patient cannot expect to
enjoy the work in the beginning. Though the motivation for doing the exercise
will be low, when the person is feeling well, he/she should try working on it
somehow. It is observed in some studies that aerobic exercise improves the moods
of depressed people. Aerobic exercise with duration of 30 minutes having
moderate level of intensity for a minimum of five days is likely to bring
improvements in patients suffering from depression. People with depressive
symptoms should start exercise slowly. That is they can start with a 15-minute
brisk walk and then go with 20-minutes brisk walk. The patients should continue
their efforts even if they don’t feel well in the aftermath of the exercise.
There should not be high expectations to see immediate recovery.
There will be different negative thoughts about oneself and one’s life when a
person is suffering from depression. An effort should be made to go back to
positive and clear thinking. It is important that the person thinks about
himself/herself in a fair and realistic way. It might seem that the person is
not stupid and there is no hope yet. The person suffering from depression can
encourage the return of accurate thinking by asking oneself various questions at
different points.
Depression can cause people to go for drinking alcohol and there can be
depression due to alcohol abuse. So people should not take to excessive drinking
of alcohol when depressed, as drowning of sorrow by drinking alcohol will not
improve situation later. It is also advisable for the depressed patient not to
make major life changes rashly while the person is still under depression due to
various reasons unless the changes are really required. The person suffering
from depression has to remember that he/she is not in a position to take
decision or make judgement. It is important to see that these situations can be
seen more clearly. One has to take care that one is not reacting to symptoms
while in depression.