{"id":98,"date":"2012-04-03T20:06:25","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T20:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hallucinariumtest.wordpress.com\/?page_id=98"},"modified":"2015-02-12T18:04:30","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T18:04:30","slug":"depression","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What is depression?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nearly all day, every day<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Depressed mood<\/li>\n<li>Lack of interest\/pleasure<\/li>\n<li>Weight gain\/loss without dieting<\/li>\n<li>Loss of appetite<\/li>\n<li>Insomnia\/hypersomnia<\/li>\n<li>Very restless\/drop in physical activity<\/li>\n<li>Fatigue\/loss of energy<\/li>\n<li>Feelings of worthlessness\/inappropriate guilt<\/li>\n<li>Difficulty thinking\/concentrating\/making decisions<\/li>\n<li>Recurrent thoughts of death\/suicidal thoughts\/plans\/attempts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How common is depression?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Between 10 and 15% of people will experience at least one episode of major depression in their lifetimes.<\/li>\n<li>Stigma and shame associated with depression is changing and more and more people talk about it.<\/li>\n<li>Important things to keep in mind<\/li>\n<li>People who experience these symptoms do get well<\/li>\n<li>There are many things you can do to help yourself<\/li>\n<li>It is not your fault you have these symptoms<\/li>\n<li>People live with these symptoms, move on in their lives and do the things they want to do.<\/li>\n<li>Medication may be helpful now. Nobody knows the future.<\/li>\n<li>You should not have to put up with side effects from medication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Things to do if you are depressed<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep remembering that there is hope<\/li>\n<li>Take charge and take responsibility<\/li>\n<li>Educate yourself about depression<\/li>\n<li>Ensure you get what you want, need and deserve<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Possible causes of depression and things you can do to alleviate it<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Genetic, biological, environmental<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exercise: develop a routine\/habit<\/li>\n<li>Diet: three balanced meals a day, plenty of water, high in complex carbs, cut sugar, processed carbs, caffeine, alcohol, be aware of possible allergies<\/li>\n<li>Make sure you get enough time outside in natural sunlight (glasses off if you wear them)<\/li>\n<li>Sleep routine: make sure the latest time you go to bed is 10pm<\/li>\n<li>Creative activities: do art\/pottery<\/li>\n<li>Medication<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Focus on negative emotions, negative thoughts<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Notice sensations in your body without any judgement of them<\/li>\n<li>Notice when you start to judge sensations as good or bad<\/li>\n<li>Notice your mood and emotions and chart these*<\/li>\n<li>Notice your negative thoughts and change them*<\/li>\n<li>Write in a journal<\/li>\n<li>Relax in natural settings<\/li>\n<li>Spend time quietly in prayer, contemplation or meditation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lack of meaningful spaces to share your experiences\u00a0&#8211; feeling your family and friends don\u2019t understand you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find a counselor\/support group that does understand you to share with<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Not feeling you have valued functions in family system\/school system\/community system\u00a0&#8211; playing negative functions in the family\/school\/community (e.g. the difficult child\/the failure\/the disorganized one etc.)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find opportunies (perhaps through voluntary work, the church, the school) to function in valued roles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Noticing early warning signals<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charting your emotions, writing journals etc. should help you to start noticing warning signals<\/li>\n<li>Take action early<\/li>\n<li>Exercise, diet, time outdoors, relaxation<\/li>\n<li>Take a positive attitude: Change negative thoughts, wait it out, stay active, recall good times, focus on living one day at a time, make and stick to simple plans and schedules, seek help, focus on spirituality<\/li>\n<li>Seek support, build a strong support network of family, friends, support groups, health care professionals that you can talk to<\/li>\n<li>Do something to feel valued<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>* Charting emotions and moods: make a schedule of the different times during the day, note what has happened, what you are doing and the accompanying emotions &#8211; this will help you to find triggers<\/p>\n<p>Suicidal thoughts<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hopelessness and depression: depression ends, life is worth living<\/li>\n<li>Desperation: no matter what the problems or how hard they seem to deal with, there is always a way out that is better than death<\/li>\n<li>Loneliness: your friends and family do love you, even if it doesn\u2019t feel like it, join a support group<\/li>\n<li>Bad memories: you may need help dealing with bad memories<\/li>\n<li>Psychosis: seek help if you hear voices telling you to do something<\/li>\n<li>Low self-esteem: if you feel a failure, are obsessed with memories of past failures, feelings of inadequacy, take an honest look at yourself, list your accomplishments, people you have ever helped\/befriended\/been kind to. Make it a habit of noticing the good things about yourself!<\/li>\n<li>Guilt: guilt about things you have done may be hard to deal with but you can pick up the pieces<\/li>\n<li>Seasonal triggers: if family times like Christmas trigger a bad response, make sure you spend time with people you enjoy being with<\/li>\n<li>Fatigue: eat foods high in complex carbohydrates, take a break, get exercise<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is depression? Nearly all day, every day Depressed mood Lack of interest\/pleasure Weight gain\/loss without dieting Loss of appetite Insomnia\/hypersomnia Very restless\/drop in physical activity Fatigue\/loss of energy Feelings of worthlessness\/inappropriate guilt Difficulty thinking\/concentrating\/making decisions Recurrent thoughts of death\/suicidal &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/depression\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-98","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/98\/revisions\/392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belindatrain.com\/clinicalpsychologist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}