Five (5) Easy Ways To Manage Depression During A Pandemic (Coronavirus, COVID-19)
Experiencing depression is difficult at any time, but during a pandemic can add limitations that can make the process more even more difficult. While social distancing can help with limiting the spread of the Coronavirus, it can also reduce access to some of the resources that many people use to help them manage their depressive symptoms. While we continue to work as a world community to end COVID-19, there are some steps that people can take to help manage or even prevent the onset of their depressive symptoms. Managing depression is an ongoing process. Since added stress of a pandemic such ass COVID-19 can impact depressive symptoms and access to resources, it is important to employ tools to be more vigilant in utilizing the tools available to manage depression while working to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
Five (5) Tips To Help Keep Depression (Other Mental Illness Too) Symptoms Managed
Managing depression is a life long struggle for many. Even when symptoms are not active people who suffer from chronic depression often live with the possibility of symptoms returning. Even is you are not able to complete rid your life of depression, there are some steps that you can take to help manage the symptoms and reduce the chances of a crisis.
Five (5) Resources To Get Free Therapy
Many people with mental health issues don’t get the help they need because of finances. There are many resources that can help people get free or affordable therapy to address many issues. Many of these resources are underutilized because people are not aware of them. In order to manage any mental health condition, it is important that proper and consistent treat is available. By utilizing the resources available to them people can address issues when they are first presented, which can be the difference between someone experiencing / managing depression and having suicidal thoughts or event attempting suicide.
Five (5) Things To Do If You Believe Someone’s Considering Suicide
After a suicide, people often express regret that something was not done to help the person. It does not always take a professional to prevent suicide. It is important that everyone understand and remember that they can be the one to make a difference. If you believe someone is contemplating suicide, being there and making them feel that they are not alone and that they have your support in continuing to live and dealing with their issues goes a long way. Simple acts such as human compassion and helping someone take the steps to get the help they need to address any mental health issues they are facing g a long way. Many people with chronic mental illness struggle to follow through with their treatment at times, people around them came make a great difference by being there and helping them stay on track.
Five (5) Ways You Can Prevent Suicide
You can prevent a suicide. People resort to suicide when they reach the end of their rope and don’t see another way out. They have lost hope and don’t know where they can turn. By taking the time to be there and be kind each one of us could be the one who gives that person a glimmer of hope. Remember, the smallest speckle of light can brighten room. Every person can do something to help eliminate mental health stigma. Don’t wait until you know someone is having suicidal thoughts to care- Be the hope they need every day. We can all do something to make it easier for people to get help for mental illness just by using our voices. Stand up. Speak up. Do not allow people to demonize & criminalize mental illness. Help someone who is dealing with stress before they reach crisis point. Most importantly, take care and safeguard your own mental health.
If needed you can reach Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255)
Five (5) Steps To Take If You Have Suicidal Thoughts
Having suicidal thoughts? You’re not alone. Every day more than 120 people die by suicide in the US. This does not take into account those who had suicidal thoughts but did not act on them. As overwhelming as those thoughts can be, they can be overcome. It is important to remember that you do not have to do it alone. There are resources available both nationally and locally to help people overcome suicidal thought. Getting help to address any mental health issue or other stress that is critical to prevent a crisis situation and help
Therapist Got What??? My #StompOutStigma Moment
We know depression affects 10% of the US population every year, but we still get a bit confused about what that looks like, who it affects and how you know.
Five (5) Stress Management Tips #MHAM
Stress management is necessary for maintaining one’s quality of life, but because “stress” is not always a visible, tangible or calculable item that can be pointed to on an imaging screen or shown on a lab result sheet, it is often over looked. Many people talk about stress but don’t actively engage in stress management. What people often neglect is the fact that failing to effectively manage stress can lead to some of the physical ailments that they will be able to see, measure and test for, such as ulcers and high blood pressure. It is also true that while “stress” is often talked about methods of managing it are not as often addressed as stress is often considered and accepted as “a part of life”. While that may be true, there are some things that can be done to reduce and manage stress, including the following:
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Exercise and Eat Well
Exercising is a great way to release tension. You can exercise to relax before things get out to hand, or if you are already feeling overwhelmed, exercising can help you release some of that pressure and give you an endorphin boost to help you get to the next step. Eating well is just as important as it provides your body with the necessary fuel to get through all that you are putting it through. It is not enough to eat to fill your stomach. Eating is about more than hunger prevention- it is the mechanism through which you support your body. Your car would stay up just fine perched up on four bricks, but I’m sure you prefer to have sitting on four tires when you park it, that way it is ready to go when you set off to your next destination. The same should apply to your body. Feed it right consistently so that it is ready to go handle your next challenge.
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Plan and Time Management
One of the greatest benefits of planning is that it allows you to in some way foresee what is to come. That gives you the opportunity to anticipate roadblocks and hiccups and put resources in place to address them. Planning helps you to manage your time more effectively and provide the opportunity to see and choose how you are investing your time.
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Delegate and Get Help
Make use of the resources available to you. There are others around who can and will take on some of the load and at time may do so even more efficiently. Take the opportunity to enlist them. When you delegate, you remove things from your plate allowing you time to focus on the things that you really do have to do. Having more to do than you have time for is another frequent source of stress. The pressure experience in trying to get it all done and feeling pressed for time can be easily managed by allow others to do their part. Many people feel the need to do it all so that it is done “their way” but you must also remember that your way is not necessarily the only way. There is a great need to make the shift from focusing on your way and to allowing simply a correct way to provide. The goal should be to have things done right, and that means accepting that there may be more than one way (your way) of doing something. Give others the opportunity to do something their way and get it right too.
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Prioritize and Pick Your Battles
Prioritize. Not just the things that you have to do but even more importantly, the things that you give your attention to. Be stingy with your mental space and emotions. Don’t just let anything and anyone in. This is one of the places that people waste most, by giving their time, attention and emotion to things that really do not matter. If a situation does not take away from you or would not possibly bring you a benefit, it may not be necessary for you to engage. The stress brought on by things that would not have affected our lives if we chose not to engage is completely avoidable. In life you will have more than your fair share of unavoidable stress, and it is up to you to keep your stress tank from over-flowing by not allowing the avoidable stresses to linger in.
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Speak Up and Talk To Someone
When a situation directly (or even indirectly but actually) affects your life, it is important to speak up and do so in a timely manner. Not speaking up doe s not make the issue go away. It simply gives it time to simmer inside you.
Managing stress effectively should create an opportunity for you to have more time to dedicate to life affirming activities. It does not matter what it is that you are doing, it simply matters that you are doing something. Engage in activities that remind you of how great life is. Take time to create and savor beautiful moments. It does not matter how much you do in your everyday life if you are not enjoying your life. Managing stress effectively helps you create opportunities to enjoy your life, so make stress management a priority.
#MHAM
Stop Giving Your Jerky Friend A Pass: Five (5) Things That Are Not A Mental Illness
In recent years, many people have adopted, accepted or acquiesced to the use of various mental illnesses to define or describe unacceptable behaviors. It’s fine that you don’t want to call your friend a jerk, but why should people with mental illness bear the burden of being associated with them.
Certain illnesses such as bipolar disorder, mental retardation have been so unfairly used in place of words like stupid, idiot. People describe behaviors as psychotic instead of rude, erratic, aggressive or plain old jerky. We don’t associate negative behaviors with physical ailments, and the same should apply to mental ailments. You don’t say someone is a heart attack when they say something ridiculous, so why would anyone think it’s acceptable to say that they are mentally retarded. If you won’t say your jerky friend is a tumor, why would be suitable to say freely that he’s bipolar.
People who suffer from mental illnesses have enough of their own troubles to deal with. They don’t to be lumped in with the rude, the ignorant or the uncaring jerks of the world. So next time you need to define a behavior, please use your words correctly. Call someone a stupid idiot or a rude jerk if they deserve it, but don’t offend people with mental illnesses by putting them in the same category.
MHAM 3- Depression- How You Can Help
Depression is a very difficult experience. Imagine feeling your world imploding around you. It hurts. It bothers you. You feel like an outsider in your own life. You want to fix it, but the task looks unattainable and you don’t have the energy to take it on.
When you’re around people who are depressed it can be depressing. Watching someone you care about becoming more and more disconnected. You want to help but it almost seems that they are rejecting your efforts. It feels like whatever you do is just not enough. You wish they would just snap out of it so you can get back the person you love.
When someone is dealing with depression, it’s bigger then “just snapping out of it”. It may seem like an easy enough task, but it really is not. While it would be much easier to just leave them alone and let them figure it out, Telling someone to snap out of it will probably make them feel worse. Instead:
Continue to make efforts to engage them in life affirming activities- these are the things that remind them that life is good and why they want to participate in it. They may not seem interested in doing the fun things, but they need it.
Help them make plans to address the issue that contributed to the onset of depression
Engage them in planning for the future- This gives them a reason to want to stick around and be part of life.
Provide opportunities for them to be see that they are valuable- engage them in helping
Reintroduce them to the things they once enjoyed
Keep them connected to important people in their lives- While the tendency in depression is to isolate others- and the average person may not want to be around a depressed person fearing their mood will bring them down too, having people around to work on bringing them out of the funk is very important.
Be patient- depression may not get resolved right away, so be patient and stay determined to be that help
Seek professional- Sometimes we need the help of a professional and that is why they exist. Do the research and find a qualified professional who can provide the needed help. When you do begin to see a professional, remember that the work you do goes beyond the office walls and that the skills you are learning need to be applied out in your life in order for them to truly be beneficial.
Remember- Help is always available… You just have to be willing to seek it out.
I’m just saying though…
Dream Big… Live Bigger…
DrJudiC
MHAM 2- Depression- What You Should Know
When it comes to depression the first thing I want people to know is that it is not just feeling a little blue for a day. Depression is serious condition that the CDC reports affects 10% of adults in the US every year and costs American employers 16 Billion dollars every year in lost work production.
The word depression gets thrown around when a person appears a little sad or others don’t know how to interpret the behaviors they see. Depression is actually a combination of a number of symptoms which for the most part lasted at least 2 weeks. There are two symptoms that are common in depression diagnoses. For a person to be diagnosed with depression they must either have
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Little interest or pleasure in doing things- including the things that they have or generally enjoyed participating in
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Feeling down, depressed mood or feelings of hopelessness.
