When you struggle with severe depression, it can feel like you are always walking around with a heavy weight on your shoulders. Life can be incredibly difficult with this mental health disorder, and it is easy to begin to feel hopeless when you suffer from depression. However, there are ways that you can start managing your depression and get the help you need to live better with depression. Get to know some of those management steps that you can take so you can start to feel better as soon as possible.
Look Into Local Support Groups
Mental health support groups are a great way to help manage your depression and to make you feel less alone in your struggles. When you go to group treatment, you will be able to meet other people with mental health disorders that are having similar issues.
Some of these people may share various coping strategies and methods with the group that can help you to better understand and handle your depression. But having a place to go where you can be understood and feel like you fit in can be enough of a reason to go to group in and of itself.
Try Group Therapy
Group therapy treatment is like support groups in that you will be surrounded by other people who struggle with mental health issues like you do. It is different, though, in that it is more structured and geared toward developing skills and coping strategies to help you deal with your mental illness.
Two common types of group therapy are cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Both of these are skill-building therapeutic techniques. One focuses primarily on controlling and managing thoughts to help control behaviors and emotions affected by those thoughts (CBT). DBT focuses on emotion management as well as some thought management as well.
Consider Individual Therapy
Another way that you can help yourself cope with your depression is to go to individual therapy. Seeing a therapist one-on-one has many benefits when you have depression. The therapist can help you to explore some of the feelings and past/current issues that may be playing into your depression. If you are able to isolate causes of depression, you can begin to address these causes and come up with coping strategies for dealing with those issues (or in some cases, solutions to those issues).
In individual therapy, you are able to dive in deep to your personal history and the troubles you have dealt with in your life. If you also go to group therapy, individual therapy is a good place to go over group therapy homework and the unique ways in which you can apply skills and strategies to your own circumstances and life. You can go more in-depth than there may be time for in your group sessions.
Now that you know some of the steps you can take to manage your depression, you can give these options a try as soon as possible.
Share19 June 2019
When I initially started the therapy process about 10 years ago, I didn't take the time to scout out the right counselor. Instead, I just went to the first counselor that my doctor recommended, and the experience was less than enjoyable. I realized that I might need to do a little research to find the right counselor for me, so I took the time to carefully evaluate my needs and research different clinics in my area. I was able to find an amazing counselor who really seemed to have it under control, and it was incredibly beneficial to see the difference that it made. This blog is all about finding the right counselor.
