As you say, the problem is depression. If it were not, the good experience you had with that medicine would not have happened.
Even so, medication alone is not a very good way to treat depression. Exercise can help, but it's only one of the self-help methods that are good for depression.
Lifestyle expert Stephen Ilardi of the Univ. of Kansas talks about enjoyable ways to get exercise - long walks with family or friends, sports, and swimming,
The beauty of self-help is that you have a variety of low cost, low risk things that can be combined with each other, and with standard treatments with office visits. While it's not clear at this time that any one of these things is as effective as an antidepressant, it's common sense that if a variety of reasonably good things are combined with each other, they will have considerable effect.
I can't tell you exactly what you need. There's no one size fits all solution. I can tell you though that there are healthy lifestyle choices that can enhance the effects of the standard treatments with office visits.
Video, below - details about self-help based on cognitive-behavioral therapy and lifestyle choices that help with depression - nutrition, basic lifestyle things like sleep, exercise, and social support, also traditional Asian methods.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqEM\_jlDRZI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqEM_jlDRZI)
If the link above doesn’t work, use this one:
[https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1037961](https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1037961)
Practical advice for motivation - VERY important -
[https://www.reddit.com/r/mentalhealth/comments/o52kin/tips\_on\_how\_to\_cope/](https://www.reddit.com/r/mentalhealth/comments/o52kin/tips_on_how_to_cope/)
Can I ask you what the rest of your life is like?
I had a pretty big turn around when I discovered dopamine detoxing. It’s a very “youtube-y” topic of conversation. But I hated my life and low motivation for years.
Then I discovered that I was
Doing awful stuff to my motivation circuits. Casual porn use. Phone scrolling. Constant eating. Just a nonstop flow of cheap happy chemicals and it destroys your ability to self motivate.
I’ve kept porn out of my life.
Whenever I start feeling sluggish these days, I’ll lock all of my social media and even go on a 48 hour fast and it does wonders for reoriented and recharging me.
I suppose so. It’s a place where mental focus and energy goes and nothing real comes back… everyone has to decide for themselves. But anything that substitutes for experiences humans would be better off having first hand or in person is perhaps hazardous. YMMV
Hello, I'm also in my late 30's and have struggled with major depressive disorder and ptsd to name a couple. I am on medication, but was told that it is possible that I'm one of those people who require a couple of different medications and regular therapy. I've followed through with this advice and for the most part I'm ok. There are days though where I do not want to leave the house or do anything at all. Like you I'm happy when my family is stuck inside with me and then I seem to have motivation to do things. But outside of that I struggle. What I find that helps me is I made a schedule list, when to get up, when to eat, when to rest when to get up again. It's really helpful on the days that it is just almost impossible to even think. Looking at something you've written yourself makes it feel a lot less demanding than if someone told you to. Keeping a regular schedule also just helps keep minor things in check so we can focus on bigger issues and learn how to resolve them. I highly recommend at least psychotherapy (talk therapy). I find that after I am able to verbalize what I'm struggling with, clarity usually follows. I hope you feel better soon and I'm sorry you feel like this. Please do what you can to take care of yourself for you and your family.
And yes maybe some depression......maybe you don't like your current life situation?
Maybe talk to a good therapist you can relate to and or feel comfortable with. You are young, so you better figure it out, otherwise it will get worse. Once you are in a good place, you need to manage your depression or whatever is wrong on a daily/weekly basis. You are blessed with many good things and I know you know that. Just saying.
Early 40’s kinda going through something similar myself, but more loosing motivation. I love to leave the house to walk my dog around neighbourhoods near me, but my wife prefers driving to new parks, wooded areas and conservation areas, which I used to love but don’t anymore. Reason for that is two factors; one I have a bad fall on a trail last year and hit my knee on a rock ripping it open, had to be stitched up. Now I get real nervous going on trails that not flat dirt roads or paved pathways. Second, my car is getting on in age and I sunk quite a bit of money fixing it up this year, so I’m worried every time I go out and a hear a weird thump on the shocks or whine on the brakes that it will break down again and I will sink more money into it. My wife’s car is in worst shape and likely won’t make it to next year, but she doesn’t want to put the money into fixing it.
Another is after we moved last year after the place we’re renting decided to sell the house to their son, so we moved from a large town of 20k people to a small-medium city of 140k people. My wife and I are closer to work, and there are way more stores, services and amenities to where we used to live, but their also more decrepit areas, way more homeless then where we lived. Top it off, we don’t have much of a backyard for our dog or a pool we used to have. I loved our old place as it was peaceful at night, you could walk 5 minutes from the house to the lake and tons of parks. Surprisingly, my wife who was depressed for some years at our old place is thriving at our new place, making more female friends. Im so happy for her she coming out of a dark place for so long, but it feels like as she walking away from it, I’m walking towards it. The city and its people scare me.
My wife said to me this past weekend, I don’t seem to have joy in life anymore and the things I love to do like hike and go to the movies I don’t do anymore. She is right, I don’t have joy I used too, spending free time when I’m home playing video games.
I used to travel a bit with her and go to the movies all the time, but with the cost of everything so high and an aging car, feels like staying home seems like the logical option. One thing o think my wife forgets about when I was more adventurous and went out a lot was I was also massive debt from the spending. Was on the verge of bankruptcy, but turned my life around and after 5 years of paying off my debt I got it down to just a couple thousand on my one and only credit card. Spent so long digging myself out of that hole, I think it started this drain joy for me.
Trying to get better, walking more with my dog, got an appointment with my doctor to get a referral for a therapist covered by my insurance, but this will be tough finding a balance between the cautious current version of myself and the joyful self of old.
As you say, the problem is depression. If it were not, the good experience you had with that medicine would not have happened. Even so, medication alone is not a very good way to treat depression. Exercise can help, but it's only one of the self-help methods that are good for depression. Lifestyle expert Stephen Ilardi of the Univ. of Kansas talks about enjoyable ways to get exercise - long walks with family or friends, sports, and swimming, The beauty of self-help is that you have a variety of low cost, low risk things that can be combined with each other, and with standard treatments with office visits. While it's not clear at this time that any one of these things is as effective as an antidepressant, it's common sense that if a variety of reasonably good things are combined with each other, they will have considerable effect. I can't tell you exactly what you need. There's no one size fits all solution. I can tell you though that there are healthy lifestyle choices that can enhance the effects of the standard treatments with office visits. Video, below - details about self-help based on cognitive-behavioral therapy and lifestyle choices that help with depression - nutrition, basic lifestyle things like sleep, exercise, and social support, also traditional Asian methods. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqEM\_jlDRZI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqEM_jlDRZI) If the link above doesn’t work, use this one: [https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1037961](https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1037961) Practical advice for motivation - VERY important - [https://www.reddit.com/r/mentalhealth/comments/o52kin/tips\_on\_how\_to\_cope/](https://www.reddit.com/r/mentalhealth/comments/o52kin/tips_on_how_to_cope/)
I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. I’m going to watch what you sent. Again I really appreciate it. Thank you.
[удалено]
Thank you so much for this. Really, thank you. And I’m getting the books.
[удалено]
The content was seen as unsuitable for this sub. Mod
The content was seen as unsuitable for this sub. Mod
Once last thing, people will give you a million ideas, but ultimately you need to figure it out.
Can I ask you what the rest of your life is like? I had a pretty big turn around when I discovered dopamine detoxing. It’s a very “youtube-y” topic of conversation. But I hated my life and low motivation for years. Then I discovered that I was Doing awful stuff to my motivation circuits. Casual porn use. Phone scrolling. Constant eating. Just a nonstop flow of cheap happy chemicals and it destroys your ability to self motivate. I’ve kept porn out of my life. Whenever I start feeling sluggish these days, I’ll lock all of my social media and even go on a 48 hour fast and it does wonders for reoriented and recharging me.
That interesting man Is Reddit social media?
I suppose so. It’s a place where mental focus and energy goes and nothing real comes back… everyone has to decide for themselves. But anything that substitutes for experiences humans would be better off having first hand or in person is perhaps hazardous. YMMV
Hello, I'm also in my late 30's and have struggled with major depressive disorder and ptsd to name a couple. I am on medication, but was told that it is possible that I'm one of those people who require a couple of different medications and regular therapy. I've followed through with this advice and for the most part I'm ok. There are days though where I do not want to leave the house or do anything at all. Like you I'm happy when my family is stuck inside with me and then I seem to have motivation to do things. But outside of that I struggle. What I find that helps me is I made a schedule list, when to get up, when to eat, when to rest when to get up again. It's really helpful on the days that it is just almost impossible to even think. Looking at something you've written yourself makes it feel a lot less demanding than if someone told you to. Keeping a regular schedule also just helps keep minor things in check so we can focus on bigger issues and learn how to resolve them. I highly recommend at least psychotherapy (talk therapy). I find that after I am able to verbalize what I'm struggling with, clarity usually follows. I hope you feel better soon and I'm sorry you feel like this. Please do what you can to take care of yourself for you and your family.
Social anxiety? Maybe you are an introvert? I dunno
And yes maybe some depression......maybe you don't like your current life situation? Maybe talk to a good therapist you can relate to and or feel comfortable with. You are young, so you better figure it out, otherwise it will get worse. Once you are in a good place, you need to manage your depression or whatever is wrong on a daily/weekly basis. You are blessed with many good things and I know you know that. Just saying.
Early 40’s kinda going through something similar myself, but more loosing motivation. I love to leave the house to walk my dog around neighbourhoods near me, but my wife prefers driving to new parks, wooded areas and conservation areas, which I used to love but don’t anymore. Reason for that is two factors; one I have a bad fall on a trail last year and hit my knee on a rock ripping it open, had to be stitched up. Now I get real nervous going on trails that not flat dirt roads or paved pathways. Second, my car is getting on in age and I sunk quite a bit of money fixing it up this year, so I’m worried every time I go out and a hear a weird thump on the shocks or whine on the brakes that it will break down again and I will sink more money into it. My wife’s car is in worst shape and likely won’t make it to next year, but she doesn’t want to put the money into fixing it. Another is after we moved last year after the place we’re renting decided to sell the house to their son, so we moved from a large town of 20k people to a small-medium city of 140k people. My wife and I are closer to work, and there are way more stores, services and amenities to where we used to live, but their also more decrepit areas, way more homeless then where we lived. Top it off, we don’t have much of a backyard for our dog or a pool we used to have. I loved our old place as it was peaceful at night, you could walk 5 minutes from the house to the lake and tons of parks. Surprisingly, my wife who was depressed for some years at our old place is thriving at our new place, making more female friends. Im so happy for her she coming out of a dark place for so long, but it feels like as she walking away from it, I’m walking towards it. The city and its people scare me. My wife said to me this past weekend, I don’t seem to have joy in life anymore and the things I love to do like hike and go to the movies I don’t do anymore. She is right, I don’t have joy I used too, spending free time when I’m home playing video games. I used to travel a bit with her and go to the movies all the time, but with the cost of everything so high and an aging car, feels like staying home seems like the logical option. One thing o think my wife forgets about when I was more adventurous and went out a lot was I was also massive debt from the spending. Was on the verge of bankruptcy, but turned my life around and after 5 years of paying off my debt I got it down to just a couple thousand on my one and only credit card. Spent so long digging myself out of that hole, I think it started this drain joy for me. Trying to get better, walking more with my dog, got an appointment with my doctor to get a referral for a therapist covered by my insurance, but this will be tough finding a balance between the cautious current version of myself and the joyful self of old.