Help Me If You Can, I'm Feeling Down
Hello. My name is Alex. I'm twenty-five years old and I've been struggling with anxiety for at least the last thirteen years. I went through all of middle school, high school, my brief semester at college, and another year after that before I was officially tested and was told that I have general anxiety disorder and depression. Besides seeing a clinical therapist and taking anti-anxiety medication, both of which I already do, are there any other ways to combat anxiety and depression?
@SadSongwriter I'm proud of you for reaching out! I don't have depression or anxiety myself (not that I'm aware of) and I'm not an expert, but I have heard of the benefits of meditating. I have tried this for myself and find I prefer guided meditations. There's a mix of them available on youtube that can range from sleep, to helping with anxiety. I hope you give this a try and it helps you, even in the slightest!
@sympatheticBlueberry4034 That sounds like it could be really helpful! I'll try it and let you know how it goes!
@SadSongwriter
I'm so glad to hear you'll give it a try! I love your enthusiasm to try new things, keep it up!
I'd love to know how it goes for you, message me any time :)
@SadSongwriter though I don't have anxiety or depression (at least it's not been diagnosed) I have had many friends who struggle with it. Most have found journaling very helpful, writing about how they feel, how they would like to, or just short stories. Something I've found that helps me though is whenever I feel I can't do something (I feel panicked, it's too hard, I don't have the energy, etc..) I count to ten. Because I believe you can handle anything for ten seconds. And then you count again. And again. Until before you know it, whatever was in your way is gone. This might not help, but I hope whatever help you do need you find. ✨
Hi Alex! I am proud of you to reaching out for help and trying therapy.
As people have mentioned before, meditation and journaling helps. I have been journaling for 6 years now and meditating for a year, and I can say these things have helped me a lot.
Other thing I have heard is that while trying meditation or any other breathing techniques, inhale for less time than exhaling. (For e.g. if you inhale for two seconds, exhale for four) It activities your parasympathetic nervous system and you feel more relaxed.
Also, hot water shower/baths help a lot.
Hope you're doing well. Take care! <3
Hi @SadSongwriter
Everybody is different so I won't tell you what you should do but will share a couple of pointers that helped me.
The first one is that I kept the following mantra in the back of my mind every day, especially with my first contacts with people: Fake it until I make it. When I did, it set my day off and my anxiety was more controllable for the day. That worked for me but as I said earlier, it really comes down to what triggers you and so forth. Mine was very much around social anxiety.
The second one is to browse to the Anxiety Support Resources forum category here. There are a lot of threads with methods that members use to help with their anxiety. There may be some there that you can apply :)
As always, good luck and all of the best :)
It's really brave of you to reach out for help :)
You could check out the guides in 7cups where tehre are lessons on many effective ways to deal with anxiety and depression. I hope it'll help you and you'll feel better soon.