New skills needed for coping with depression

ggirl

I feel very vulnerable posting this but hope someone might be able to offer helpful advice. I've suffered from depression for over 20 years and used to "cope" with really bad lows by drinking and self harming. I saw a great therapist last year who really helped me deal with a lot of my demons though. Recently I've hit a low for the first timesince therapy and am glad to discover I'm no longer turning to either of those crutches. Instead I contacted my psychiatrist for an emergency appointment and have re started therapy, both of which I know will help long term. However in the short term I'm lost without my old crutches of hurting myself and drinking. I know non self harmers will find it hard to understand but the cutting gave a release and relief at crisis point. And drinking blotted stuff out and at least helped me sleep (while obviously causing way bigger problems). I'm just now in a real low and feel I don't have any coping tools to get me through the really bad points. I'm wondering if anyone else has been through anything like this? Long term I know ill cope, my meds will settle, the counselling will help and I have a great support network. But right now on a sleepless night I feel helpless and lost and scared and alone and lost in the darkness.

mossy1982

If you feel like self harming one option is to draw with a marker on your arms instead of self harming. Another is to tear up cardboard. Activities like that can give a realise and distract from the urge to self harm. Even cleaning the house can be a good distraction.

Mindfullness meditation can be very useful. Have a look at these CD's here: http://www.mindfulnesstapes.com/. Basically the meditations involve exercises like lying down, focusing on your breathing and slowly bringing your attention to each part of your body and allowing it to relax, its very simple but very effective. I have used these tapes for much the same problems and have found them very useful. It has been demonstrated to be effective for those with chronic depression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness-based_cognitive_therapy

Tony Bates is a clinical psychologist at St. James Hospital. He gave a presentation on mindfulness a while back, might be worth having a read of it if you want to learn more: http://www.3ts.ie/downloads/transcripts/dr%20tony%20bates.pdf

Hot baths are also a good way to relax. Lie down on your bed, take deep breathes and listen to instrumental music. Using your senses, taste, smell, touch, sound, can help you relax and bring relief. Anything which brings your attention back to the here and now is helpful.

Try to build some human contact into your day. Just meeting someone for coffee or whatever. Don't let yourself become isolated.

It sounds like you are already on the right track, ie getting professional help. Hang in there and you'll pull through.

santana75

Mind over mood by Padensky and Greenberger OP. Very simple to follow and extremely effective. Seriously I cant imagine you using the tools in this book(again I have to stress, all very simple to follow stuff)and not feeling great. And these are tools you will always use too. Pretty cheap aswell on amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mind-Over-Mood-Change-Changing/dp/0898621283/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265923081&sr=1-1