How do you guys deal with your anxiety and depression?

[michealsmells]

I know there's probably threads upon threads discussing this but... I've decided to create a new one because I'm seeking help for my own and am honestly too much of an emotional mess right now to really bother and look. I suffer from anxiety, depression, and/or some other kind of mood disorder, (for example, I can sometimes get extremely angry and stressed for no reason.) Lately it's been getting worse to the point of where I broke down and finally asked for therapy. Anyone who knows me off of this site knows that I loathe therapy cause my first few experiences with it weren't very helpful. This past appointment went well and I'm going back next month, yay!

In dealing with a panic attack a day and sudden bouts of sadness, I've come up with a few ways of helping myself. Okay, they're not my own ways, but I hope they can help you guys out as well.

• Stimulate the 5 senses to ground yourself to reality
• Listen to music and/or move around.
• Drink water.
• Eat a small snack. Never a meal. Always something small.

The first one on that list my therapist even told me to do. It's really helpful and I actually made a kit for it. Stress balls and toys help a lot as well.

Now this post is too long cause I ramble but, what ways do you have for dealing with whatever disorder you may suffer? Please share, it can help others as well.

 

[Weiland]

Your coping methods are taught in DBT (dialectical behaviour therapy). I used to do that course and it really helped a lot with my anxiety and depression (so much so that DBT kinda cured my depression).

I now suffer from more severe mental illnesses (mostly upbringing and genetics were what caused them), and when I'm having depressive episode, I typically just watch funny shows or good and happy YouTube videos. That usually helps alleviate my pain for the time being. My favourite movies to watch when I'm super depressed include: Kick-Ass 1 & 2, Superbad, American Pie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, any of the Pokemon movies, the Japanese Animal Crossing movie, and any Anthony Perkins movies (although it can be argued that that makes me sadder because he's dead and I miss him a tremendous amount :/ ).
I also love to listen to podcasts from Mumkey Jones (like Is It Kino and such) when I'm really down in the dumps. I also get super pumped and happy whenever AlbertsStuff/Flamingo uploads his Roblox videos (yes, I love Roblox -- pl0x don't judge :c ).
I like to write in my journal when I'm depressed also.
I absolutely love to play Animal Crossing and talk to my best friends (Flo, Hopper) in ACNL and my best friends (Stella, Pudge, Pierce) in the GCN version of the game. I like to play Pokemon, Mario Kart, Splatoon (although it really annoys me when my teammates suck), and Fire Emblem. I also play PS2 when I'm down.
I love to listen to 50s, 60s, 70s, and 90s music, too. It cheers me up immensely hearing John Lennon's voice, Kurt Cobain's voice, Maurice White's voice, and Anthony Perkins's voice.

When I'm anxious, I'll usually do my DBT skills. I'll have a cold shower; I'll touch lukewarm objects; I'll smell incense; and I'll talk to someone (especially my mum). That's not all that I'll do, but those are the main ones.

Yeah, I have a lot of coping mechanisms. Sometimes they don't work, sometimes they do. It just depends on how bad I am.

 

[visibleghost]

other dbt strategies r to validate urself and ur feelings, reflect upon your feelings and thoughts, learning to see the difference between feeling n thought (and in my therapy primary and secondary feelings which r feelings about feelings like ”im wmbarrassed about being angry”), and to use distractions in a good way so iit doesnt turn into avoidance. idk google dbt it should explain things better than i can but dbt is used a lot for mood disorders

anyway i dont deal w my mental health issues in any ways that make me fine or anything, i just get theough everything. i have a million unhealthy coping mechanisms but some of my good or ok ones are showering, distractions, writing it down to put it into words, listening to music, lying in my dark room waiting for death, going for a walk, and thinking everythign through lol. when i feel myself getting really really bad i remove myself from the situstion and try to calm myself down, fail, and then just Die haha i love mental illness :’)

 

[Buttonsy]

I'm really into affirmations, like trying to come up with little sayings I can tell myself to keep myself calm. Like if I'm anxious about a social situation where I'm worried someone could judge me, I might just say "how others feel about me is not a reflection of who I am and I am not responsible for other people misconstruing my words" or something. Just little phrases I can repeat a few times.

I also just try to look to the future when I'm stuck in a bad moment, in whatever positive ways I can, even if it's just "I'm having pizza for dinner tonight" or "I can play video games later".

I also find gum chewing to be therapeutic, and in general stimming (which kinda ties into your grounding yourself with the 5 senses thing).

 

[Antonio]

I don't do anything. I do take a lot medicine for my depression, suicidal behavior, and anxiety so y'all can consider me heavily medicated. That being said, therapy suggested coping skills never helped me. Counting down to ten, drinking water, or basically distracting yourself from the situation was never helpful, at least for me. Now, I'm not saying they ain't helpful, it just depends on who you are. I've developed this "Go with the flow attitude" and just learn to ignore the things (Not hold it in but ignore) that would seem to affect me and after years of doing it, those things just don't seem like such a big problem. Of course, this doesn't include phobias and other things that make me feel depressed.

I'm an extremely positive/optimistic/upbeat/caring/funny person despite being depressed (state of general unhappiness) all the time. I've been at my best since late 2014 (despite a few breakdowns) and I'm thankful for my medicine.

 

[Rizies]

Im in two different antidepressants and an anti anxiety medication. They work well for me.

I also focus on exercise and eating healthy. I do truly believe that your physical health impacts your mental health. Right now I consistently do weight lifting 3x a week. I am hoping / working up to doing 2 HIIT sessions a week and two days of LISS.

A huge motivator for me is to lose the inches ive gained from going on and off my medication. I use to be so fit, I want to be able to feel that kind of energy again

 

[idiotdoomspiral]

listen to music, play games, take quetiapine, talk to my bf, seek some sort of enlightenment for stuff, having some sort of goal(s)

 

[tifachu]

i'm not really in a completely well or 100% myself state right now so what i do probably isn't that "great" or helpful but for now they are

-taking a shower (sometimes i don't for about a week bc of my depression.)
-doing my makeup and putting clean clothes on make me feel confident and less dirty & depressed
even if i'm not going outside, i myself look presentable if i'm about to do a phone call bc i get so phone anxious and feel insecure otherwise
-talking to my friends make me happy and comforting them if they're sad
-alone time doing something i enjoy
-hugging a stuffed animal
-always have a glass of water near by
-wash my face or hands (i hate feeling dirty but somehow i feel like always am)
-petting & feeding my cat :,)
-forcing myself to do chores so i can feel useful
-learning to accept that i need my meds & that they are helping me. (im on two antidepressants, one anti-anxiety, and BC for debilitating pain/crazy hormones/PMDD)

also i need to go back to therapy
lol

 

[AndroGhostX]

I think a key thing to do is to pinpoint what is causing those feelings and figuring out ways to deal with them permanently or temporarily, more significantly the former. I was suffering from a really bad depression for a couple of months no end. After I got over it, (on my own actually by dealing with my feelings and time heals wounds) for the next few days I was feeling really stressed. I think that built up depression caused my brain to become stressed because it didn't know how to react to not being stressed/it not knowing that there was an actual threat going on to my mental state and physical state. This stress ended on it's own so I think my brain just needed to heal and recover on it's own. I'm perfectly fine now.

But for you, as you are different than I, I would do what I said in my first sentence. If not possible, do things that keep you distracted at least. Better yourself and your future, just keeping moving forward.

 

[moonford]

My depression has ruined my life, the amount of crap that has happened to me and my family over the years would ruin any person. I'm young and I have these continuous thoughts about how people have wronged me or my loved ones, I'm young and I can't say that I haven't thought about jumping off a balcony, overdosing or drowning myself for years. It isn't the life I want to live and I doubt any issues will be resolved any time soon.

I have back pains, a messed up foot because of an accident a while back and chest pains often; I don't go a day without being physically in pain.

I cover up what I'm really like, I play this character because I don't want people to see what I'm really like online or in reality; I separate the two but I still play a character. Sure, there may be some truths in my fa?ade but I'm most certainly lying about myself most of the time despite being a blunt person who in some instances can have complete apathy or a fair amount of empathy towards people. I blame my apathy on my hardships over the years and I think I'm right in doing that.

I lived with no heating or hot water for 10 years of my youth because my mother, like me, suffers from the same issues; it takes a toll on a person especially when they are raising a child who is socially inept because of his lack of permanent relationships besides his Mother. Not being able to have a job because of being in mental and physical agony is hard.


Having vivid dreams of people close to you harming you takes a toll, having a run in with social workers because of those dreams does as well and being accused of having ADHD also does too. Having people constantly tell you "you're weird" or "you have special needs" (that one was from my cousin) never sits well with anyone because you begin to question yourself which I have done for a while. I don't have any mental conditions like those, I'm normal but awkward and that's all.

My father abandoned me when I was 4/5 so I don't remember him and my mum's first boyfriend (who came back into our lives when I was 10) was dumped when I was around 6 (I knew him since I was born + 2 more years when we reunited) and then again when I was 12. I found out in that same year a lot about my grandfather and our family kicked him out of our lives, he stayed with my mother and I for 3 months before he kidnapped me (he made me walk around 4 miles to a shop because he was waiting for my mum's ex who he was all buddy-buddy with ); we kicked him out again and we seen him again 2 years later on Christmas day because my mother's current boyfriend decided my grandfather should call around...We didn't get rid off him until 2 days later and then something disgusting happened so we kicked him out of our lives again. I was never fooled by him though, he was an emotionally manipulative man who always took advantage of my mum (because she was his "favourite daughter") when he felt like worming his way back in, my mum later revealed something to me that made me lose all my respect for him which was slipping anyway and my respect for mum crumbled as well. I'm talking about him in past tense despite him not being dead, but he's dead to me.

I've never had a real male role model in my life, all of these men were confident and had great communication skills, it's a shame that they were all cruel and didn't stick around long enough to help me be better at communicating. It would be great to be able to speak about my mental health without struggling, or just talking in general.

I have almost died 3 times as well, 5 if you include my birth; actually I believe I did die briefly when I was born.

There is so much more that I could talk about but I feel as though I'm being personal enough as it is, two recent events in particular have made me feel physically ill and I think about both of them everyday now.


How do I cope with this? I don't, it eats away at me all the time but I can distract myself for small portions of time.

By:

- Studying animals
- Writing
- Reading
- Being with friends
- Studying my hobbies
- Watching films
- Walking and embracing nature
- Singing
- Dancing

I don't think anyone knows the extent of my issues, not even I. I do know that it will be the death of me because there is only so much a person can take; even a strong person like myself and I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything but I think me being able to stick this all out at such a young age really comes to show how strong I am. I feel like I'm misjudged and to be frank I truly don't care unless I think you matter.

I really hope things get better, I want success, I want kids, I want a giant house, I want my family to be happy, I want to provide, I want a lifelong partner, I want to be stable and I will work hard for those things.

Don't know if I will regret posting this despite being vague when I could talk in much more detail but here you go.

- - - Post Merge - - -

Yesterday or the day before yesterday I had a conversation with another TBT member on discord named Chele and I got really teary-eyed (I never cry or get teary because I just can't anymore) because of how they took an interest in me and continuously complimented me which I don't belief I deserved at all.

There are some amazing people out there and she is definitely one of them, so I thank her so much for making me feel better on a day which was really bad.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I forgot to mention that being shunned for having a frown everyday because of an uncontrollable mental illness is not great, I force a smile or neutral face everyday so people will leave me alone about it.


Being in a school were you are known for supposedly hating everyone and never laughing is not great either at least people think I'm funny.

 

[N e s s]

I've never had problems with depression (I felt it a little bit in 2016 from school) but I've heard that jogging is supposed to release endorphins that help with depression. It's a unique therapy, I've heard that it really helps people. I would look into it if I were you, start by jogging around your block. I often jog anyway as a way to keep myself in shape.

- - - Post Merge - - -

One more thing...I don't suggest running (no pun intended) from any issues you have. Face them head on, but just know that things will get better. Keep going to therapy like you said, and try to find something that you hold a passionate interest in. One of my hobbies is photography and I've progressively gotten better and better with each year I've been invested in it. I dunno, but I definitely recommend that you do something active.

 

[AndroGhostX]

My depression has ruined my life, the amount of crap that has happened to me and my family over the years would ruin any person. I'm young and I have these continuous thoughts about how people have wronged me or my loved ones, I'm young and I can't say that I haven't thought about jumping off a balcony, overdosing or drowning myself for years. It isn't the life I want to live and I doubt any issues will be resolved any time soon.

I have back pains, a messed up foot because of an accident a while back and chest pains often; I don't go a day without being physically in pain.

I cover up what I'm really like, I play this character because I don't want people to see what I'm really like online or in reality; I separate the two but I still play a character. Sure, there may be some truths in my fa?ade but I'm most certainly lying about myself most of the time despite being a blunt person who in some instances can have complete apathy or a fair amount of empathy towards people. I blame my apathy on my hardships over the years and I think I'm right in doing that.

I lived with no heating or hot water for 10 years of my youth because my mother, like me, suffers from the same issues; it takes a toll on a person especially when they are raising a child who is socially inept because of his lack of permanent relationships besides his Mother. Not being able to have a job because of being in mental and physical agony is hard.


Having vivid dreams of people close to you harming you takes a toll, having a run in with social workers because of those dreams does as well and being accused of having ADHD also does too. Having people constantly tell you "you're weird" or "you have special needs" (that one was from my cousin) never sits well with anyone because you begin to question yourself which I have done for a while. I don't have any mental conditions like those, I'm normal but awkward and that's all.

My father abandoned me when I was 4/5 so I don't remember him and my mum's first boyfriend (who came back into our lives when I was 10) was dumped when I was around 6 (I knew him since I was born + 2 more years when we reunited) and then again when I was 12. I found out in that same year a lot about my grandfather and our family kicked him out of our lives, he stayed with my mother and I for 3 months before he kidnapped me (he made me walk around 4 miles to a shop because he was waiting for my mum's ex who he was all buddy-buddy with ); we kicked him out again and we seen him again 2 years later on Christmas day because my mother's current boyfriend decided my grandfather should call around...We didn't get rid off him until 2 days later and then something disgusting happened so we kicked him out of our lives again. I was never fooled by him though, he was an emotionally manipulative man who always took advantage of my mum (because she was his "favourite daughter") when he felt like worming his way back in, my mum later revealed something to me that made me lose all my respect for him which was slipping anyway and my respect for mum crumbled as well. I'm talking about him in past tense despite him not being dead, but he's dead to me.

I've never had a real male role model in my life, all of these men were confident and had great communication skills, it's a shame that they were all cruel and didn't stick around long enough to help me be better at communicating. It would be great to be able to speak about my mental health without struggling, or just talking in general.

I have almost died 3 times as well, 5 if you include my birth; actually I believe I did die briefly when I was born.

There is so much more that I could talk about but I feel as though I'm being personal enough as it is, two recent events in particular have made me feel physically ill and I think about both of them everyday now.


How do I cope with this? I don't, it eats away at me all the time but I can distract myself for small portions of time.

By:

- Studying animals
- Writing
- Reading
- Being with friends
- Studying my hobbies
- Watching films
- Walking and embracing nature
- Singing
- Dancing

I don't think anyone knows the extent of my issues, not even I. I do know that it will be the death of me because there is only so much a person can take; even a strong person like myself and I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything but I think me being able to stick this all out at such a young age really comes to show how strong I am. I feel like I'm misjudged and to be frank I truly don't care unless I think you matter.

I really hope things get better, I want success, I want kids, I want a giant house, I want my family to be happy, I want to provide, I want a lifelong partner, I want to be stable and I will work hard for those things.

Don't know if I will regret posting this despite being vague when I could talk in much more detail but here you go.

- - - Post Merge - - -

Yesterday or the day before yesterday I had a conversation with another TBT member on discord named Chele and I got really teary-eyed (I never cry or get teary because I just can't anymore) because of how they took an interest in me and continuously complimented me which I don't belief I deserved at all.

There are some amazing people out there and she is definitely one of them, so I thank her so much for making me feel better on a day which was really bad.

- - - Post Merge - - -

I forgot to mention that being shunned for having a frown everyday because of an uncontrollable mental illness is not great, I force a smile or neutral face everyday so people will leave me alone about it.


Being in a school were you are known for supposedly hating everyone and never laughing is not great either at least people think I'm funny.

*hugs*

- - - Post Merge - - -

I've never had problems with depression (I felt it a little bit in 2016 from school) but I've heard that jogging is supposed to release endorphins that help with depression. It's a unique therapy, I've heard that it really helps people. I would look into it if I were you, start by jogging around your block. I often jog anyway as a way to keep myself in shape.

- - - Post Merge - - -

One more thing...I don't suggest running (no pun intended) from any issues you have. Face them head on, but just know that things will get better. Keep going to therapy like you said, and try to find something that you hold a passionate interest in. One of my hobbies is photography and I've progressively gotten better and better with each year I've been invested in it. I dunno, but I definitely recommend that you do something active.

I agree! Excersize can help too. I've never tried it but I know people who have. Also I love photography and it's one of the only things that truly makes me happy! I've lost interest in things I used to find pleasure in.

 

[Metal Scorpion]

I'm on medication for anxiety. While it does help, I do have mood swings that happen during the late evening hours from time to time.

 

[Greys0n]

anime and books are my escape

 

[pixiets]

i just sit in my room and wait for it to go away lmao

 

[Assas1n]

anme and books are my cure