Lives worth living.

On February 03 2008 08:54 nA.Inky wrote:
Your post is very vague, so I can only offer very general advise, and a lot of it - or all of it - may not apply to you at all. If you want to be more specific, perhaps I or someone else can offer you better help. Happy to talk with you privately or here. Anyway...

I posted some things that I think may be helpful in "Life is Fair?" blog, ideas that center around coping with emotional pain.

For depression, I recommend:

1) Fish oil and/or flax seed daily - both contain essential fats that help your brain (which is made up mostly of fat), and, consequently, your mood. I do this and it has helped my past depressions immensely. Flax seeds must be grinded up into powder or else chewed VERY thoroughly.

2) Regular exercise - Helps mood and general health. Endorphins definitely elevate the mood. Improves self esteem. I recommend cycling, as it takes care of exercise and transportation, plus saves money and helps the environment. I cycle almost everywhere I go, and cycling has helped me in so many ways. It is very important to my life. I can't recommend it enough.

3) Sunlight - get sun light as much as possible, on as much of your body as possible, but never burn.

4) Sleep - Try to get to bed before midnight and make sure you get at least 7 hours sleep per night.

5) Human interaction - reach out to people and make friends. Be outgoing, even if it doesn't come naturally. Friendship is one of the best things to resist depression.

6) Routine/structure may help. I think it is possible to go overboard with this, and then wind up depressed again. My schedule of 25 hours of work and 6 hours of classes helps me. I don't want more, or much less.

7) If you are using drugs, you should consider scaling back or quitting, if you can. Alcohol and cannabis are both strongly correlated with depression. As a heavy user of both drugs (in the past), I can say reducing my use to nearly zero has been a big improvement.

Beyond this, it sounds like you could use some hobbies. Think about what might interest you. No one can really tell you what will work for you, but my usual suggestions involve art or music, probably because those work well for me. I also hike weekly, and enjoy games like billiards, hackeysack, and reading about things that interest me. You can look into joining groups or else teach yourself something new.

Try to get out of your house and into something new. Don't waste time in front of the TV or computer so much. I think that will help you also.

One last thing to consider, sometimes helping others is a GREAT way to overcome depression and bolster self esteem. When you focus on other people, you can forget yourself and your pain.

On February 04 2008 02:05 nA.Inky wrote:
Ah - you were perhaps pointing at what I said about cannabis. Again, what I said is based on more than my own experience, including scientific journals. There is no doubt about correlation between cannabis and depression, the question is whether or not cannabis causes depression, or whether depressed people seek cannabis as a way to self-medicate. I believe it is potentially both.