7 Tips To Survive A Depressive Episode

7 Tips To Survive A Depressive Episode

depressive episodes can completely change how we function we often isolate and withdraw from people who we love or care about we stop doing things that feel good or are healthy for us or just are fun because we feel this hollow empty pointless feeling inside sometimes we sleep all day sometimes we can't sleep sometimes we lose all interest in food sometimes we can't stop eating sometimes our bodies feel like they weigh 2,000 lbs and our brains feel like they're moving through mud other times we have a crazy amount of energy but nowhere to direct it and basically life tends to just grind to a halt for the duration of a depressive episode we become a dysfunctional or even a non-functional person at least that's what usually happens but that doesn't necessarily have to be what happens every time now sometimes depressive episodes come out of absolutely nowhere sometimes you just wake up and you're in one and you were fine the night before when that happens there's not always a whole lot that you can do about that but sometimes you can feel one coming on it's almost like you're getting sick it's a weird feeling but like an hour or two before it's really fully hit you you can kind of start to feel that floor drop out from under you it's like you can feel your emotions and you're functioning like slow like someone pulled the plug on a bathtub just slowly draining out of you and you know it's coming and you kind of already feel it but it's not fully here yet it hasn't completely hit you and you're in this kind of weird mid-range limbo place when that happens there are a few things you can do to really help you prepare for the depressive episode it's a little bit like barricading your home when there's a hurricane coming you don't have as much time as you'd like you're always going to be a little rushed and a little unprepared but you can get ready for it and you can take some steps that are going to minimize the amount of damage that this experience causes in your life and today I'm going to cover seven different ways to survive your next depressive episode and not have it knock you off course as much as it typically does but really quick before I do that let me just briefly introduce myself I'm Dr Scott a licensed practicing clinical psychologist I'm the author of the book for when everything is burning and I own and run the Northstar psychological center which is a mental health Private Practice in Cedar Rapids Iowa seven ways to survive your next depressive episode and all of these techniques are based on how you're probably going to feel and how you're probably going to function during that episode we're going to try to minimize the damage number one so overlooked and so useful always have paper plates and plastic utensils at home because all those things that get disrupted during a depressive episode especially things like sleep and nutrition they're all also the things you need to get back on track in order to get out of that episode when you're exhausted when you're malnourished or when you're sleeping all day you're going to stay depressed for longer because your brain does not have all of the resources it needs needs to help get back online fully and pull you out of that episode eating when you're depressed is often a very very hard thing to do and there can be many reasons for that food often just loses its appeal when you're depressed it it literally feels like it has less flavor you just don't care about it as much you don't care about yourself as much but also food is kind of a lot of work as is dishes getting getting cleaned up after you're done eating is a lot of work too and sometimes just those little things make all the difference and whether you're going to bother to feed yourself or not I many many times the reason someone does not eat during a depressive episode is because they don't have enough energy to do the dishes after so if you have disposable dishes if you have plates and you have silverware that you can just toss after and just completely for the duration of the depressive episode just take dishes off your radar entirely it's not something you have to worry about it's not something you're going to have to do sometimes that's the reason you start eating again sooner than you otherwise would have and it can pull you out of the depressive episode sooner than if you had to do dishes second idea also food related try to get a lot of simple meals that you can make easily I'm a big fan of either just getting like one big frozen thing like get a big frozen lasagna get a couple frozen pizzas or something like that cook them put them in some Tupperware and then just warm them up because again you're going to need to eat physically your body still does need food as does your brain but you're not going to want to eat and so the harder it is to do the thing that you don't feel like doing the less likely you are to actually do it if your food is basically prepared for you already and all you have to do is pop it in the microwave and again put it on a paper plate there it's the lowest maintenance possible way to eat so if you can have simple meal options already ready for you ideally already prepared for you during a depressive episode you are so much more likely to follow through on actually eating when you need to eat then if you have to actually like do a bunch of work to prepare the food to take it to the next level and this is not sponsored this is just something that I use there are meal replacement shakes I'm a big fan of the brand uh redcon one they were product called M and it's made from actual animal protein sometimes when you're depressed chewing your food is too much work like it just it's just like why bother like who cares I don't even want to chew that's how I feel right now I don't care enough to chew my food that unmotivated I'm that anhedonic right now so take that part out I mean that's what that's basically what all these strategies are about is taking the things that your depression makes you not want to do and saying okay let's not do them then but let's figure out a way to still get to that endpoint and still give our bodies and Minds what they need without having to do the thing that I feel unable to do right now if you you might only have it in you to chew three bites of food right so make sure it's a nutrient-dense food then make sure it's something you can take three bites of and get a decent amount out of it or have it be something you can drink if you can drink a meal that's like the path of least resistance right like I know it sounds completely gross to think of it this way but your food is basically pre- chewed like you don't even have to do the work and to some of you listening right now that might sound ridiculous but if your depression gets bad enough the fatigue the fatigue that goes along with depression is different it's not just like oh I'm tired it's like my soul needs to rest for month is like is like that's what it feels like and and every movement of your body can just feel excruciating and agonizing and if you can drink a meal and and nourish your body and nourish your mind without having to actually chew your food I think you should do it the third strategy is all about accessibility you want to kind of craft your environment for where you're probably going to be spending the majority of your time typically when we're depressed we don't go very many places right and I don't even necessarily mean that like we don't leave the house I mean you might not leave like a 4 foot radius of your home um and other than maybe to go to the bathroom like for most of the time so you're going to kind of have this spot this Zone it's going to be your primary zone of existence for the duration of the depressive episode make sure that you set that zone up correctly what I mean by that is be very mindful of what is accessible and what is inaccessible because your energy and your motivation are going to be so so low that if something's not in reach you're you're probably not going to use it so you can control this to a degree by making sure that the things you have in reach whether it's your bed your couch wherever you're at make sure that the things that you have in reach are things you want to be able to access when you're in a depressive episode so you know in therapist tools we we call these like creative resources or sustainable resources have books nearby have you know crafts nearby have all the the things around you that you want to use that you want to turn to when you're in a depressive episode if they're 10 ft away if they're in a closet if they're behind a cabinet and you can't see them you have stacked the deck against yourself make them as accessible as possible like have a little nest of just therapy stuff just healthy coping skills around you so that you just reach out in some random direction and you grab something useful and then also do the opposite of that meaning things that you don't want accessible to you during a depressive episode put them away get them out of your site get them out of your reaching radius maybe even put them as far away as possible because there's certain things and you guys I'm not going to name them because it can be triggering but you guys know what I'm talking about there are certain things you do not want to have access to during a depressive episode certain things that should be kept as far away from you as possible those things are going to be different from one person to the next but we all have something that we tend to turn to more than we should if we're should turn to it at all when we're depressed we use it for mood regulation we use it for excitement sometimes we use it for all kinds of different things don't make it easy make it take work to get to the thing that you know is actually going to extend the depression it might make you feel better in the moment long run it's going to make you feel worse so make it hard to get to Fourth strategy is set up your meds in advance this one is I maybe should have made this number one because this one is so crucial if you're on any kind of medication for depression and anxiety and you have a tendency to stop taking that medication when you're depressed because either again it's too much work it's too far away I don't care enough about myself to do it that's going to artificially extend the duration of your depressive episode because then on top of this episode that was going to happen anyway now you're also withdrawing from a mood stabilizing medication so your depression is going to get worse it's going to last longer it's it's going to be artificially worsened by the fact that you're now either taking your medication inconsistently or not taking your medication at all I am a huge fan of the like daily pill dividers if you can get them all set up ahead of time so because some days that's all it takes some days you look at your seven different pill bottles or however many and you're like I don't want to open each one and count the right number out of each one and do all of this executive functioning mental work when my brain feels like it's literally made of mud right now and if all that work has already been done for you by a kind and benevolent past version of yourself there still might be days when it's hard but you know what you make it a lot easier and you increase your odds of being able to follow through on that by having your meds set up already now again this is kind of a a restatement of the point I made in in number three but I I would put your actual full bottles of medication I would probably try to keep those as far away as possible for obvious reasons but set up up your meds because you do not need to have your depression artificially exacerbated or extended by also going through withdrawal the fifth way to survive a depressive episode is to tell people that you're experiencing a depressive episode or tell them something anyway I know that your comfort level with discussing really detailed components of your mental health it can be different from one person to the next I certainly understand that but don't suffer alone don't suffer inside when you feel one coming on let people know especially Safe People supportive people people who get it because you know how your brain's going to spiral with that you know that as you sit there alone and isolated and your phone no one's texting you no one's calling you you know what that's going to do to you you know that's going to make you worse you know that's going to trigger all your negative thoughts about yourself and abandonment and rejection and you're going to be sitting there thinking no one loves me no one cares about me and actually they just don't know that you're depressed they're living a normal day in their lives and they're under the impression that you are doing the same because you have not told them otherwise you have not I know you don't do it on purpose I know you're not like actually testing people but you kind of are because if you base whether or not someone reaches out to you during a depressive episode if you base your perception of your relationship on that and you haven't told them that you're in a depressive episode you are judging them based on information that you have that they do not have and if they knew you were struggling if they knew you were suffering and if they knew you needed them right now there's a good chance they would show up differently and more frequently and more consistently than they would without that information because you would do the same right would you not treat a friend differently if you knew they were going through something versus if you thought they were fine I I think most of us would most of us would prioritize someone more if we knew they needed us more so reach reach out to people tell them you need help tell them you're struggling they'll maybe they'll call you maybe they'll text you maybe they'll show up maybe they'll try to get you to go somewhere you may or may not like that but you should you should let them know you should have accountability in this because it's a hard thing to do with help but it's an even harder thing to do alone and if you have people who are willing to show up for you who are willing to support you who want to be a part of your journey don't keep that in information from them the other thing that can happen not that this is the main point this is a total side point about telling people but you you may not notice it because you'll be wrapped up in your own depression and I don't mean that judgmentally you just will it happens you probably won't reach out to them as much either and if they also deal with a little bit of depression and anxiety on their own they might think like H this person hasn't reached out to me in a while maybe they hate me now when really you're just really depressed and sitting at home alone also thinking they hate you and you're both in this vicious cycle of like I don't want to message them because what if they're mad at me and no you're both just depressed it's sad but it's you have to be able to laugh at it a little bit because if you don't laugh you'll cry and crying is okay but sometimes laughing is better let people know when you're struggling give them a chance to show up for you give them a chance to be the people you want them to be give them the information they need in order to not let you down please number six you may not like this one um and you don't have to do it you don't have to do any of these things but this one has been huge for me and it's screen time limits because it's the phone the the the investment versus reward and reward doesn't always even mean like you're having fun right it just means like stimulation value the in the investment versus stimulation value of a phone is insane because a phone requires almost no effort on your part and it can give you a massive amount of stimulation in return and when you're depressed and you have very little effort to give in the first place that equation looks really favorable like I can still see all these experiences and listen to all these people talk and whatever it is that you do on your phone I don't have to work for it but that's the problem is when you're not working for it you don't really get the actual reward that goes along with it and it's so easy whether it's gaming social media whatever it is it's so easy for your life to be consumed by a phone when you're depressed when you don't feel like there's much else that you can do you can lose 10 12 14 16 hours a day to your phone and obviously when you're in the middle of depression you wouldn't be spending all that time on something awesome anyway right but what if it was just an hour what if there was one hour of your day where you could have gotten up taken a quick shower made yourself a meal a simple pre- prepared meal or maybe even a meal replacement shake and texted a friend like that could have changed your day that could have been the turning point in this episode that could have completely modified your trajectory but if you've already been on the phone for nine hours that day it's going to feel like well what's a 10th hour what's it really what difference is it really going to make now I'm not even going to attempt to tell you what your screen time limit should be that's a very very personal decision but I know that if you give yourself Unlimited screen time during a depressive episode it's far too easy for that to end up being the only thing that you do and it ends up taking the place of some of the activities that bit by bit piece by piece step by step are going to eventually become part of what helps you get out of that episode so I would strongly encourage you to consider screen time limits and the seventh strategy for surviving a depressive episode is try your best to stick with your sleep hygiene routine hopefully you already have one if you don't then between episodes please work on one I understand you're not going to have a lot of energy I get that you're not going to want to go places I get that you're going to have a hard time doing things I get that goes with the territory try to at least get out of bed though because if you spend all day in bed it wrecks your sleep hygiene it destroys your sleep cues and what's going to happen is you're going to end up having horrible insomnia after this episod episode has passed which actually is probably going to hasten the arrival of your next depressive episode because fatigue and being underslept is a risk factor for a depressive episode when we spend all day in bed it becomes so much harder for our bodies and our minds to associate sleep with our bed or wherever if you sleep on a couch then just replace the word bed with couch just wherever you sleep try not to be in there when you aren't sleeping if you have to I've done this okay there's no shame in this if you have to literally roll out of bed grab a pillow from your bed and lay on the floor and do whatever you were going to do in your bed anyways on the floor it's still better it is still better than being in bed because it will not wreck your sleep hygiene and it will not create a secondary lagging insomnia that follows your depressive episode and causes you to have another one a week later because the only thing worse than a depressive episode is getting better and then having another one right away thinking you're out of the woods and like NOP nope you get to do it again like right now and if your sleep gets screwed up that's like the number one risk factor I mean that is that and nutrition are like 1 a 1B I have a hard time picking one try not to let your depression wreck your sleep even if you have insomnia even if you have hypersomnia if you have hypersomnia sleep on the couch during the day sleep in a chair sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor just don't let yourself spend all day in bed it will ruin your sleep and that is the last thing you need when you're dealing with something like this I hope these suggestions are helpful and I hope that you're able to implement them next time I'd love to say hey just don't have another depressive episode ever again but you know you probably will it's a cyclical chronic disorder and so rather than just hoping this stuff will never happen again I think it's better to just expect that it will and be prepared for it like have a plan see it as your enemy see it as as or maybe an enemy cuz you can't totally fight against it but you can prepare for it again maybe think of it more like a natural disaster sometimes you don't know they're coming but if you know it's coming you can do some things to decrease the likelihood that it causes mass destruction and Devastation in your life board up your windows board up your doors and just get ready get ready it's G to happen it's G to suck it's going to be scary it's going to be unpleasant but if you prepare for it your odds of survival go up dramatically I hope that you prepare for your next one take care

Depressive episodes can completely change how you function.

From isolation to depriving yourself of things that feel good, from constant sleeping to insomnia, from lethargy to excessive energy.

Whatever your specific experiences, life just seems to grind to a halt during a depressive episode.

But that doesn’t have to be the norm for you, and I’m going to talk through how to change it for yourself.

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Disclaimer: This content is not intended to be a replacement for receiving treatment. It is purely educational in nature. My relationship with you is that of presenter and audience, not therapist and client.

But I do care.