A tip for emotional overload and depression

Let me start by saying this is not meant to replace or treat people suffering from clinical depression. Clinical depression is often a chemical issue and I’m no chemist. Instead I am trying to relay some positive steps that ordinary people can employ when being overwhelmed.

For most of us, the issue is emotional. The feelings of being overwhelmed by either sheer volume of negativity or never ending exposure starts to erode control of our emotions. One thing I do, is to overload it right back. By sheer volume flood your conscience with any other strong emotion. Watch a comedy for an hour straight. Sing along to Mamma Mia.

This is called brainswitching. The example I used switched from emotional to creative, but you can also switch to logical. Do an online mental game (think crosswords or soduku). Once the negative emotions move from the current to the past, just don’t revisit them.

Next is aerobic exercise Getting out of the house will cause you to have to take notice of your surrounding if nothing more than to not stub your toe on the sidewalk. But picking your heart rate up will also spread some endorphins. Work hard enough and you’ll get a bit of sore muscles. You’ll notice muscles you forgot. You start to feel proud of the muscles and getting something done.

Socialize And I don’t mean tell everyone about your problems. Instead get on a social website and talk about your accomplishments. And most profoundly, if someone is having a problem, take 5 minutes out of your day to try and find a solution for them. For instance, yesterday a friend of mine was having a problem getting a photo to enlarge to a certain size. I spent all of 5 minutes googling him an answer and posting it for him. He thanked me online in front of everyone and it made my day. This morning I got up and reread his thank you.

A couple of preventative things as well:

Sleep Get it into a rhythm and protect your pattern.

Omega 3 fatty acids The studies show this will take the edge off, and it doesn’t take much effort.

But if you try all these things and you still can’t shake it, talk to your doctor. Family doctors are getting good at helping you take the edge off and little Prozac in the morning is almost more common than not. I know, most of my clients who are successful accept some help. This is a much more hectic and consuming world we live in than our parents, Live well.