Cure for Depression

If you are suffering from
depression, especially if you’re thinking of suicide, this is the best advice I can give: 

1. Coming from my counselor who told
me to keep a daily journal, “If you’re not going to take my advice why are you
paying for it?” 

Not that you’re paying to read this, but are you searching for
answers, yet unwilling to do the work to change yourself? It is work! And often it gets harder before it gets better; while you’re getting it out rather
than pushing it down deep inside yourself, before you can let it all go. See my advice on how to be happy for suggestions on ways to really let the past go.

I reluctantly started a journal and it turned out to be a wonderful outlet for all my anger and frustration. I burned it when it was full and began another. It felt great!

2. Get help! You don’t have to go it
alone! And you may not be able to. We all need support of others and sometimes
it’s a chemical imbalance that needs medical attention. Just knowing you are
not alone can be such a relief!

        There are many more!

3. If you’re feeling guilty about something:
Think through what you really could have or would have done differently. Now
look at it objectively. Could you really truly have done something different?
If you had, what would have been the result? Would the outcome really be better? 

I had beat myself up inside for
years over not trying to stop my brothers from being hit by a certain parent on
many occasions during my childhood. The guilt was eating me up. I was in such despair that I day dreamed of suicide. 

How could I have stood by and
watched? But I had never thought past that. Until my counselor had asked me to
think it through; no, I could not have stopped it. I was a little girl. There
just would have been one more child injured. My brothers would have tried to protect me and things would have been worse for them! I was suddenly freed of that
guilt! I had had many other counselors and this one, who I only saw three
times, helped me more than any one ever had!

4. Speaking of thinking things through, do
you know the real reason why you are depressed? Sometimes getting to the bottom
of it is the start of getting past it. As I briefly mentioned in a recent poem, I was
engaged and we were fighting all the time. I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t
make me happy. I was always angry at him for doing or not doing this or that.
But finally realized, I was not happy with myself. I was depressed from my
past, not because of him. True, he wasn’t right for me, but I had to leave to deal with my own issues before I
could love anyone.

5. Suicide is the most selfish act.
It hurts everyone you’ve ever known. Whether you think so or not, there are
people that care. If you’re willing to go to that extreme when you don’t know
if the results will be any better, possibly worse, why are you too scared to
take another extreme and change your life? Whether that be finding an entirely
different path for yourself than you’ve been working on or going against what
someone, such as your parents or society, are telling you to do… at least try
that first! 

If I hadn’t started my family, I would sell everything
and join the Peace Corps! Helping others is the best way for you to take your
thoughts off yourself, feel joy because you’re making another happy, and feel
important because you are doing
something important! You don’t have to run off with the Peace Corps, but there
are plenty of ways to help others. See a few suggestions on my How to Be Happy post or go to my Get Involved Page.

I hope this was helpful to someone. Please
feel free to ask me any questions.