"Beating depression was the hardest thing for me to do, but I did it, and feel as powerful as never before."
Beating depression is never easy. However, it can be done if you are prepared to take the control over your life.
Your therapist cannot do everything for you. He or she can guide you and provide you with support and appropriate treatment.
You on the other hand, have to work hard and take the responsibility for your life.
Nobody is responsible for your actions but yourself. Therefore, instead of blaming others for your depression and the suffering it is causing you, you should take the responsibility and face it. You should never feel guilty or ashamed about it because there is nothing to be ashamed of.
Being depressed is not your fault, but it is in your power to work with your therapist to make yourself feel better and cured. Choosing the right therapist for you is very important so take your time. If you feel uncomfortable or are not satisfied with your therapist for whatever the reason, change him or her and look for another.
Beating depression on your own is almost impossible, so do not try it. An appropriate treatment is mandatory for many reasons. Therefore, make sure you have the best treatment you can afford.
Any kind of self-medicating is wrong. It will leave you even more depressed and vulnerable. Alcohol is not the answer to depression and if you have alcohol problems, you must be in alcohol counseling as well as in psychotherapy. It is the same with illegal and legal drugs. Any kind of substance addiction must be addressed appropriately.
James was severely depressed and had almost lost hope that he would ever get better. Unfortunately, he is not the only one that had lost hope. It is very common for severely depressed people tofeel hopeless and desperate, which makes their treatment very difficult. However, just because something is difficult that does not mean that it is impossible.
After two years of intense psychotherapy, James got much better and today he is a happy husband and father living without depression. Once a month he visits his therapist for depression prevention. He is planning to become a psychotherapist himself.
After beating depression, it is important to make sure that it does not take over your life again. It is very common for depression to reoccur. This is especially true with certain types of depression such as major depressive disorder. For this reason, after you overcome the depressive episode, you need to make sure that it is the last one.
You can do by always taking care of yourself and not reverting to the old way of thinking and behaving that made you depressed in first place. For example, if you used to be overweight do not eat too much and keep exercising. If you had alcohol problems do not go back to the bottle when you feel stressed and so forth.
Depression as any other illness is a call for change, but not just for the period of your treatment but for as long as you live. Make no mistake, if after your successful depression treatment, you go back to the destructive old habits, you will find yourself depressed again. Do not do that to yourself.
Use your depression to improve yourself and the quality of your life. Make the best out of beating depression and leave the worse of it forever behind.