Need some help in coping with (triggers)

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-22-2004
Need some help in coping with (triggers)
4
Thu, 07-08-2004 - 9:53pm
ion. As you all know depression is not nice at all. It can be a real

Biyotch and WILL place a great restraint on your life. I have been

dealing with depression off and on again for the past four years- it is NO

Joke. I've had deaths in my family back to back last year and it has

left me depressed. I have the type of family that don't show emotions too

much, when I wanted to cry over the deaths they told me "Don't cry, you have

to be strong." They interfered with MY grieving process and I buried

my feelings of hurt, despair, shock, grief, pain, instead of dealing with them

.I've been to counseling and it helped a Great deal and helped me to "get

in touch" with my feelings. I still have a little "residue" from the deaths

and thinking about it makes me sad To those of you who have been

in counseling/therapy, can you PLEASE share some of the methods

of coping with depression that you have learned while you are/were

in therapy.

Thank you very much :)

Keeping all of you in my prayers.

PAY

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2003
Fri, 07-09-2004 - 10:50am
(((Pay)))

I don't have alot of time to respond to this right now, but I wanted to send you some (((hugs))).

Pamela

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2004
Fri, 07-09-2004 - 3:05pm
I rely upon my journal a lot to write down my thoughts and feelings. I find it helpful to get these things out of my head. It also helps me to see themes in my depression and to see good and bad things.

Meghan
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Fri, 07-09-2004 - 10:23pm

A couple of things that I do are to break every task or objective into baby steps.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-13-2004
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 10:13am
Therapy is a hard process to go through. In my experience, therapy often exacerbates depression symptoms because it digs up feelings that you had tried to bury and makes you remember things that you may have forgotten. My best advice is to SHARE with your family/friends what you have discovered in therapy about yourself and your problems. It's definitely difficult and messy, but I liken it to cleaning out a closet - you have to mess it all up and get it all out there before you can clean it out and make it neat. I have found that a lot of my depression symptoms are made worse because I have allowed feelings to surface that I kept hidden for so long, and it's hard to deal with these new feelings. By expressing what you're feeling, you're not only validating your own emotions and venting anger/sadness, but you're allowing opportunities to heal your realtionships. I know, it's SO hard, especially if you're from a family that doesn't share easily. I think you should TELL your family that you are ANGRY at them for denying you the right to grieve. It's probably going to be really hard to do, and you might feel guilty afterwards, but at least you will know that your feelings aren't so trivial that you must keep them to yourself. I really think that in the long term it's better to share your feelings and risk making people angry than keeping them bottled up.