What do you do to cure when you feel mentally ill or depressed ?

I don't have any of those problems. But I do have one quirk.
Road Rage.

I am fine in morning on way to work. On the way home you better get the fsck out of my way. I might ride on shoulder to pass U.

I would consider it a low level mental illness. Maybe self driving cars will cure me.... Strap me into the back seat like a child.
 
These are dark times, so it's perfectly natural to feel a bit depressed. I certainly do.

We recently put up some colourful lights in our living room. It might seem silly, but this time of year is dark and dreary around these parts, so I figure a bit of colour can't hurt.

I try to get outside and go for a walk while there's daylight. Our neighborhood has lots of green spaces with birds and squirrels, which are always nice to see.

It also helps me to talk to other people, either in person or via electronic means.

A good, healthful, home cooked meal is also great for my mood.

And sometimes I try to read a book instead of doom scrolling.
 
Alain De Vos said:
What do you do to cure when you feel mentally ill or depressed ?
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For the psychiatrist, the one that suffers is ill and must be cured,
not the insane people that make others suffer.
He will cure with poison called medicament, lobotomy, electroshock.
There is a lot of ill people that feel best, and hence is considered sane.
Today we see more clear than ever how insane and criminal western society is.
To find equilibrium, one needs intelligence, reflection, to be in peace with God and oneself.
And if at the end one still feels bad, to recognize it is just physiological, not mental.
And to recognize what does good or bad, be it doing sport or eating something, needs also reflection.
But the western, civilized person is absolutely unconscious, of himself and his surroundings, incapable of reflection.
 
Alain De Vos said:
I spend money on drinking Duvel beer in the local bar , on cigarettes, and on books.
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Instead of beer and cigarettes, give the money to beggars in the street.
If you cannot do it for life, then try it until the morning of the 25th December.
The sane people in the bright middle ages would have done that.
This will help you to be more conscious of yourself and your surroundings.
 
That's why God made dogs and trout. Walking my dogs at 4am is a great way to start any day. Standing in a stream casting flies to brook trout at first light makes everything else disappear. I've run into the best wildlife while fishing; bald eagle flying upriver about 10ft overhead, blue heron coming in for a landing on the rock next to me then realizing "oh crap and looking like a fighter jet going vertical", otters, beavers, ducks with babies swimming past. My all time favorite was a beautiful male red fox; came to the water, sat down and watched me. As I waded downstream, he got up and followed me. That went on about 4 hours. Didn't catch a fish, but had one of my best days fishing.

Control what you can in your life, keep an eye on what you can't, don't take the bait when someone is trying to get a rise out of you.
 
Many of these are proven to be helpful fighting depression. Andrey Lanin was first to say helping other people, and I've found that to be true. Exercise, in any form is another helpful thing. Keeping your mind and/or body occupied is a big part of it. I remember, during my younger days, reading about martial arts, a book saying, there's no time to be depressed during a karate training session.
Lastly for broken hearts, a friend went through one after I did, and at that time, I considered myself the expert. He said my advice was the most helpful. It was just, realize that no matter how busy you keep yourself, there's going to be that time at night, when you're by yourself, and just tell yourself, Yeah it hurts alot, but it will hurt a little less tomorrow. I haven't seen any bad advice in this thread yet.

Oh, one thing, I read recently. Think of three things in your life to be grateful for, every day. It could even be, (sadly, I'm not being funny as I know someone who thinks this), Well, yeah, I have cancer, but it's easily managed and doesn't interfere with my life. That's an extreme example, something as simple as, My wife loves me and so I don't have to search for love every day like I did when I was single.
 
Good question, Alain De Vos.
I got depressed twice, and literally nothing helps, nothing works (nor medications, nor therapy).
What kept me going is the hope that good days will come, and that everything is just a nightmare.
 
Physical exercise (on whatever level you need / want - going for walks can be nice), doing stuff together with other people and / or friends (choose activities and people carefully, they need to help you feel more happy), doing interesting things (example: I like to create electronics, 3D print things, and program microcontrollers in Rust), and read books.

I am also interested - in almost anything (examples: space exploration, history, new science) and tend to read about or try out (if it is within my limits) new stuff. Currently exploring local LLMs - read another thread on this forum.
 
I learnt some key values to not have to be depressed even when life is grim:

1. Ensure your physical health with solid food and consider what modern products you bring to your home
(E.g. Swedish washing up liquid, most common brand, had environmental toxins for some time and came with warning signs)

2. Cry when you need to - Realise that it may be a need when things are shit.
Realise also that spending time dreading things only lead to lost time in recuperating and doing proper things.
Solve the things that can be solved, do it first and thoroughly and then move forward

3. If you need sleep, sleep, if you dislike sleeping, do the things you enjoy the most.

4. Learn to separate sadness, hurt and depression. I tend to myself when hurt or sad but find it plain
unreasonable to just give in to depression. Build different and follow your passion, or find a new one.

"My life is shit ...", - Well so what? You kind of knew that already in the back of your head?

Make it better since noone else will come and make it for you. :)

Disclaimer: This works for me a lot of thanks to living in a good country.
If I was living by an Indonesian landfill and had to go through garbage every day to find some valuable
materials to sell to get minimal food on the plate for me and my family.
Then I could find a depressive state reasonable.
 
tingo said:
Physical exercise (on whatever level you need / want - going for walks can be nice), doing stuff together with other people and / or friends (choose activities and people carefully, they need to help you feel more happy), doing interesting things (example: I like to create electronics, 3D print things, and program microcontrollers in Rust), and read books.

I am also interested - in almost anything (examples: space exploration, history, new science) and tend to read about or try out (if it is within my limits) new stuff. Currently exploring local LLMs - read another thread on this forum.
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if you feel depressed,you will not do exercises. Simply you don't have the energy or the will. No sports,no walk,no bycicle,nothing. Generally you will not be able to do something that will take a lot of energy from you because you haven't enough of it.
 
Also don't get depressed because everybody else is happy. They aren't. Just a bit of smalltalk around the neighbors revealed a lot of cases where people had experienced very bad things. They have every right to be depressed. I don't want to give examples, some things are simply horrible. So realize that you are not alone, that helps a lot. Talk to a shrink, before someone drags you in there by your collar or worse.
 
ZioMario said:
if you feel depressed,you will not do exercises. Simply you don't have the energy or the will. No sports,no walk,no bycicle,nothing. Generally you will not be able to do something that will take a lot of energy from you because you haven't enough of it.
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I see it totally differently. I don't see depression have to equal to the things you posted.
A theoretical standpoint can be to view it deterministically and use static values for depression.

I like the thinking more of:
"Do I have my legs intact? Sure I can walk."
"Do I feel I have the energy for it? Perhaps not."
"Can it be great for my health to do? Definitely."

Let's walk.
 
Crivens said:
Also don't get depressed because everybody else is happy. They aren't. Just a bit of smalltalk around the neighbors revealed a lot of cases where people had experienced very bad things. They have every right to be depressed. I don't want to give examples, some things are simply horrible. So realize that you are not alone, that helps a lot. Talk to a shrink, before someone drags you in there by your collar or worse.
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I like to play with that the 'feeling of happiness' could be propaganda, and being pleased with yourself and what you do is more important,
than spending time thinking whether we are happy or not. x)
 
hruodr said:
For the psychiatrist, the one that suffers is ill and must be cured,
not the insane people that make others suffer.
He will cure with poison called medicament, lobotomy, electroshock.
There is a lot of ill people that feel best, and hence is considered sane.
Today we see more clear than ever how insane and criminal western society is.
Click to expand...
The common understanding of mental health is limited to a very specific kind of social class, which is the bourgeoise.
Wilhelm Reich tried to expand that understanding at least a little bit so that it would also cover the working class. Therefore the US government ordered him to be burnt in the waste disposal.

A psychology that would deserve the attribute "science" does not exist at the moment. Such a psychology should provide knowledge about our mind which is not only applicable to our specific time and our specific society and only a certain priviledged class within that society, but to the mind in general

I for my part keep wondering why almost everybody seems to have some good advice about how to cope wiith dark states of the mind, while apparently rarely people bother to actually care for each other, and rather prefer to give money to some unknown people on a far-away continent.
 
Before I was a diabetic, it was ice cream.
Before our traffic became unbearable, it was a long ride on my Harley.
Now, it is a morning at the shooting range with my friends.
 
PMc said:
The common understanding of mental health is limited to a very specific kind of social class, which is the bourgeoise.
Wilhelm Reich tried to expand that understanding at least a little bit so that it would also cover the working class. Therefore the US government ordered him to be burnt in the waste disposal.

A psychology that would deserve the attribute "science" does not exist at the moment. Such a psychology should provide knowledge about our mind which is not only applicable to our specific time and our specific society and only a certain priviledged class within that society, but to the mind in general.
Click to expand...
It can be viewed as "science" thanks to all the patient studies that have been done during the years and to combat some illnesses these methods and tools have to be applied.
We kind of learnt scientifically in order to treat phobias you have to undergo exposure and response prohibition for it for the illusionary part of the fears to be treated.

Psychology stem from Philosophy I believe and there is a lot of science behind it.

But, perhaps needed to say, is that the programs of treatment for illness does not always have the goal for the patient to function and feel healthy, strong and better.
Governmental clinics in Sweden have the patient goals of putting them to work as soon as possible instead of stabilizing a cure for patient.
Can be found reading the documents about treatment for patient groups and also if you ever go through some books of Therapeutics in Practice.

Overall I guess one could benefit from enjoying horror stories going through those shelves of literature.
 
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