What about ways to beat depression?

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Depression is always a war I only temporarily win, though life always carries on & I find a place to exist within it for a while. I'm on a new learning curve at the moment so my new found knowledge & interests keep it at bay, hopefully until I find a way to make it a small or a non existant part of my life. I am diagnosed as AS, but as you know there is not much help from "the system". So what do you think about it? Or... How do you deal with it? Or maybe... How do you live with it? Or...

Sounds like since you are dealing with pervasive mild depression, a great book to read would be "Learned Optimism". It helped me. Of course that is only one of many ways, but it is something I higly recommend.

You are 8 years older than me... how long have you know about your AS, were you undiagnosed for much of your life?

You say temporary fixes don't work... how hard have you tried to make big changes in your life?

quote from a person who traveled the world and researched humanity both past and present. Joseph Campbell:

"The way to find out about happiness is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you are really happy — not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy. This requires a little bit of self-analysis. What is it that makes you happy? Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. This is what is called following your bliss.”

I encourage you to track down the Bill Moyer interviews with Campbell.

Confidence, will power, eloquence, and "positive" thinking. That's what pushed me out of the bowels of depression.

Unless you have a biochem issue that causes you to be depressed for not other reason, I find the best way to confront it is with an attitude adjustment.

1. Be brutally honest about what in life you find bothers you. It can be painful, but confronting your issues honestly is empowering. By knowing what is making you unhappy, you can choose how to deal with those issues.

2. Instead of focusing on what's wrong, start examining what is right. I struggle with this all the time. I'm blessed, but my blessings often are based on, "At least I'm not at bad as that guy is." I'd like to be thankful for something good happening rather than something bad NOT happening."

3. Constantly correct your focus. It is so easy to dwell on negative things. When you find yourself doing it, stop. It only helps you become depressed and stay depressed.

4. Drop the guilt trips. It's okay to be sad and depressed. Let yourself experience it and move on. People think that if you feel sad frequently, something is wrong with you, but some people simply are wired to feel sad more easily than others. Don't let people profile you as "sick" because you feel sad about stuff more often than the average person.

Exercise, a good diet, positive thinking.

Today I've taken St John's Wort, B vitamins, Magnesium, Calcium, and other vitamins.
I have biochem related depression.

Thank you all for your input, I appreciate that. TobyZ, hello, I was only diagnosed last year and yes I have made big changes to my life, for all my life, not always through choice, several major upheavals, now due to having a partner who is also my carer I am settled for the first time in my life & have had too much time to look into everything on my path to understanding & piecing together my universe.

When I'm depressed, I often find that getting a good night's rest can do wonders. When I'm tired, my autie tendencies become more pronounced, including the tendency to blow things way out of proportion, so the cause of my depression looms even taller above me.

zerOnetgain, Thank you, a good 4 step plan that I will incorparate into my thinking strategy, it seems we share some emotions. Thank you androo4salez a very positive approach which will also be used. Thank you pensieve, these things I am looking into including work by Dr. Peter J D'Adamo about the right foods, supplements, etc, for the different bloodgroups, which is actually helping a lot. Shine on

I find that a little tip a psychology professor once gave me helps. Write a to do list, and then do it. Even if what you put on your to do list is simple, playing with your cat example, it will pull you out of the bowels of lethargy.

Gradually add more complex and difficult tasks to your to do list, and bask in the feeling of accomplishment you get.

Don't fall into a pattern of laziness.

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can.--Sydney Smith

And don't get mad at the world and think it owes you something.

"Feeling like the world owes you something breeds laziness"-Lawrence Fishburne, in "Higher Learning"

I suggest

REBT, a structured approach to destroying anxieties developed by Albert Ellis; really powerful and effective in my experience.

Meditation seems to be the only way to raise one's 'emotional set-point'; in meditation, say 'happiness raise' say c.15 times; we can raise that emotional set point.

Very best wishes

When i feel depressed i treat myself to something that taste good, or buy myself something, or visit my friends.

It doesnt change the factors that are behind the depression but it helps for the moment.

.

Try take a peek at TobyZ's "Ferdinand the Bull" thread nearby.