Your Phone Can Tell When You're Getting Depressed

Dr. K’s Guide to Mental Health explores Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, and Meditation with 150+ video chapters in a Final Fantasy-inspired skilltree.

#shorts #drk #mentalhealth

[sheolcodemonkey]

I firmly believe that depression's primary mechanism for sustaining itself is the habit of inertia it creates. You don't do much, your body gets used to not doing much, doing much feels like an enormous exertion, activity gets punished, inertia gets reinforced. The less you do, the less your body believes it's capable of. The trick is to prove it wrong, the challenge is that it's right, but if you try anyway it'll become less right. Chip damage to prevent its shields from recharging and eventually you'll see results

[karablake]

I like the saying
Motivation is the product of action, not the other way around.

[JSFGuy]

Right, I got out and rode the bicycle and did some fasting, didn't fix it all but it certainly made a difference.

[theevilfluff]

I got fired back in December. I haven't had any reason to leave the house, especially when so much needs me to pay for stuff with money I needed to pinch, and I could absolutely feel my mental health start to tank. I finally got hired and it's for a job I'm extremely excited and passionate about, and even though it's only part time right now, I'm so excited to do something again and feel comfortable going out in the world!

[BargainLentils]

Ive dealt with depression my whole life. The number one treatment for me was going outside. Even if its just a walk around the neighborhood. It helps tremendously.

[Klaireye]

My psychiatrist– I’ve had to call him once just literally being in almost a fetal position trembling with the physical and mental aspects of my PTSD (He used to work head of Pysch at the VA so for that I am thankful) and his advice, for ANY time I started feeling any of the symptoms arrive is always also to “GO OUTSIDE. Take a walk. DO SOMETHING” and it very much perplexed me that this was always what seemed to be his pov best plan of action . And it works . Even if (literal) outside factors are triggering me or aiding in my panic, like sounds? Simply walking around the perimeter of my yard helped tremendously. Or at least was a start . Mental health medications, like weight loss regimes, work best when combined with physical activity even if it’s doing a puzzle . This also helped me tremendously as I was trying to quit drinking and had become an alcoholic . Sitting there, all I could do was think ab how badly I needed and wanted a drink – the change of scenery and focus by going outside for two minutes helped me not relapse and not feel the mental cravings and lessened the physical ones I was experiencing.

[ninanano]

I got high-functional depression, so going out while also doing thousands of todos each day without appreciating my efforts doesn't help. Going outside and eating healthy etc becomes just another todo which will then drain me because I'm doing it because 'I need to' and not out of 'this is good for me and I'm taking care of myself'. Because my depression gets worse from exhaustion, I actually need to do less, and need to take more breaks for processing the many things I do. Plus mindfulness.

[Yellowsubmarie]

Totally true! I’ve been dealing with depression for almost 40 years now, and I’ve learned that for me, there are two red flags: one is when I start avoiding leaving the apartment, and the other is when I begin to withdraw from contact with other people. If I manage to catch myself in that moment and act on it, I can often prevent the worst from happening. Because in the beginning, it’s not even intentional – it just creeps in unconsciously.

[FlynnFromTaiga]

On my depressed days my first achievement was to get up from the bed and try not to get back to it as long as possible. When you are depressed you don't feel sad. You feel nothingness. And if you can get your body doing anything, you can fight nothingness

[spaghettigal]

I think a big part of it is that you have to challenge your expectations for reality (which is very difficult). If you expect something to go poorly or make you uncomfortable, you'll be motivated to avoid it all costs. The hard part is pushing through that discomfort and doing it anyway. Once you do it, you'll realize that it wasn't nearly as bad as you had made it out to be, and a beneficial kind of cognitive dissonance takes place. The more you do this, the more you'll be able to squash the negative beliefs you hold.

[joetoaster]

I've been saying it for years. So many people complain that so many say "just stop being depressed' but I find you have to stop doing the things depressed people do BEFORE you could get out of the internal hell.

[farrukhalavi]

"The action leads to hope"... Dr. K dropping straight gems once again😊

[Naught_Meinäm]

I've found that forcing myself to get out more and putting myself around other people and talking myself into attending "potentially" enriching activities has in some ways made things noticeably worse for me. Its almost always disappointing and deflating to leave a function or event with virtually nothing gained from it. Expecting or at least hoping for social opportunities that don't actually pan out whatsoever makes things feel like a vain effort. I'm almost never actually able to convince myself that I'm interested in anything I go out to do beyond the possibility of meeting a person or three in doing so, so when I can't even accomplish that much, I'm usually just kicking myself all the way home for wasting that time and energy on what I knew had a high probability of failure. Even just trying to routinely position myself in "third places" just feels like it's taking and taking and taking from me but almost never giving back. There are ao many things that I could potentially be getting done at home, including things I NEED to do, but I give it up just to disappoint myself on a regular basis? Life actually might've felt better before I started bothering with this fruitless crap. Wish I'd just give up and go back to endlessly chipping away at my neverending to-do list.

[earlgrey]

Thats why im so proud of being an occupational therapist. We get people to do things 😊

Psychologist here. Yes, common daily activities can help with depression, buy only if they are rewarding enough for indoviduals. Problem with depression is, people begin associating previously pleasurable activities with anxiety, which results in avoidance behaviors (negative reinforcement). The therapy works when you motivate people to do pleasurable activities they abandoned ( switching over to powitive reinforcements)

[sewatweaty]

I've said for a long time that a lot of people don't have true depression but rather their environment just facilitates thoughts of hopelessness and despair which appear basically indistinguishable from actual depression.

Nobody believed me though but this basically proves my point.

[lovelasnow]

This made me remember that I became dead set on doing vanlife or some similar non permanent living situation because I noticed that if I don’t have to move then I won’t and being outside is said to help. Also having what I need to do within arms reach seems like a good way to force myself to do it

[BubbleBird-us]

I have Narcolepsy and it is so easy to fall into a state of depression because I am always fatigued. Some days it is impossible to shake off the sleep inertia and brain fog, even though I take medication and supplements to help. It can be frustrating wanting to do things but needing to give in to overwhelming sleep pressure to find temporary relief from the irritability and innability to think clearly.

To add to this I am/ have been seeking treatment for C-PTSD from severe emotional neglect. I struggle to stay motivated because everythimg feels like I am dragging myself through thick mud, all while carrying a sack of bricks.

[crocky]

I agree that lack of movement is a big sign and cause of depression.
Back when I went abroad to study I used to live in a house with a roomie who never was home, and my classes were at night.
So what happened is that my mood decreased significantly as it was very hurtful to have "nothing to do" on the mornings and classes at night, which led to a period of lack of willpower and general emptiness.
By the 3rd month I didn't want to cook, wash dishes everyday, I had my clothes piled up and my room was a mess.

[L-bz]

Sometimes going outside makes me even more depressed, because I start to have a headache or get out of breath just walking and it just shows me once more how unhealthy I've become.