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I know you mean well by posting this, but this isn't going to help anyone with depression "deal with it."

a_c_s 4y ago
This is one of the techniques I use for my depression and it does help me "deal with it". In my case "deal with it" doesn't mean "make me not depressed": I'm still depressed but it does help me turn some some of my bad, hard-to-do-anything days into ok or even occasionally productive ones. And having something useful come out of a day I thought I would be useless is also helpful in fighting depressive thought loops about being a useless/lazy/bad person generally speaking.
drdeca 4y ago
If it helps them, why wouldn’t it help other people?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
kayodelycaon 4y ago
Well, I'd like to know what I missed or got wrong. I'm attempting to cover the common case I've seen and what's worked for those I've helped.
- actually_a_dog 4y ago
  Well, to start, you're literally saying "to deal with this particular symptom of depression, just don't have that symptom." That's extremely invalidating and completely denies the nature of depression as a condition. It's not something you just "get over" or "stop having." If it was that easy, a depressed person wouldn't need this advice. Getting started is very often the whole problem. Sincerely, a depressed person
  - kayodelycaon 4y ago
    Ah, let me reframe what I'm saying. This is meant to apply to any task, including getting out of bed and going to the bathroom. The advice is to break the goal down into the smallest possible pieces and start there. For getting out of bed, I'd probably start with rolling onto my side. It's not a cure. It's not guaranteed to work. It's a strategy for expending as little energy as possible to get started. If you can focus on one small, actionable item, it can help reduce how overwhelming the entire task feels. If you don't have the capacity to do something, there is no advice that will make that thing possible and no one should be expecting you to do it.

This is one of the techniques I use for my depression and it does help me "deal with it". In my case "deal with it" doesn't mean "make me not depressed": I'm still depressed but it does help me turn some some of my bad, hard-to-do-anything days into ok or even occasionally productive ones. And having something useful come out of a day I thought I would be useless is also helpful in fighting depressive thought loops about being a useless/lazy/bad person generally speaking.

drdeca 4y ago

If it helps them, why wouldn’t it help other people?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

kayodelycaon 4y ago

Well, I'd like to know what I missed or got wrong. I'm attempting to cover the common case I've seen and what's worked for those I've helped.

actually_a_dog 4y ago
Well, to start, you're literally saying "to deal with this particular symptom of depression, just don't have that symptom." That's extremely invalidating and completely denies the nature of depression as a condition. It's not something you just "get over" or "stop having." If it was that easy, a depressed person wouldn't need this advice. Getting started is very often the whole problem. Sincerely, a depressed person
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  Ah, let me reframe what I'm saying. This is meant to apply to any task, including getting out of bed and going to the bathroom. The advice is to break the goal down into the smallest possible pieces and start there. For getting out of bed, I'd probably start with rolling onto my side. It's not a cure. It's not guaranteed to work. It's a strategy for expending as little energy as possible to get started. If you can focus on one small, actionable item, it can help reduce how overwhelming the entire task feels. If you don't have the capacity to do something, there is no advice that will make that thing possible and no one should be expecting you to do it.