Mental first aid

What sort of things do you do to lift yourself out of a mild depression?

Alcohol will do the trick. And the day after I just eat lots of junkfood och play videogames.

okh, alcohol, junk food and video games can just make things worse...

I watch Japanese or Korean dramas, very funny... not a very healthy way of coping with it either..
or I come to this forum, or any other interesting places online..
or read a good book, especially if the day seems sucky..

going for a walk works wonders if you can make yourself go...

eating something nutritious and delicious (yes healthy food can be yummy too!! ) helps too.. (you may just be lacking some essential vitamins/minerals - eg magnesium, calcium, B vitamins, omega 3.. - so if you're lacking them any natural food with these and no sugar and ideally no artificial additives can be good..)

journalling/CBT or EFT/TAT can help too, or talking to someone who knows what I'm talking about and can relate.. or at least be understanding/sympathetic..

Try to think of other ways than using food, alcohol or drugs. They only help you in the short-term but sort of prolong the situation which isn't what any of us want.

I tend to distract myself as best as I can using CBT techniques or just making sure that I am fully in the present and not in my head.

I could go and play with the cat, make some tea, do a chore, walk to the shop, listen to the radio, read an article or light a candle.

exercise is one of the best ways to do it.. you don't necessarily need to go to gymns or work out completely.. just something physical that'll move your body around is good.

Well... I normally really don't do anything except brood (which kinda makes it worse but I have a bad habit of self punishment of pretty much scolding myself whenever I've done something wrong which is normally the case whenever I'm depressed. Be it small or big)

I know one time I made a bad decision of getting chocolate covered pretzels during my vacation time when I should've listened to my boyfriend and had just not have asked for anything for my dad to buy for me unless it was healthy from the store. Nevertheless, I have such low-will power that I ate like a quater of the bucket and felt horrible for it.

Pfft... And choloate is supposed to make you feel better. I proved that wrong..

My boyfriend only told me not to get it because he's worried about my health. (but I always tend to succum to temptation of food. I really made me feel guilty. :/ )

I mean.. I'm not really fat but it's just that fact that a lot of the things my parents by for me and my siblings are very unhealthy. My mom almost never buys fruit or veggies because she can't stand them (they actually gross her out more then bugs do. o-o; )

*back to topic* I know I should try to make myself feel better when depressed, but usually I just hide in my room and cry, yelling in my mind of how stupid I am for whatever reason. Good god... No wonder I'm the way that I am...

Usually the things that you don't want to do are best for you during a bout of depression, at least in my case. I have to push myself to be active in any way possible, socially active, physically active or mentally active. I choose activities by their mental 'aftertaste'. Sitting on the couch watching stupid tv feels just fine in the moment, but the aftertaste is very blah and depressing. Cleaning up the kitchen sucks in the moment, but the mental aftertaste is 'cool, got something done, place looks much better." I also make it a point to eat healthy and make sure I get enough sleep when I start to feel depression knocking. A change in scenery and fresh air is always good as well. The exhaustion of the depression itself makes it easy to permit laziness, junk food, self pity and withdrawal, but that will only make it go from mild to worse. In my case, it leads to a quick spiral towards suicidal thoughts, so I've learned to keep my depression in check before it gets bad.

If you want to quickly lift your mood without getting intoxicated, try Kava. It's an herb usually found in tincture form which has a fairly subtle but definitely noticeable mood lifting effect (this is coming from someone who thinks most "natural remedies" are nothing but placebos). It only lasts about 10 - 20 minutes though, but for me it can break the depressive mental loop so that I can find something else to occupy my mind.

Imagine yourself on a beach in the tropics. Gently waves are breaking near the shore. The sun is beating down, which is keeping things at a pleasant warm temperature. You walk along the beach, dipping your feet in the water. The water is slightly cool to the touch, but very refreshing. You see an ice cream buggy stopped on the beach. Perfect, you are feeling slightly hungry and an ice cream would go down nicely. You order your ice cream and sit down and watch kids playing happily on the sand, building sand castles and swimming in the shallows. Someone is sitting eating fish and chips nearby, and the sea gulls are hanging around, squacking and hoping to get some pickings.

After a while you decide to go for a swim. Although the water feels a litlte cool as you enter, your body quickly adjusts to to the temperature and it feels perfect. You just chill out there until you are ready to come out. Once you are out, you dry yourself off and then go to a nearby cafe for a coffee or tea.

This makes you feel totally relaxed and at peace with the world. It has been a great morning / afternoon at the beach and you are ready to go home, knowing that getting out and about on this gergeous day was so worth the effort.

Going for a walk in the forest, watching a good movie, something to change your thoughts.

meditation

a bike ride, or a hike in the forest

sex