Help needed with any techniques or advice

[Dani1993]

I am really struggling with depression and anxiety at the minute. I am able to hold a full time job but other than i am struggling. I am trying to find some self help material and i have been taking antidepressants. Has anyone got any material, techniques or herbal remedies they can share?

Does anyone just suddenly start to feel so low and don't know why and they become angry at their partner because they start to overthink everything?

[EndUser13]

Irritability or outbursts of anger happen to the best of us but more so when we're stressed. I've had my own issues with anger from time to time but that's my own PTSD related stuff.

I generally do not get overly depressed but I think I could write a short book on all the various things I've tried to help cope with anxiety.

Deep breathing techniques (anything to stimulate your vagus nerve) has been particularly helpful to me when I am in the midst of a panic attack.

I like to rationalize things, I'll go through my symptoms (sometimes talking out loud to myself) and consider- is this a normal reaction to stress for someone who has panic disorder? Have I felt this way before only to see it pass in time? What is different from this experience compared to previous panic attacks? I often ask this last one because there aren't a lot of differences, it's a way of reminding myself that it's just anxiety.

Long before a therapist suggested it to me, I'd tell myself three things every time I began to feel anxious. Relax your breathing, relax your muscles, relax your mind. If I calm my breathing down it will slow the release of adrenaline and stress hormones. I have had a habit of tensing my muscles up to the point they'd be sore after I had an attack, so that's a simple reminder. A practice I've found useful is focusing on flexing muscles in one part of my body at a time. It offers me something I can actively have control over and promotes overall relaxation as well as getting out some tension.

The relax my mind is perhaps the most difficult part, but it's basically rationalizing things, trying not to make a big deal of the fear I feel, and reminding myself that this WILL pass!

I've used a variety of other simple little things from playing with water in the bathroom sink to doodling or playing with an app on my phone. Ideally, if you have something you can have control over when you feel so out of control, it helps bring you back from the fear a bit. I make sure it's a simple process too so I don't feel overwhelmed.

more recently I've been solving simple math problems, it engages a part of the brain that is more separated from your fight or flight response while making your brain work in a logical manner while offering a distraction. I'm horrid at math so I've found that to be a great trick for me.

Anything that is simple, which you have control over, and helps distract you might be well worth trying out.

Sorry for the long response... I'll stop now 😅

Good luck and keep trying various things until you find a helpful distraction!

[Dani1993 in reply to EndUser13]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. You have given me some great techniques that i will put to the test. Thank you

😀

[EndUser13 in reply to Dani1993]

Hang in there and keep trying various things, you'll find something!

[Whiskers16]

You are doing amazing to be holding down your job with all this going on. Give yourself a pat on the back