Coping Strategies

[FootballFan21]

What do you do to cope with those days that are worse than normal? I struggle with finding a coping strategy that gets me out of my extreme depression days, other than contacting 988.

[Rufus07]

I wish I had an answer for you. I too struggle with the same things. You are not alone.

[Existing]

I needed to read this because its what i need to be focused on right now. I'm like the queen of all things 'recovery', but im so out of touch with the world around me and anything real after 8 years of ending up in a horrible state and community that i don't know if i can ever get back out of again. I have been nothing but alone and hopeless, and often drift off (like conscious disconnection or dissociation) just to avoid the pain of being conscious of my actual reality.

But I know better: the less I do for myself, the worse I feel it.

So, Im not sure how much you know or understand about your depression, about therapy tools, about recovery practices. I've been doing this for a lifetime, so let me lead. When I say a lifetime, I used to actually have a life, where I managed my depression. Now, all thats left of my life is depression and trauma related horror. But, why digress,😄 right?

First, what kind of symptoms are you referring to? Like how do you feel on your worst days, meaning now?

For me right now, I cant seem to shake the heavy dark pain of my emptiness and hopelessness in life, thats sits physically in the pit of my stomach. That sucks me in to be consumed by emptiness and hopelessness, and that means that everything around me is tinged with that. So, what I need right now is to find the few things that actually provide any kind of satisfaction. Like what can I get absorbed by right now? Maybe a movie. Or I know that accomplishing something makes me feel good about myself, so maybe I will go wash my car, and get out of the house. Getting out of the house is important, even though it often doesnt make me feel better until I come home. So, maybe take my dog for a walk at a park, since its a nice day.

So, that's how I process. Start by identifying what the "killer pain" is in you, then work forward by developing any possible tools that counteract what's killing you. It will be different for each of us, but as you practice, you will find a couple of things that work better than others. Write those down on a piece of paper, and set that as a future project to gather together those wellness tools in some kind of notebook or folder. What's important is that they are written out and easily accessible. I cant tell you how many times I get into some situation that consumes me with either depression, or anxiety, panic, or for me rage, and by consuming me I cant think about anything else, like what I can do to alleviate those feelings. So, having something already prepared and in a consistent place takes the thinking out of it. Its something Ive used before, so I simply trust myself to use it again (against the background of my mind saying it wont help).

My aim is rarely "this makes me feel better". Its usually "this will prevent me from feeling worse".

Hope that helps. Writing this actually made me feel useful, thus better.