4 Ways to Take Control of Your Anxiety and Depression

If you suffer from anxiety and/or depression, it can be easy for these illnesses to take over your life. If untreated, they can cause an internal struggle that feels like a never-ending battle.

While it may be difficult to fully beat anxiety and depression, there are four ways you can ease your symptoms and reclaim control of your life.

1) Enriching Education

One of the reasons that depression and anxiety are so unmanageable is because these illnesses convince us that they’re not worth fighting. We often believe the voices that tell us we’re stuck in these mental states, and there’s nothing we can do about it. However, we can beat our brains by learning more about why we’re anxious and depressed.  

If you are dealing with anxiety or depression, do some research about the causes, effects, and possible treatments for these illnesses. Understanding why these illnesses occur can help you feel more in control of your symptoms. Here are some important things to know about anxiety and depression:

• They are legitimate illnesses – you should seek treatment as you would for any other sickness
• You are not alone, and there are plenty of treatment options. Do not feel discouraged if the first one you try does not work for you.
• The recurrence rate for depression is high. While you may struggle to end your depression, there are effective ways of coping.

Understanding why we feel so helpless is often the first step towards moving forward.

2) Consistent Exercise

In cases of mild and moderate depression or anxiety, exercise has proven to be an effective means of coping with these illnesses. The reason exercise is so good for lessening symptoms is because it releases endorphins, which are feel-good chemicals for the brain.

Exercise can be a meaningful distraction from what may be causing your anxiety or depression. It fosters increased confidence by letting you expel negative energy and work hard to meet fitness related goals.

This isn’t to say that exercise is a replacement for other forms of treatment. If your symptoms are unrelenting, enlist the help of a medical professional who can tailor a specific treatment to your unique needs.

3) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT is one of the most effective treatments for depression. It can be effective on its own or even accompanied by medication. CBT works by helping you acknowledge the negative thought patterns that cause your depression to flare up and making room for healthy thought patterns that challenge those feelings of sadness. CBT helps patients combat overwhelming feelings of hopelessness, regulate energy levels, and eradicate suicidal thoughts.

Dedicated wellness centers like www.neurowellnessspa.com focus on lessening symptoms of anxiety and depression using CBT methods. Consulting with a team of experts is an effective way to combat these mental illnesses and feel less alone. They also offer Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, and more.

4) Mindful Medication

While some may not advocate for medication as a treatment for depression, it can be an effective tool if your depression is severe and other forms of treatment are not working. Antidepressants work by targeting norepinephrine, serotonin, or dopamine receptors and balancing certain chemicals in your brain.

With antidepressants, it’s important to be patient and try various types if one isn’t working for you. It can take several weeks for the effects to kick in. Also, you may experience side effects like:

• Nausea
• Weight gain
• Insomnia
• Fatigue
• Loss of sexual drive

There are other possible side effects, but these are a few of the most common. Most of these symptoms will disappear over time.

If your depression is severe and other forms of treatment do not work for you, consult a medical professional and ask if prescription antidepressants are right for you.