How To Overcome Depression – 12 Self Help Therapies That Work

Are you or a loved one feeling depressed?

Here are some self help therapies which you can use to help fight and beat depression – and become a happier person again.

Keep A Journal; Pen Your Thoughts And Feelings

Many people who have successfully fought and beaten depression report the usefulness of keeping diaries. Do understand that keeping a journal is not some teenage activity. Instead, done correctly, this habit has the ability to help you organize your thoughts as well as to spot depressive patterns which could be creeping into your daily life.

Sometimes, life just seems like a blur because so many things are happening and so many thoughts are flooding our minds all the same time. By penning these down, we would be better able to obtain some perspective into what’s going on, and thus be in a better position to identify which are the more important aspects we would like to focus on.

Very significantly, writing in a diary or journal almost serves as a way of “mental and emotional detoxification”. Your diary is your listening ear, and unlike when we speak to friends and family members, in this instance, we can spill out, quite literally, all our thoughts. Usually, there are inhibitions when we speak to other people, having to be careful about certain things which cannot be said. When “speaking” to our journals, however, we are free to express our thoughts and feelings very openly. Once expressed, negative thoughts and emotions no longer remain cooped up within us, where they usually contain to drain life away and do much damage to our mental and emotional health. Such “detoxification” goes a long way in helping one to recover and heal from depression.

Keeping a journal, therefore, helps greatly on two fronts – getting rid of certain negative aspects, as well as being a positive driver for certain good elements.

Listen To Music

It is sometimes said that music is food and tonic for the soul. And this is regardless of whether or not you are a music fan.

Think of a scary movie you have watched. Or a thrilling one. A happy show. As well as a tear jerker. What tool do the directors use to evoke the wanted emotions in their audiences? Yes, you got it right – they use music.

Music can alter moods, help a person to better understand his or her emotions, encourage self-expression, as well as help to improve one’s self esteem.

Some years back, a study was conducted at Stanford Medical School. 30 persons who suffered from depression were randomly allocated to 3 groups; one of the groups saw a music therapist, one used music therapy but without the aid of a professional, while the last group did not benefit from any form of music therapy. The results were positive in favor of music therapy, with the research showing that such intervention helped to boost moods as well as self esteem.

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