This article aims to answer the question: How to prevent depression and how to get rid of depression? Depression is currently a big mental health disorder. It is a disease that predominates in consultations in psychiatry and clinical psychology. It continues to grow: estimates show that depression will be the second leading cause of illness and disability in the world by 2020 and only the cause of cardiovascular disease.

Depression is defined in many ways. On the one hand, depression is generally defined as a mental disorder characterized by persistent depression or loss of interest in any activity, negatively affecting daily life.

On the other hand, depression is a state of energy deprivation accompanied by a decline in neuropsychic tone and psychomotor retardation.

Note that depression is a common pathology in Western countries. It affects 3% of men and 6% of women.

This disorder can be caused by distress that can be biological, psychological, and social. Increasingly, studies show that these factors can lead to changes in brain function, including a change in the activity of certain neural circuits.

The persistent feeling of sadness or loss of interest that characterizes major depression can cause a series of physical and behavioral symptoms. These may be sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, decreased energy, impaired concentration, daily behavior change, or low self-esteem. Depression can also be associated with suicidal thoughts.

How to Prevent Depression?

1. Seek Sufficient Social Support

Depression is uncommon in environments with strong relationships, whether through marriage, family, work, or friendship. Therefore, it is important to be part of a happy family, surrounded by good friends, or have a good work environment, because these relationships are guaranteed against depression.

Indeed, it is worth noting that the people most often living in loneliness are the ones most in need of depression.

2. Maintain an Active Life

It is surprising that a weakened state of mind can quickly change when you are busy with any activity. To avoid depression, take action and find something to do. Visiting a friend or talking with a neighbor might be difficult, but this feeling happens initially. Once the activity begins, you will notice that continuing is easier. Take care of things that make you happy and that are productive and inspiring: do the housework, fix something, or talk to a special person on the phone. If you are physically fit, practice sports or exercise aerobics. In this case, fatigue is the source of health and good mood.

3. Think Positively

Focusing on a thing’s negative or positive aspects results in a tendency more or less to depression. Positive thinking is a habit and must be cultivated to avoid a negative perspective on life. Many people are always focused on the negative aspect and especially cultivate and walk in negativity in thoughts: these people are prone to depression.

4. Look at the past with Caution

The past can be a source of depression or emotional well-being. Instead of thinking about past adversities, remember good times and happy events. Here, depression can be considered as “an excess of the past.” When we cannot overcome our past, it can be the source of depression. If you have some past trauma (abuse, upheaval, etc.), look for a psychologist or psychiatrist who can help you find a way to overcome what happened.

How to Get Rid of Depression?

The treatment of depression is done in two ways: through pharmacology and psychotherapy. In the majority of cases, initial pharmacological treatment is prescribed by a doctor or psychiatrist. At the same time, a psychological intervention plan is followed, which prepares the individual to have relief from depression and prevent it from coming back.

It is wise and sensible to go to a psychiatrist or doctor to find out what treatment we need when we have depression. However, let’s review some treatment pathways that can help you to get rid of depression.

1. Pharmaceutical Products

In some cases, antidepressants may provide relief from the psychic pain and minimize the tendency for suicide that often accompanies the depressed person. Antidepressants act on the chemical activity of the brain with the goal of balancing the activity of neurotransmitters in the brain. In many cases, this relieves the symptoms and can enhance the effects of psychotherapy.

Sometimes it is necessary to prescribe the patient different types of medications until the best is found. A wait of several weeks is necessary to see the results – this is the reason why some patients abandon the drug without medical supervision and aggravate the situation.

In addition, antidepressant medications can produce side effects of varying intensity. Psychoactive treatment is like a regulator on a watch that turns too fast or too slow. The big problem is that it only works at the speed of operation of the watch. For this reason, although it brings pleasure, antidepressant treatment can become ineffective and even dangerous if used inappropriately.

2. Daily Routine

How to get rid of depression with the help of your daily routine? Planning a program of activities is one of the most common strategies used by psychologists. This is a program that the patient will follow for several weeks. The psychologist plans the schedule with the help of the patient’s family. By putting it into practice, the sick individual occupies the necessary time and acquires new behaviors in order to avoid a relapse. A good program of activities should take the following principles:

• Choose more enjoyable activities and avoid, especially in the beginning, those that are considered excessively difficult.

• Look for activities that include a social component. It is better to have a meeting with friends than to watch a movie alone.

• If possible, do not interrupt normal work but continue working or studying by reducing the number of hours and intensity.

• In most cases, manual work is recommended – carpentry, sewing, and gardening…

• Include exercise when the health of the patient allows it. The chemical and hormonal balance produced by pharmaceutical drugs can also be obtained or supplemented with sports and physical activity.

• The schedule of planned activities should be as detailed as possible (for example, one activity from 8:00 to 8:30, then from 8:30 to 9:00, and so on).

3. The Way of Thinking

In the treatment of depression, the patient must intentionally focus on ways of thinking. Those who suffer from depression tend to:

• Have unrealistic expectations and goals. For example, a man deviates depressed because he thinks he has not succeeded in business, even if his business is doing well.

• Report personal failures by minimizing their achievements. A young woman had won a literary contest. When her friends congratulated her, she insisted that few people had come to the contest – or that she had been given the prize for pity.

• Compare yourself to others and feel inferior. A woman had attended a meeting of high school alumni, and when she returned, she was depressed because she felt that the achievements of her former classmates were better than hers.

Indeed, in successful treatment, the restructuring of thought should be included since depression reinforces the individual’s negative thoughts on his environment and the future. The person must avoid all thoughts of inferiority and self-pity. On the contrary, it must reflect on the fact that much of its success depends on what it plans to do and value its personal qualities and abilities.

The person should not focus on imperfections or dangers when considering the environment. It should instead focus on the beautiful things in life and pleasant memories. Certainly, there are many good things to consider. And if there are negative things going on, something should be done to resist them instead of worrying.

4. The Support of the Family

Professional treatment is much better if the family offers support to the depressed person. It is vitally important that if a spouse, child, or another member of the family suffers from depression, the whole family takes the problem seriously. In addition, follow these instructions:

• Listen carefully and sympathetically because it is the only thing that produces a therapeutic effect.

• Never blame the person; rather, treat her calmly and naturally.

• Help the person get busy – plan outings, entertainment, small tasks, etc.

• Encourage the person and nurture the hope that she will come out of the depressive state with dignity.

• Support medical treatment by reminding the patient of the importance of taking medications. Also, avoid doubts such as, “What are these tablets for? Or “Why do you need to go see a psychiatrist?” You are not crazy! “. If you have doubts about the treatment, discuss them with the doctor and not the patient (the patient).

• Expect difficulties, especially if the individual’s condition worsens and he begins to say that life is not worth living and prefers death.

• Watch for the person to eat properly and not use alcohol.

5. Do Something for Others.

The service helps the depressed to understand that he can help others. Thus, he will feel his utility with others. This gives therapeutic encouragement. The person can try to take care of a friend’s child, go shopping for an elderly person, visit someone who is hospitalized or do small volunteer work. By acting in this way, the depressive will forget his own sufferings and discover that there are people who have greater needs than his own.

6. Contemplate the Future with Hope.

If you feel the symptoms of depression, you must understand that the future is not at the mercy of the circumstances and that you play an important role in what will happen tomorrow. Flee all feelings of hopelessness and incapacity. Have hope.

7. Explain Chess with Realism.

Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Analyze situations in a balanced way. For example, if you have not managed to land a particular job, do not think you are useless. Consider rather that it was a hard job to get or that there were a large number of candidates. Next time, try to be better prepared for the desired position.

8. Assume Control of Future Events.

Much of what you feel can be shaped by your choices. For example, if the origin of your problems is related to the family, do not think that there is more solution for your relations. You can do a few things to improve the way you communicate. There are better ways to improve your future.