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- Take the medication you are prescribed exactly as your doctor
tells you. If you had strep throat, chances are that you would
take the prescribed antibiotics as directed. That’s not to
say you definitely won’t experience any uncomfortable side
effects, and if you do, be sure to tell your doctor. A good psychiatrist
will listen attentively to you when you speak, both about possible
side effects from medication as well as to your thoughts and feelings.
If he or she seems to be paying closer attention to the clock
ticking off the fifty-minute session than to you, find another
doctor. You deserve better.
- If you are fortunate enough to have close friends or relatives
you feel you can confide in to discuss your depression, go ahead
and do so, but use discretion and save the really detailed elements
for your therapist.
- Remember that you know yourself better than anyone. That doesn’t
mean don’t be open-minded to different ways a therapist may
suggest for viewing yourself, but if he or she says something
you know to be way off-track, tell the therapist. If the therapist
fails to consider your point of view, again, go find yourself
another doctor. Trust your instincts. You may be depressed, but
you still have your intelligence and that must be respected. Please
remember to always be your own best advocate, and if you are too
ill to do so, find a relative who will fill this role for you.
- Don’t put yourself down in front of others. With your therapist
you should certainly admit how bad you feel about yourself, but
remember that old saying about not being a doormat because people
will walk all over you.
- Try to keep the clutter to a minimum in your living and work
space. When you are depressed, your mind is already cluttered
and unclear; it is helpful to have organized surroundings. Not
that you have to be neat as a pin. Surround yourself with objects
that comfort you. If you have no one to hold you and you need
to be held, wrap yourself in a thick comforter. The gentle pressure
can be soothing, as can warm water in a bathtub.
- Doing a craft or art project can be helpful, too. I am certainly
no artist, but I do find doing paint-by-number canvases helpful.
And this does not have to be a silly, paint-the-fluffy-bunny-pink
project. Right now I’m doing a multicolored, very detailed
artist’s rendering of London in the fall. I think what’s
helpful about paint-by-numbers is seeing and using color (in my
worst depressions, all of my senses get dulled) and maybe more
importantly, gives me a sense of control. Depression can make
your world feel like it is spinning out of control and literally
staying within the lines and creating something pleasant can feel
like an accomplishment.
- When your depression lifts, and you will get respites, if not
total recovery, you will feel a happiness and contentment that
people who have never experienced major depression probably don’t
know. I think it’s very much like a baseball player who swings
a bat with weights on it, and once the weights are taken off,
he feels a lightness that batters who haven’t swung with
the weights on don’t experience.
  
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