Alleviating your depression after treatment can help you from slipping back into old habits. This is an especially important aspect of your aftercare plans because you want to prevent feeling blue and continue to live a normal and healthy life. You have already gone through a tremendous amount of change and have addressed multiple issues regarding your past, present, and future in treatment. However, now that you are embarking on a lifelong recovery journey outside of treatment, how do you ease your depression if the symptoms arise?
Depression is a mental health disorder that makes you feel sad or hopeless that can be difficult to avoid. It’s normal for you to have your ups and down from time to time. However, when the difficulties are affecting your ability to have a happy life, you may be more inclined to struggle with depression.
Depression causes sadness and other negative effects on your overall quality of life, draining your motivation. It can start at any point in life and is a sign of weakness. Depression can be caused by various circumstances, including particular memories, negative emotions, or personal stress triggers.
Some other factors that trigger depression can include lack of health, obesity, major life changes, interpersonal conflicts, early withdrawal from treatment, grief, or the wrong treatment modality. If you have previously experienced depression, you are more susceptible to a potential reoccurrence of the disorder.
Fortunately, the good news is that you can spot a few signs of depression before it gets worse. Some of the warning signs that can signal depression can include:
It is vital to your aftercare plans to consider if you’ve had depression in the past to find ways to cope with moments of depression and prevent it from growing in the future.
After you left treatment, you were advised to have a plan to continue managing your coping mechanisms. This may have included meditating, attending support groups, performing regular exercise, maintaining your nutrition and diet, and staying mindful of yourself. If you are looking to alleviate the warning signs of depression, you need to remember your options and aftercare goals.
Some strategies to mitigate depression symptoms include:
If you still struggle with finding ways to alleviate the signs of depression, you can make use of multiple resources available anytime you need. You can speak to your friends and peers, contact hotlines, contact your treatment or healthcare provider, or engage in educating yourself about the effects of depression and the methods that have worked for others.
However, no matter how you choose to embark on different activities and engage in your goals, you need to be mindful of yourself. You need to remember you deserve self-respect and have come so far with your journey. You are already better prepared to push through depression.
You have gone through recovery, which is a huge accomplishment. When you experience the early signs of depression, remember you have already accomplished a more difficult task, and your depression is something that you can handle because you are powerful.
The more you understand about depression, the better prepared you are to prevent it from occurring in your life. However, one of the most important parts of your aftercare plans is to understand the challenges and changes that you might be going through. You can always request additional guidance to help relax your mind by joining support groups or engaging in mindfulness practices.
Some of the approaches to manage depression can include yoga, walking, bike riding, swimming, reading, gardening, bathing, cooking, creating arts and crafts, doing chores, getting a massage, seeing a movie, learning about new arts and culture, and meditating. These helpful ways to climb out of depressive moments may not always be easy, but if you take the right steps and use the coping mechanisms learned in treatment, the distractions can help you alter your moods and improve your mental state.
Sometimes, just going for a walk and getting fresh air can help alleviate aspects of depression. Finding the right activities and distractions during moments of feeling isolated can prevent depression from taking over. If you interact with loved ones and stay engaged in social activities, the ability to push these thoughts away is possible. However, make sure to get enough restful sleep to restore your brain. Allowing your mind to engage in sleep-based restoration is a therapeutic approach to alleviating aspects of your depression.
At NorthStar Transitions, we understand how difficult it can be to navigate life with depression. We offer treatment services to help you with mental illnesses like depression. Our approaches include meditation and various treatment modalities to help clients understand the core concepts of co-occurring disorders and addiction. If depression is something that you are concerned about, then you need to reach out to the right people to help you. Multi-faceted treatment approaches can help you with depression. Our entire team provides compassion and comprehensive care to empower you with cutting-edge clinical deliveries and new school approaches. We care about you and what you are going through. Our acupuncture, mindfulness, music therapy, crystal therapy, somatic experiencing, sensorimotor therapy, and other modalities help clients find ways to navigate life healthily. In the mountains of Colorado, NorthStar Transitions is here to help any client that struggles with addiction and depression. For more information, call us at (303) 558-6400.
