Helping Ourselves

Things to do to help yourself in a crisis

• Write in a journal every day that you are able. You don't have to think about HOW you are writing, but WHAT you are writing. Even scribbling, words that make no sense, is journal writing. No one else can/will read this. A good way to keep progress/regression.
  
  
• Remember that although your feelings and symptoms are very frightening, they are not dangerous or harmful..
  
  
• Do not fight your feelings or try to wish them away..
  
  
• Do not add to your panic by thinking about what "might" happen..
  
  
• Notice that when you 'stop adding frightening thoughts to your fear', it begins to fade..
  
  
• When the fear comes, expect and accept it. Wait and give it time to pass without running away from it..
  
  
• If at all possible, find someone to talk to whom you can trust, and let them know that you will do the same for them. If you don't know who to turn to, suicide hotlines can be helpful, even if you are not suffering that badly yet.
  
  
• No matter what the weather's like, not too seriously though, go out for a walk, just moving and changing where you are can make a difference
  
  
• Read, anything you want to read. Fiction, spirituality, biographies of people who have suffered from depression/manic depression. (eg., Winston Churchill, William Styron, Kay Redfield Jamison, Martin Luther) Too many to list.
  
  
• Sleep if you need rest. See if what you have been doing before changes how you sleep.
  
  
• Try screaming, preferably in a place where it won't frighten anyone or get you in trouble, you could also try hitting things to let off a little steam
  
  
• Remember to eat; avoid sugar and caffeine if they change how you feel. (brown rice is known to have calming qualities, as well as whole wheat breads, cereals)
  
  
• Sing and dance, in the middle of your living room. If you are worried about the neighbors, draw the blinds. Or you can go for a drive and sing to the top of your lungs in your car.
  
  
• Get plenty of sunshine and fresh air, look at the sky, look at the clouds, pull weeds, you can even name them and pull them out of existence, at least for that moment.
  
  
• Clean the house, mow the lawn; your brain may not want to do this, but remember our bodies are healthy. Try it, but don't push yourself.
  
  
• Break large tasks into small ones. It's okay if you clean bathroom one day, pick weeds next day, read and clean kitchen one day, etc.
  
  
• Expecting yourself to be perfect is UNREALISTIC. If we were all meant to be perfect, what a boring world it would be!
  
  
• Educate yourself about your illness. The Internet has multiple sites on mental wellness, as well as the library, bookstores, anywhere you go, ask your doctor for books.
  
  
• As you learn more, you will learn more tools to help yourself through the down moments, which we all know will return.
  
  
• Do not do more than you can handle.
  
  
• Uneducated people, who do not know about these diseases, may tell you to "snap out of"; that is not possible. You cannot "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" because the bootstraps don't exist. Remember, a person cannot "snap out" of diabetes or "snap out" of a heart attack.
  
  
• Try to remember your thoughts at times are irrational. Depression causes us to think negative thoughts. Do not accept your negative feelings as being true. If these thoughts take over, and lead you to consider suicide, call your doctor, go to the hospital; SUICIDE IS AN IRREVERSIBLE ACT which has at its base in negative thoughts and pain.
  
  
• If you are on medication:
  • Take it as directed, stay on it as long as indicated.
    
  • Avoid stopping medication without discussing it with your doctor.
    
  • Check mixing medications. Ask the pharmacist; they are well equipped to know what will work and what will not. (e.g. St John's Wort has been proven scientifically to make depression worse if taken with Prozac or Zoloft and could interact badly with other medications).
    
  • Except in an emergency, check insurance/mental health coverage about coverage for meds.
    
  
  
• Tell your doctor/counselor ANYTHING you think they need to know; side effects, different meds?, past history of mental illness, etc.
  
  
• Keep your appointments. "being too sick" is part of our negative thinking.
  
  
• Avoid alcohol, drugs. They only serve to make your illness worse.
  
  
• If you can, get a pet. They listen without telling you what to do, they love you and seem to know when you need love. Cats are more acceptable to landlords because they are quiet and clean. If you are allergic, get a stuffed animal!
  
  
• Stand up straight, do deep breathing and stretching or listen to calming music
  
  
• Taking supplemental vitamins can help your mental health as well as your physical health. Vitamins and minerals can also lessen the side affects of prescribed medications. Don't forget to tell your doctor how much your taking, he might want you to adjust the vitamins or your medication.
  
  
• Try to remember that you've felt this bad before, and it didn't last forever, and it doesn't mean there's something dreadfully wrong with you.

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