Anxiety and depression relief methods

Currently, the core principles for alleviating anxiety and depression recognized by clinical and psychological circles are "prioritizing physiological regulation, adapting cognition to individuals, and supporting social support." There is no one-size-fits-all solution that applies to everyone. If you have typical symptoms such as low mood, loss of interest, disturbed sleep and appetite, and unexplained fatigue for more than 2 consecutive weeks, you must first go to a regular mental health center for screening and follow the doctor's instructions for interventional drugs or professional psychological treatment. All self-help methods can only be used as supplements and cannot replace professional intervention.

To be honest, many people look for high-end methods of "mindfulness meditation" and "cognitive adjustment" when they first start. In the end, they become more and more anxious. In essence, they skip the most basic physiological adjustment. I once met a client who was a sophomore. He only slept 4 hours a day for a week in order to catch up on a competition. After that, he always felt flustered and unable to concentrate. He read online tutorials and forced himself to do mindfulness for an hour every day. Instead, he kept blaming himself because he couldn't sit still, and he almost collapsed emotionally. The advice given by the psychiatrist was simple: put down all tasks first, sleep 8 hours a day, and go out to eat two hot pot meals of her choice. After a week, her mood was mostly improved. There is actually a high degree of consensus among practitioners in different fields on this point: Stability of neurotransmitter and hormone levels is the basis of emotion. When cortisol reaches its peak, no matter how much you build yourself mentally, it will be useless. Don't believe in the chicken soup that "runs 3 kilometers a day to cure depression." People who reject exercise and force themselves to run for two days will only become more frustrated because they cannot complete the goal. If you really don't want to move, stand by the window for 3 minutes in the sun, take two more steps when collecting water, or even squat on the roadside to pet a stray cat for two minutes. As long as it can make you relax a little, it is considered effective.

Once the basic physiological system is settled, the next thing to deal with is the thoughts that are constantly spinning in the mind - but this part is actually the most controversial, and the opinions of different schools are quite different. CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) counselors will teach you to identify catastrophic thinking such as "I can't do anything right" and "I'll be doomed if I mess up this time" and try to replace it with thoughts that are more consistent with reality. Many of my Internet friends have tried this method. Writing irrational thoughts on sticky notes to refute them one by one can really quickly interrupt emotional internal friction. However, consultants from the existential school will tell you that there is no need to rush to "correct" your emotions. Anxiety and depression are a normal part of life. Just like a cold and a fever, the body is sending signals. If you suppress it hard, it will cause problems. What impressed me deeply was a client who was a designer. In the past, she always forced herself to "not be anxious but to be positive." On the contrary, the more depressed she became, the more uncomfortable she became. Later, every time she got emotional, she would take a notebook and write, "I just feel bad right now. It doesn't matter if I feel bad. I'll just stay with myself for a while." On the contrary, she calmed down faster. Both methods are supported by a large number of clinical cases. There is no right or wrong. You can use whichever one you feel comfortable with. There is no need to force yourself to meet a certain "politically correct" adjustment standard.

Oh, by the way, there is another point that many people overlook: don’t regard “relieving anxiety and depression” as another KPI to complete. I've seen people do mindfulness with a stopwatch on, and then they scold themselves for not doing enough for 20 minutes today. ； Some people list a page full of adjustment plans, and then fall into deeper self-attack before completing them. This is completely putting the cart before the horse.

Let’s talk about social support. Don’t listen to what the Internet says about “talking to more people and socializing more.” If you find the wrong person to talk to, you will be hurt twice. If you tell someone who doesn't understand emotional problems at all that you feel uncomfortable, and he says "You just think too much" and "Don't be pretentious", it will hurt you more than if you hold it in yourself. If you are afraid of society, you don’t have to force yourself to deal with people. You can raise a cat and a pot with lots of meat, or even find an account in a tree hole where no one is and talk about it. As long as it can make you feel that "I am not carrying this alone", it can be considered an effective support system. What’s interesting is that many times, taking the initiative to provide a little help to others is much more useful than waiting for others to comfort you, such as picking up a courier downstairs and helping a neighbor, or answering a small question online. That small, effortless sense of value is sometimes more effective than ten sentences of “I understand you.” This is also a conclusion that has been verified by positive psychology.

As for the popular saying on the Internet that "anxiety and depression means having free time and getting better when you are busy", we should actually look at it separately: for mild emotional problems caused by having too much free time and falling into a sense of meaninglessness, finding something to be busy can indeed interrupt random thoughts.； But if you have reached a moderate to severe condition and it is difficult to even get up to eat, and forcing yourself to be busy will only accelerate your exhaustion, there is really no need to bear it. I myself was anxious about catching up on a project for half a month. I tried various Internet celebrity adjustment methods. In the end, I found that the most useful one was to take a 10-minute detour after get off work every day and watch the old man playing chess on the roadside. I didn’t need to use my brain or force myself to “get better”. I just stared at the chessboard in a daze. On the contrary, it was much more relaxing than sitting at home doing mindfulness.

To put it bluntly, the method that can really help you is never a high-level standard answer. I have seen some people copy the Diamond Sutra for 20 minutes a day to relieve their emotions, some people go hiking in deserted wild mountains once a week, and some people like to go home from work and unpack express bubble noodles. Essentially, they are all looking for something that can temporarily distract you from the chaos in your mind and don't have to judge yourself. Don't worry about whether this method is "correct" or "effective". If you feel a little more comfortable when doing it, then it is a good method for you.