10 ways to make your experience of depression worse …

Chances are — and I’m going out on a limb here to make a guess — but I’m pretty sure if your house was on fire that you would not respond by pouring gasoline on it.

Did I get that one right?

Pouring gasoline on a burning house would only make the crisis worse and very explosive. Literally!

Most of us know better than to act so foolishly, but we often aren’t as wise about our choices when it comes to taking care of our mental health, and especially in treating diagnoses of clinical depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or just dealing with times when you’re highly “stressed.” In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to be uncooperative with their therapists and purposely take on behaviors that only make their depression worse. Here are 10 things people often do that can worsen their experience of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues:

1. Maintain an irrational and undirected thought life. The greatest mental health issue faced by humanity is the common problem of ignoring deeply-seated patterns of irrational thinking and long-practiced habits of cognitive distortions. Considering our thoughts create our emotions, and our thoughts and emotions together forge our behaviors, then you’ll never get a grip on your anxiety and/or depression until you effectively address the habits and patterns of your self-talk.

2. Add alcohol and/or drug use. Depressed people will often use alcohol or abuse substances in an attempt to lift their depression. But alcohol is a depressant, and drinking only deepens the depression. People who drink or abuse substances while depressed are more prone to consider or attempt suicide. And both alcohol and other substances dulls and muddles your thinking and self-control, reducing your capacity to appropriately deal with depression and other mental health issues.

3. Poor sleep habits. The Harvard Mental Health Letter reports, “Neuroimaging and neurochemistry studies suggest that a good night’s sleep helps foster both mental and emotional resilience, while chronic sleep deprivation sets the stage for negative thinking and emotional vulnerability.”

Actually, a common symptom for people experiencing a mental health disorder is a disturbance of a healthy sleep pattern. But to fuel bad sleep practices while clinically depressed is to invite serious problems with your thought life, capacity for self-control, and reduces capacity for effective emotional regulation.

4. Poor nutrition. It is true that food fuels our body. That ALSO MEANS that food fuels — directly impacts — our brains, which are part of our bodies! What we eat is important for both body AND mind, and a consistent diet of junk food or failing to give your body (and mind) the nutrients they need will impede your capacity to deal with depression and other mental health issues.

5. Lack of exercise. On several occasions I have mentioned that research has proven that for most people a full and consistent personal exercise regimen can be as effective, or more effective, in treating depression and anxiety as is taking medication prescribed for such mental health disorders (and a combination can be highly effective). Your body and mind must have an appropriate level of consistent exercise not just to operate optimally, but just to function adequately; a lack of physical exercise reduces that capacity.

6. Isolation. Research points to the fact that isolation can result in depression. Doing something (isolating yourself) that can cause depression when already depressed is like pouring gasoline on a fire.

7. Not knowing God (or ignoring spiritual disciplines if you do). God literally created us, sustains us, understands us better than we understand ourselves, is capable of healing us of anything, and at the least offers us His strength to endure all of life’s trials and troubles. To ignore or trivialize a relationship with that God when suffering anything (especially depression!) is foolish and robs us of our greatest capacity and hope for healing.

8. Not taking prescribed medication when you should. Sometimes, the root cause of depression is a medical (organic) issue that can be corrected with medication. And even when the root cause may be other (such as your thought life), sometimes the symptoms of depression are so physically and emotionally overwhelming that medication is needed to treat the symptoms while treating the root cause with competent and effective psychotherapy. To not cooperate by neglecting to take medication when needed and beneficial is to directly impede your capacity for healing.

9. Not have, or not draw on, a support system. Professionally and practically, much can be said about the value of having, and drawing on, a support system. But I think the biblical insight about this says it best:

“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken,” Ecclesiastes‬ ‭4:9-12‬.

10. Avoid getting professional help when you need it. There are a few key reasons why people who need clinical counseling don’t get the help they need, such as stigma, they can’t afford it, and lack of available competent service providers. Other reasons are fear, pride, foolishness, and ignorance. The fact remains research has proven conclusively that competent clinical counseling is highly effective at helping most people overcome (or thrive through) mental illness and mental health issues. If you are experiencing depression or any other mental health issue, do not hesitate to seek professional support.

Some good news, you take these 10 negative things and, by turning them around, turn them into 10 things you can do to IMPROVE your experience of depression:

1. Develop a rational thought life and consistently practice rational self-talk.

2. Limit alcohol intake and eliminate any substance abuse.

3. Develop and practice healthy sleep habits and patterns.

4. Make healthy nutrition a permanent lifestyle.

5. Make consistent, adequate physical exercise a permanent lifestyle.

6. Practice healthy interaction with others and foster healthy relationships while still practicing appropriate and healthy times of being alone.

7. Live every day as a faithful and obedient disciple of Jesus Christ who consistently practices core spiritual disciplines.

8. Cooperate with your physician or therapist by taking all medications as prescribed.

9. Develop a support system from which you draw on appropriately.

10. Get professional when needed!

Scotty