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Depression, anxiety, stress, anger P.T.S.D. What are your coping mechanisms?

LightSun

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Do you suffer from any intense emotion such as depression, anxiety, stress, anger P.T.S.D., etc. What are your symptoms? What are your coping mechanisms?


"This is the difference between depressions and sorrow-sorrowful, you are in great trouble because something matters so much; depressed, you are miserable because nothing really matters." J.E. Buckrose

"It’s been troubling me. Now, why is it that most of us can talk openly about the illnesses of our bodies, but when it comes to our brain and illnesses of the mind, we clam up. And, because we clam up, people with emotional disorders feel ashamed, stigmatized and don’t seek the help that can make the difference." Kirk Douglas
 

Frosty

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I suffer from several things. My coping mechanisms have definitely improved over the years and over the amount of therapy I have gotten with the help of medication too.

Really the best copig mechanism I have is trying to remind myself- when I feel frustrated by myself... not to hate myself. That just because Im struggling it doesnt mean anything less about me, that even when depression is telling me Im a horrible terrible sinner (really that happens- Ill start feeling REALLY guilty for no reason- and thats something Ive had to work to deal with because my other coping mechanisms of self punishment... not good)

If you are interested in sharing your overall experience too I made this thread a while ago,

Mental Illness- Share Your Experience :)

Whatever you are comfortable with, just thought Id post it
 

Lexicon

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PTSD here. What’s worked for me may not for everyone else.

-Deep breathing. Slows my physiological responses down, which in turn slows my mind down. Initially, this wasn’t enough to slow things down. Extremely low-dose Xanax helped. I didn’t feel drugged, I just felt sane. The world snapped back into focus and I could feel the ground beneath my feet. With cognitive behavioral therapy combined, I didn’t need the meds, after awhile.

-Mindfulness exercises. Focusing on the concrete here and now. Sometimes just narrating in my head what is in the room around me. Then moving on to identify the people in the room, and the situation at hand. Helps make the distinction clear that now is separate from then. That my body’s reacting to a conditioned thing. But everything around that is past and gone. And I’m okay.

-Reaching out to people I love and trust when I’m too overwhelmed.

-Stepping away and scribbling my stream of consciousness onto a notepad.

-Steady routine of good sleep, nutrition and exercise. Healthy baseline, so when I’m knocked off-kilter, I tend to “recover” faster. Revert back to homeostasis. Might merely be coincidental, but every little bit helps, I think.

I’ll add more if I can think of them. So much of it is automatic, at this point.
 

prplchknz

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Depression here and as long as it's not too bad and can catch it in the beginning i distract myself whether its spending time socializing, drinking (usually both). perhaps not the best coping skill
 

Chad of the OttomanEmpire

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I have experienced depression, anxiety, bereavement, rage, and possibly PTSD all within the last 10 years or so.

Depression was like...what they say on most medical websites. Low mood, outward anger, fatigue, restlessness, lack of appetite, sobbing for hours on end, suicide ideation, etc. Not in a special snowflake way...like, there was no mistaking these symptoms because they took over my life. Seeing the words just written there doesn't do justice to the amount of physical and emotional torment an episode can create. It lasted about 6 weeks before leaving me in a cloud of melancholy for several more years. I'm not sure I have totally recovered even at present.

Anyway, the only reason I didn't kill myself was because I was in Japan at the time and couldn't obtain a gun and couldn't read jars to determine what was poisonous. The knives in the dormitory I stayed at were too dull. Etc. The only thing that helped me was simply to develop an inner "parent" that would get me to do the things I was too depressed to do. "You have to eat at LEAST half this sandwich". "You HAVE to do your laundry today". "You must go to work today, or you won't be able to afford to escape this horrible island".

Sometimes someone will tell you to "befriend" your depression...well, I did that too. I used it to come to new insights about myself and my life, to explore the more emotional side of life, to contemplate on love and compassion, to plumb the depths. It was a trip in its own right. I realized that this depression was there as a response to abuses past, and that it was simply a part of nature running its course. In its own way, it was beautiful...too bad most people will never understand that and would be offended at the suggestion that depression could have its own beauty.

I experienced intense existential anxiety during my depression, where I was afraid to make any moves in life since they'd only fuck my life up even worse. For about 2.5 years I was hysterically terrified to the point of paralysis and only moved when life pushed me to do so. I don't claim this is the best coping strategy, but I was already struggling with depression, come on. Breathing exercises didn't help because it wasn't the kind of anxiety where you get an attack--I was just seriously afraid of life and making decisions in it.

Another issue I dealt with, prior to this, was thyroid disease. I can't even describe how physically awful this was, but I'll tell you it lasted for years, and it had the effect of making me preternaturally angry. Angry as in, if I'd been in a developed country, I'd have been arrested for disorderly conduct or something. After I got robbed, this got about 100 times worse. I used to carry a knife around waiting...just WAITING for someone to look at me funny so I could kill them. I mean that too. I was a literal sociopath, I am not exaggerating. The depression took much of that away, but due to recent issues, there's been a lot more anger.

So currently, I take tentpoles to a bunch of old boxes I have in storage. I sword fight them when the anger gets too much (I have bruises all over my hands and sore arms as I type this because of it). I do shaking meditations and breathing exercises when I finish fighting. I exercise. I can't let myself go back to what I was in Cambodia. That's for sure. I may never be able to hold a job--but at least I'll be able to say I overcame myself.

Bereavement, I mean, I didn't even know what to do, let's not discuss it. It ended up with a horrible lawsuit against me that I lost catastrophically and now I will not receive an inheritance...how the hell do you cope with that even? I told you about sword fighting boxes already. I'm just going to walk away when the summer is over. My mom says I'm "running away", but I think there's a point when you've just got to cut your losses and walk away from a toxic situation.

PTSD...I don't think I have PTSD. My mother thinks I have PTSD (which is why she put me out on the streets, my problem to deal with not hers) but I don't have flashbacks or any other symptoms. I'm simply a person bitter with many reasons to be depressed and angry, and I'm disillusioned with life, with far too many traumatic events in my past. Consequently, I don't know how to cope with PTSD as I don't believe it's mine.

One other thing that helps me cope--don't laugh--is tantra. I don't have any partners, so I just do the breathing exercises and physical fitness regimens and meditations and stuff. Also, the jade egg. I don't have a choice. The nature of my depressive episode basically means I'm going to kill myself if I don't persist with these practices...I won't get into the details here, but I'm basically doing this at some sort of internal gunpoint. It's my religion, and it brings me closer to God.

I forgot to mention one thing, which is therapy. I can't typically afford it, but I'm currently in the UK trying to get a degree. And I get free health care as a student, and affordable care with the NHS. So, I've been trying to apply that this summer and see what they can do since I've had so much trauma and am so angry and so unmotivated in life. My most recent session, the councillor said that I could improve my life by doing one small task a day--eg, clean off the table, clean up rubbish, wash all the dishes, nothing too ambitious--and it would restore a sense of empowerment and accomplishment. I've been doing that for 10 days, and damned if she isn't right.

So, tantra, jade eggs, sword-fighting boxes, meditation, small accomplishments, and accepting depression as a teacher and developing an inner parent. Pretty much that.

Was that too weird? Idk, hope it answers the question. Hope it helps someone. Can elaborate more if necessary, I'm just kind of hungry and spaced out right now.
 

LightSun

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There are many lows. They are as if Dante's Inferno and his called levels of hell. One can conceivably sink. Then to their horror sink even further, ad infinitum.

Every day we wake refreshed and in a sense we are a brand new totally new person with fresh dreams, fresh vigor & fresh hope. Sleep is like the mini-death. We awaken with fresh insights on how to deal with our daily problems as well fresh visions on how to attain our dreams, which are extremely important. Without dreams what is the point of living? We need a future, a new vista and horizon to propel ourselves onward into the mysterious future. Sometimes frightening, mysterious, and captivating all rolled up into one.

"How I deal when facing conflicts: (1) Problem solve and do not complain or blame. (2) Refocus on another task. This gives one a sense of accomplishment, can help recharge and give time for a solution to become manifest. (3) Don't dwell, ruminate and go in a circular defeated pattern. A new fresh perspective is needed. To dwell on a negative one sinks in quicksand of one's own suffering. It shows lack of skill with cognitive mindfulness."
 

LightSun

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Truth or unproven myth?


(17) "When it is darkest, men see the stars.” Ralph Waldo Emerson


"I have journeyed through many travails in my own lifetime and have felt despair in my life. I could easily interject another adjective in lieu of dark. I could say I've drowned in the depths of despair. I know of serious mental health afflicted individuals that metaphorically live in darkness. For some it is like hell on earth. They are not able to appreciate the beauty of the world because of their affliction. Now this is not to say not to hold on to hope. It's just when one is caught in a maze seemingly without exit that time's can be dire. No person knows another fully or for that matter completely. Experiences by the individuals I describe can only be surmised by one's who have gone on a similar path." LightSun
 

The Cat

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Every day we wake refreshed and in a sense we are a brand new totally new person with fresh dreams, fresh vigor & fresh hope.

Really? Everyday you wake up refreshed with the idea that; in a sense you are a brand new person, totally? With fresh dreams, vigor and hope? Every day you die to yourself, and some new person goes sauntering away from your bed in the morning?

Am I understanding that correctly?
 

Yuurei

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Sometimes but I don’t have an official label/diagnosis/ of any of the current common issues for it so no one gives a shit.

Instead I get to listen-from the sidelines, feeling ostracized and completely invalid as a human being-to a group of hundreds echoing,and i would say, even circle-jerking ti the meme of “ No one understand meeee! “

The irony is, this is the cause of it all. I'm a very resilient easy-going person. In my early days I always figured " Hey, everyone has their lot in life and this is mine" until I was sent to "Group *shudder* That did mote damage than anything.
If people would just give me the damned time of day rather than making me feel as if am so awful as to not deserve even a sliver of consideration that they keep spouting “ everyone deserves!” I would be a very happy individual.

You do not have to be a drug addict, suicidal, a self-harmer, or to have suffered one of the "ailments of the week" to know depression and anxiety. Every human being needs a support system.
A sense of crippling loneliness - as in constantly feeling rejected, unwelcome, unwanted, like the whole world wishes you’d just shuttup and go away already-is damaging to even the healthiest ego.

As for a coping mechanism, I have none. What am I supposed to do? Scream at everyone to pay attention to me like some angst-ridden teenager? Good Lord no, I can't imagine becoming such an insufferable twat.

I have a lot of pent-up energy which needs to be released. I would LOVE do to something physical and competitive but that’s out of the question.
I think I could even settle for competitive gaming but I am miserably uncoordinated so that isn’t an option. My only option is to stew in my own frustration until it becomes a migraine.

Really? Everyday you wake up refreshed with the idea that; in a sense you are a brand new person, totally? With fresh dreams, vigor and hope? Every day you die to yourself, and some new person goes sauntering away from your bed in the morning?

Am I understanding that correctly?


Yeah, I’m all for a positive attitude and all but this some bullshit right here.
 

LightSun

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Really? Everyday you wake up refreshed with the idea that; in a sense you are a brand new person, totally? With fresh dreams, vigor and hope? Every day you die to yourself, and some new person goes sauntering away from your bed in the morning?

Am I understanding that correctly?

In each day a new opportunity is feasible. I in fairness can have down times. I have this optimism and will to go forward though, so I don't let life stop me.
 

The Cat

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In each day a new opportunity is feasible. I in fairness can have down times. I have this optimism and will to go forward though, so I don't let life stop me.

I see. Thank you. I wish you luck. ^_^
 

Luminous

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gotta get that sweet serotonin

Mmmm. Serotonin.


Seriously, that's pretty much it for me. Other things might help, but in the end, I needed meds to really help with my problems. Deep breathing, trying to change thoughts that further anxiety, talking to a therapist, exercise, friends/family all helped somewhat, but not enough.
 

1487610420

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Mmmm. Serotonin.


Seriously, that's pretty much it for me. Other things might help, but in the end, I needed meds to really help with my problems. Deep breathing, trying to change thoughts that further anxiety, talking to a therapist, exercise, friends/family all helped somewhat, but not enough.

 

Dreamer

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Mmmm. Serotonin.


Seriously, that's pretty much it for me. Other things might help, but in the end, I needed meds to really help with my problems. Deep breathing, trying to change thoughts that further anxiety, talking to a therapist, exercise, friends/family all helped somewhat, but not enough.

Y’all have fun with your serotonin, I’ll be taking my dopamine out for a run later tonight to get my high. We go back, way back. I literally ran from my problems growing up. Once you reach a certain point while running, you reach a mental clarity, and I tend not to find that many other ways.

Answering this thread, ya, running (lately I’ve replaced that with skateboarding), losing myself in thought also tends to help a lot, whether that be a daydream of something fanciful or one of three landscapes I’ve constructed in my head that I like to return to where I find my inner calm, but essentially, my coping mechanisms tend to be strategies that temporarily pull me from a situation so that I can isolate emotionally from it and return to an inner peace that I had before some trigger or episode. Once I’ve reached that inner calm from that initial spike in emotion, then I address the situation much more level headed and with fortitude in resolving it either immediately or by setting the wheels in motion towards more long term goals of desired outcomes.
 

The Cat

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Gotta get my serotonin, Gotta get my dopamine... what does this remind me of?
The future is now!
 

Mole

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When I am stressed, distraught, in pain, anxious or depressed, I do isometric dancing to rock n roll, or swing until I start to feel high again.
 

Maou

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When I feel like killing myself, I go watch anime or write. But my biggest coping mechanism is probably hearing things, and instantly forgetting them. It just goes straight into subconscious processing and compartmentalizes everything. I don't evenknow whats there unless the topic comes out and I peer into its contents. But each box, is pandoras box and they are best left closed.
 
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