What are some ways to relieve depression?

Catch your emotions first, then talk about changes. Don't force yourself to "get better immediately". This is the prerequisite for all methods to be effective.

A sophomore girl came to me before. She couldn't even get out of bed when she had an attack. Her family members urged her to go out for a walk every day and play more with her classmates. Instead, she was forced to not even want to eat. I didn't make any requests to her. I just said that when you wake up one day and lie down and feel uncomfortable, try putting your feet on the edge of the bed so that the soles of your feet touch the floor. You don't need to do anything else. She only tried it on the third day. On the day after she tried it, she actually sat up and drank half a glass of iced Coke. Later, she told me that the moment her feet touched the floor, she suddenly felt, "Oh, I am still on the real ground, not wandering in those random thoughts." This is actually what cognitive science calls embodied conditioning. You don’t need to make grand plans like running three kilometers a day or reading a book. Instead, give your body an extremely small and completely unburdened positive feedback. It is much more effective than saying "You have to cheer up" a hundred times. After all, if you force yourself to cheer up, you will not be able to cheer up. Instead, you will have an extra layer of guilt of "Why am I so useless?", which makes matters worse.

If I were in a better state and could go out of the house, I wouldn't have to force myself into social situations or force myself to interact with people to find happiness. Last month, I accompanied a friend who was diagnosed with mild depression and squatted in the park for half an hour watching ants carrying bread crumbs. The two of us didn't say ten words during the whole process. Before leaving, she picked up a ginkgo leaf with an edge that looked like a small fan and stuck it in the phone case. Later, she told me that every time she touched the phone and touched the leaf that week, she felt soft inside and not so congested. To put it bluntly, it’s about finding a stress-free “sensory anchor.” It doesn’t have to be a meaningful event. It might be the rustling of sycamore leaves in the wind, the coolness of the ice soda in the convenience store touching the back of your hand, or even the soft weight of your cat stepping on your stomach. These small details that can bring you back to the present from the tossing of negative memories and panic about the future are all helping you to slowly move out of the emotional quagmire.

Many people have also asked me whether I need to talk to more people. There is really no standard answer to this. I have met many people who insist on talking to family and friends, but are told "you are just too idle" and "stop thinking nonsense". The mood becomes even worse when you turn around. If you don't meet someone who can steadily catch your emotions, writing in a circle of friends that is only visible to you, talking to the flowerpot at home, or even recording a voice and then deleting it immediately is better than talking to someone who doesn't understand. There are also many people who are resistant to taking medicine. They always feel that psychotropic drugs have serious side effects and cannot stop taking them. I have to be honest about this. If you have not been able to sleep well or eat for more than two weeks in a row, you will not be able to do the things you liked before, and you will even feel that you are living. Righteous, don’t carry it on, go to the psychiatry or psychology department of a regular tertiary hospital for evaluation first, and listen to the professional doctor’s advice on whether to take medicine and for how long. The side effects of taking medicine according to the doctor’s instructions are far less terrible than you think. If you carry it on until it becomes severe, it will take more time and energy to adjust.

In fact, I have always felt that depression is like accidentally getting caught in a cold rain that has no beginning and no end. You don’t have to run forward even if you are wet, and you don’t have to blame yourself for not bringing an umbrella. You can squat down and wipe the water off the toes of your shoes, and find an eaves to hide for two minutes. It doesn’t matter if the rain subsides before you leave. You don’t have to do the “right” thing. Your life itself is good enough.