Depression Coping & Self Help -- Developing Relationships

Being able to find the support you need plays a huge role in the road to recovery. Doing it on your own leads to hardships that one may not be able to overcome when fighting through depression solo, although with that, reaching out for help may be one of the reasons to why you are stuck. With isolating yourself from support, you feel lonelier and much more alone rather than breaking through to recovery. Being able to maintain your close relationships and keep active in social activities are certainly important in order to better yourself.

As overpowering as it is to give up rather than attempting to reach out to close family members and friends, you must remind yourself that this is only the depression talking and that these people are the ones who care about you and only want to help.

Reasons to why it's hard to approach people for help:

• You may feel ashamed or embarrassed to talk about it
• Too exhausted to talk about it
• Feel guilty for neglecting the relationship
• Feel that you will be a burden to them
• Don't think anyone will understand how you feel

Whether you relate to one or more of those reasons to why you don't want to approach someone, you mind remind yourself that they love and care about you. They want you to feel better and get better as much as you do.

Here's what you should consider doing:

• Give your trusted family members and friends a chance to help. Try sharing with them with how you feel and what you are going through and in return, ask them for help and support -- trust in them. These people in your life will help get you through your tough times and help motivate you by encouraging you to do better day by day because they know you best.
• Try and attend social activities. Even though you're not in the mood or feel that you would much rather be at home in your bedroom laying in bed, being around people actually helps lift your mood. Whether it's a networking event or even as small as a coffee shop, there are many ways to just establish some sort of way to engage in small conversation to keep your mind off everything as well.
• Join a support group for depression. There are always places within your community that offers sessions with a group of people with the same problem. With a support group, you will be able to discuss your feelings with others who are also going through the same things you may be going through, which in a way can reduce your sense of isolation. With that, you can also encourage others, give and receive advice on how to cope through your own experiences.

You see, the mentality of "no one can help me", "I don't need anyone", or "I don't need friends to help me if I can't help myself" is certainly not true. Try stepping outside your negative shell and approach someone to normalize yourself.
 -A.T.