How Do You Deal with Depression Around Christmas? 163
SleepyHappyDoc asks: "Lots of people around the world seem to experience more sadness and depression around the holiday season, than in other times of the year. There could be any number of reasons why this is, but my question is: how do you deal with it? Have you managed to find any coping strategies or activities that make things feel less bleak?"
I mutter two phrases... (Score:1)
Various methods to try out (Score:3, Insightful)
2) Eat chocolate (add in magnesium food supplements too, if you like)
3) Use a full-white-spectrum lamp
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, I'm married and wouldn't trade it for the world, but I've had years of relationships that went down the tubes because the people I was seeing at the time weren't right for me permanently. And that little subtlety can make you more depressed than anything around this time of year.
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:2)
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:2)
The "exercise" advice is first-grade bullshit. It may helps the guy a bit sad because he broke with his gf the week before, but it will NOT help somebody with a real depression. It may even worsen the situation.
When you start to have real depression syndromes, stop looking for grand-ma advices on the web and see a "modern" MD (and not one of the old school for who depression is nothing serious). Drugs can be the only way out, and taking drugs for a while does not mean you will be under prozac for the rest
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:2)
2. Comfort eating is NEVER the answer.
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:2)
That chemical high only lasts about half an hour. For the record I go to work every day on the bike, in the rain and dark, and it's absolutely miserable. Most of the time I hope to be run over. I don't have any stamina, and I'm as fat and non-muscular as I've always been. There's nothi
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:2)
Re:Various methods to try out (Score:2)
Re:.... 4. (Score:2, Funny)
SAD bad or mad (Score:5, Informative)
A depression around winter time in the northern hemisphere can be caused by a few things :
1: Seasonal affective disorder
If you suffer from a condition such as Bipolar affective disorder then chances are you will also suffer from Seasonal affective disorder , just keep taking the Medication and supplement it with some time by a solar lamp (Again see your doctor)
2: past trauma/upseting events/Loss of a loved one etc. : Any upsetting event around this time of year can be amplified due to the fact that most people appear to be having a good time . Feeling alone and miserable at a time when everyone around you is so happy really does tend to make things feel a whole lot worse .
Talk to people about , find a support group , anonymous if you need to if you can then surround yourself with family and friends, but do not suffer in silence . Just accepting the Depression can be catastrophic for your health.There are many people out there who will be more than happy to help.
Your doctor will be able to point you in the right direction , that is what they are there for
3:Mental illness : If you suffer from a mental illness and feel that symptoms are worsening around this time of year then immediately talk to your doctor . Chances are they will supplement your medication or find some other way to help you .
It is important that you speak to someone and do not feel silly about it if you have to go to a doctor . You are not wasting there time and depression can be a serious illness , but there are many many remedies which can really help. Do not suffer in silence.(sorry to repeat myself)
This is by no means professional advice and may not even apply to you , but if you do feel any of it applies to you then see your doctor as soon as you can .
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:5, Insightful)
It took me a long time to accept that depression is in fact an illness, and not just me being the social reject I saw myself as. (The fact that I had (many) friends who were confused as fuck as to why I kept putting myself down never seemed to register
I'm still having to remind myself that its an illness, that its something that's going to pass and that what I feel now about myself is NOT how the rest of world sees me. But with friends/family it is possible to get past this crap (and it is crap - its just that the subjective nature of depression makes it hard if not imppossible to realise this.)
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:5, Insightful)
The other problem is a perceived stigma attached to these things , and true enough there may be some but the stigma is a problem with the people who look down upon it , not the sufferer .
Most people these days will recognise it is an actual illness and will help you or understand , depression is more common than one would think.
SAD(seasonal affective disorder) affect around 2 in 100 people and regular depression affects around 1 in 10 of us regularly , Even conditions such as Bipolar disorder and sever unipolar depression is not uncommon (though far rarer ) , chances are you know someone with one or almost all of these conditions .
If you know someone you think may be depressed then talk to them about it and offer a friendly ear , just be careful how you word it (you don't want to put them on a defensive ).
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:5, Insightful)
Depression will require either medication in the case of pure clinical depression .
therapy (may only be a friendly ear to talk to ) and perhaps medication if it is due to a real world experience such as loneliness or loss .
Or in the case of SAD , It may require Medication and therapy but will most likely be helped by a solar light.
A lot of people will advise just getting out and having a good time , which is great and can help
This is why it is important to see a doctor , they are trained to help people with these things (as are many nurses that help run clinics , plus a few volunteers )
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:5, Insightful)
> people with these things (as are many nurses that help run clinics ,
> plus a few volunteers )
I know a lot of folks who are anti "medication for depression" because someone they knew had a bad experience. Not all doctors are made the same. There are a lot of pill pushers out there who listen to your problems for 5 minutes, prescribe the med-du-jour, and call it good.
The trick is to find a good M.D. psychiatrist who both understand meds and does weekly therapy sessions. Finding the right med for each person is a trick of balancing side effects, and all of these med can have bad side effects. If you get it right, it can be wonderful, but gets them wrong and you will be worse than you were originally.
btw, I'm on a combination of Wellbutrin and Lexapro, and it works wonderfully for me. And I see my therapist once per month like clockwork.
jfs
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
I am on Lamotrigin and venalafaxine after a long search for some combination that works well , luckly I had a rather good doctor who almost instantly refered me .
Re: SAD bad or mad (Score:4, Informative)
In addition to the pill-pusher problem that I snipped, anti-depressant medicine has come a long way of late. Bad experiences of 20 years ago are completely irrelevant.
An honest doctor will tell you that not every anti-depressant works for everyone, and there's a chance that none will work for you at all. So it may involve trying one for a few months (yes, it can take that long to have any effect even if it does work for you), ditching it and trying another for a few months, repeat until (hopefully) you find one that works.
Also, anti-depressants aren't passive fixme pills. You've got to make up your mind that you're going to try to make it work. This may require giving up some bad habits that are contributing to your problem.
If you visit a doctor who prescribes something without going in to all this, tear up the prescription and go see another doctor.
Runs in my family (Score:2)
Re:Runs in my family (Score:2)
b) Depression isn't just about chemical unbalance, it's about the physical environment around us that creates that imbalance. This ties into (a) of course, but it goes a bit further. Your body is in many ways a complex and misunderstood machine. If you don't grease all the gears right it might not run properly, and the grease required for various people differs.
There's also a sort of feedback loop in depression. Emotion is a combination of hormonal balance and brain state. Each affects the other. Some p
Positive (Score:2)
Re:Positive (Score:2)
Equally, I didn't mean to imply that those measures won't work (they certainly DO work for me). It's a fine line to walk between making people think they're somehow weak for using anti-depressants and making them think anti-depressants are the only way.
I found that with enough meditation, it's possible to see the emotional effects of the hormonal balance as 'just a chemical thing' rather than as a genuine emotional state. Once that's done, it's a lot easier to shrug it off (which breaks the loop and makes
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:3, Interesting)
The "depression is a chemical imbalance" theory [time.com] is not as rooted in research [intenex.net] as the drug peddlers would like you to beleive.
My own experience: years ago I asked my doctor about SAD. I wasn't even asking her about treatment, just "do you think this is real, or just another trendy diagnosis-of-the-moment?" T
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
About three years ago this summer, I started receiving acupuncture. When winter rolled around, I asked my acupuncturist about seasonal depression. She gave me a "duh!" look and pointed out that animals are supposed to be less active in the winter. It is not a disease to feel less energetic this time of year! Of course there's "feeling less energetic", and there's "debilitating, crushing, want-to-slit-my-wrists depression". The later is certainly a serious problem requring less subtle intervention, though I
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
It's the _only_ time of year that people are forced to face the financial music - which [we] American's are notoriously bad at doin
+1 Funny -1 Offtopic (Score:2)
Q: Who are the Strong Brothers [homestarrunner.com]?
Not to make light of this discussion or anything... my girlfriend is taking medication for depression. It works mostly, but she's 1000 miles away from her friends and with family she doesn't get along with, so she's having a rough time. She's coming back tomorrow
Re:+1 Funny -1 Offtopic (Score:2)
Depression affects you even when you are cm's away from those you love
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
In fact, as compact flourescent bulbs are now available fairly cheap, just changing most of your lights to high output 20+W CF bulbs can make a difference. The difference between 'I can see well enough to read' and 'almost bright enough to grow tomatoes inside' is noticeable for me at least.
"most people appear to be having a good time."
Mmm. Appear. Heh. Frankly, I'm starting to have trouble finding anyone who doesnt actually mor
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
Seasonal affective disorder
That is probably a leading reason. I have had that problem myself. For me, the single most effective remedy is GET SOME SUN! Go sit in the sun during lunch. When the sun is strongest for the day, stand facing directly into the sun, but close your eyes to avoid damage. Do that until you feel your face getting warm. Even 5 minutes a day helps a LOT. If you have no sun where you are or if the weather makes being outside impossible, there are various full spectrum light panels tha
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
No, but it shore is fun naw, 'aint it?
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:3, Insightful)
Ever heard the expression, "No matter where you go... there you are." Well---no matter what you do, you're still you. It's not always that easy to shake something off.
Depression is often biological. You don't know how many active, creative, productive, happy people I've known who have hit one of the change-in-body-chemistry ages (13, 18, 24, 45) suddenly seem to have no control over their energy level.
As for medication, nobody rea
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:4, Interesting)
Though I have done volunteer counselling to help many many people with a wide array of conditions , sure a few peoples depressions are caused by their lifestyle and a few others are not helped by it . To say that this will help all depression is frankly wrong.
Many people I know who suffer from long term chronic depression do live an active lifestyle and socialise but this is facilitated due to medication and other forms of therapy , the getting out and enjoying yourself is part of being cured not the cure .
The last thing you want to do when horribly depressed is to get out and socialise .
Depression in its many forms are recognised medical conditions , do not confused being depressed with having depression.
Everyone gets depressed it is only natural and for a lot people just getting out and getting on with things will help , however for those with clinical depression or one of the other forms of the illness this is simply not an answer .
Being depressed is not an illness , it is a symptom , it can be a symptom of many many things
The problem is when you can not get rid of the depression and it impairs your life , even if you know what is causing the depression and have resolved the issue the best you can , it is then time to seek medical advice .
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:5, Informative)
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:3)
If were not feeding our body the right nutrients how do we expect it to work correctly?
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
I have seen people suffering from severe disabilities being pawned off as just a bit down or Angsty .
Being a wuss is nothing to do with it , I know many many tough bastards who suffer from these conditions .
Re:SAD bad or mad (Score:2)
prescription for depression year round (Score:1, Informative)
Year round!Some are naysayers,asserting that it is a depressant itself.Its always worked for me!Its kept me off prescription meds for decades now.Merry Christmas,go light a yule blunt!
Re:prescription for depression year round (Score:2)
Festivus (Score:2)
Festivus [wikipedia.org] for the rest of us!
I take medication... (Score:3, Funny)
Dr. Phil (Score:5, Funny)
Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started and never finished."
So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning. I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Bristol Cream, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some saltines and a box of chocolates with the rest of my Smirnoff and Xanax.....
You have no idea how freaking good I feel.
Re:Dr. Phil (Score:2)
Bah... (Score:1)
Heavily.
np
Re:Bah... (Score:2)
Sadness is realistic? Depression = inner conflict. (Score:5, Insightful)
First, ask yourself if the sadness and depression is realistic. Is your connection with other people far less than is required to meet your needs? People in the U.S. culture often have families in which the members are very disconnected from each other. It's healthy to feel sad about that.
Second, depression is caused by inner conflict. To relieve depression, you must resolve inner conflict. The fake methods of dealing with depression don't work, they just delay the intensity of the problem until later.
I don't agree (Score:2)
People in the U.S. culture often have families in which the members are very disconnected from each other. It's healthy to feel sad about that.
I don't agrree with that at all. If your life is depressing because you are not near your family, then it is high time you formed a *new* family, closer to where you live.
Of course, by family I mean a tight circle of friends with whom you can socialize and lean on.
Which is all a real "family" is anyway. The idea that just because you share some DNA with someone th
There is no disagreement. (Score:2)
I was talking about a REAL fix. (Score:2)
In my comment, I was talking about a REAL fix: Read the Recent Great Books [futurepower.org]. See the section "Understanding Your Inner Self" I especially recommend The Primal Scream: Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis [amazon.com].
Realize the true meaning of Christmas (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it's not scientific, but I can say that since accepting Christ, I have experienced very real and tangible peace, hope, and understanding that gets me through every second of every day.
If you hold even the slightest shred of possibility that God could exist, consider taking some time to simply ask God to reveal Himself to you. Don't expect a burning bush, but in your heart, ask Him to help you reveal Himself to you. Worst case, you waste a few minutes of your prescious time. Best case, your eternal destiniy will be sealed.
Re:Realize the true meaning of Christmas (Score:3, Insightful)
This does not mean however that all depressed atheist/agnostics should go out and join a church , but if you are a believer in something then remember that as well as doctors there is the members of your community to talk to
Joining a faith is no miracl
Re:Realize the true meaning of Christmas (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope it doesn't, but there are a lot of judgemental people here who mod something as troll simply because it's not what they want to hear. I don't consider myself a Christian, but I am a Quaker. I was an athiest and even, at one point, a fundamentalist. Faith can be a very important factor in life. There is also a gulf between faith and science, and both sides often have a poor understanding of the other (just listen to comments in the recent Intelligent Design debate to see how the ID people have no clue about the scientific method). Science describes what can be explained through nature and faith is a way of understand what science cannnot explain. The two should not be entangled or confused, but a focus on one should not, out of ignorance, preclude a focus on the other.
As someone who was deeply depressed, I'm glad that you foudn a way out and added something valuable to your life. It is not the same faith as mine, but that does not make one right and the other wrong. If it works for you, that is great.
But I wouldn't be surprised if many here indicate they don't understand the point of faith.
Re:Realize the true meaning of Christmas (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually there is scientific support for this idea. In his book The Pursuit of Happiness, David Myers* cites a correlation between faith and happiness. The bullet-point version from his web site: "For many people, faith provides a support community, a reason to focus beyond self, and a sense of purpose and hope. Study after study finds that actively religious people are happier and that they cope better with crises." He has several articles about happiness [davidmyers.org] online, which make for some interesting reading.
*If you've taken an introductory college Psych class, there's a good chance you used his textbook.
Re:Realize the true meaning of Christmas (Score:2)
Re:Realize the true meaning of Christmas (Score:2)
Re:Truth. The red pill. (Score:2)
Re:Realize the true meaning of Christmas (Score:2)
Liquor and drugs (Score:2)
Go to a doctor. (Score:2)
It is working fantastically well.
Re:Go to a doctor. (Score:2)
Re:Go to a doctor. (Score:2)
Re:Go to a doctor. (Score:2)
as to the comment about me being in for quite a ride - what do you mean by that?
Re:Go to a doctor. (Score:2)
Program like hell is the best way to beat the blue (Score:2, Interesting)
Ever kippled? (Score:2)
That's an old solution to the problem, and a very effective one I might add. A helpful distraction.
THE Camels hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the Zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.
Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,
If we havent enough to do-oo-oo,
We get the hump
Cameelious hump
The hump that
What I do and don't do... (Score:2)
Also, making sure at night to have the lights on early seems to help, but then I spend a lot of my time near some home aquaria that have both "plant" and "sunshine" bulbs, so it could be a simil
Re: (Score:5, Funny)
Re: try celebrating Hanukkah (Score:2)
Get away from your family (Score:2)
We had a couple hang with our family over the holidays, and they had a great time for the first time in years. They both come from families that were broken up by divorce, and normally get put through the guilt ringer.
Yelling (Score:2)
Get cured! (Score:2)
tips for the hermit (Score:3, Informative)
I live almost 45 degrees north, so to help compensate for the lack of daylight, I set a couple lights in the house on timers to simulate summer daylight hours. So it's always light out (in the hallway) when I wake up at 6:30am. I assign myself some projects, including some I'll enjoy for their own sake (e.g. write that short story I've been mulling over in my head), and some that I'll enjoy having finished (e.g. clean the kitchen). I drink, but with a strict cap on the quantity.
I've developed some private holiday traditions. I buy myself a Solstice present (new digital camera this year). Every New Year's Eve since I stopped going to parties (which I only enjoyed when my partner was there with me, and he's not any more), I've spent the evening alone with a bottle of wine and some yummy snacks, doing something to "freshen up" my living space (e.g. reorganize my bookshelves, move the furniture around in the living room, relocate the server farm to another room).
Re:tips for the hermit (Score:2)
Re:tips for the hermit (Score:2)
One word - Bourbon (Score:3, Insightful)
How do I deal with Christmas depression? (Score:2)
Oh, and I'm an insensitive clod, thank you very much.
Assuming we aren't talking clinical depression (Score:2)
(1) Climate, especially northern latitudes. You may not have seasonal affective disorder, but you might be affected by it.
(2) Diet. If you have any tendency toward metabolic disorder at all, your blood sugar levels are probably haywire.
(3) Stress. For many, getting ready for christmas, and the massive pressure it puts on you to measure up. You're probably trapped with a bunch of people (f
A few resources (Score:2)
Have a Cup of Tea (Score:2)
Similarly, we need to recognize that we are not dependent on others 'to make us happy' nor are they dependent on us for their happiness. Face it, no one can make you happy and you can't make anyone else happy. P
Christmas / New Year On Your Own (Score:2)
I ate what I wanted when I wanted. One year I tried goose for a change just to be different
I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas as I bought my own presents
I could watch what I wanted on the TV without fights over the remote
There were no fights between relatives, just me and the cat
Obviously this isn't everyone's idea of Christmas, but Christmas on your own isn't as bad
Still working on it (Score:2)
Well, my family celebrates Christmas, and while I like playing Santa Claus, I've moved well away from the whole religious impact myself. I'm actually investigated conversion to Judaism, so that perhaps colours my vision a bit.
From my experience, most of the issue comes down to expectations of happiness. I have relatives who like to play the 'big happy family' game. They expect everyone to grin and be happy and pretend we all get along on everything. And that, my friends, is really hard when you keep hearin
Minimize expectations, exercise freedom (Score:2)
Negotiate a truce with your family and friends so that gifts are only bought for small children. (And only spend a little bit even then, so they won't grow up with unreasonable expectations of Holiday Magic either.)
Use some of your time off (if any) to visit family and friends, but use some of it selfishly as well. Write that program, read that book, or take a nap and kill some tim
Season or Holiday? (Score:2)
I believe that the more acute problems people suffer around the holidays is due to the hype (interpersonal as well as commercial). It leads to expectations far greater than the results. Anyone who's experienced that anticipates it, and so it affects them even before the holidays arrive.
Don't use drugs! (Score:5, Funny)
No. Not really.
Get Out Of The House (Score:2)
learning to live with self (Score:2)
works for me. (Score:2)
Then drop a shot of whiskey into your mug and down it quick. Repeat. You'll be flying high and ready to cause some trouble by midnight. Bars're good for that, so head out and make some new friends.
Oh, and turn that soothing music off. That stuff's for sucks.
It's NOT a depression!!!! (Score:2)
I wished people would stop saying "I'm depressed", when they feel down. Depression is a state of mind I wish no one, as it is absolutely debilitating!
You can't get shit done, if you are actually depressed. If you can get yourself out for a walk, you are NOT depressed. If you can make yourself something to eat, you are NOT depressed. If you can't do what you would like to do, bloody get over yourself (if you were depressed, you would
Holiday Project (Score:2)
Also a little bit of introspection around new years to direct my next year.
Stress-free Christmas... (Score:2)
Re:Pretty simple... (Score:2)
Re:Pretty simple... (Score:2)
Re:Pretty simple... (Score:5, Insightful)
Depression is an illness, has been proven and has predictable, measureable effects.
Telling people to get out sounds good, but it's just a way of blaming them instead of acknowldeging there is a problem and this often makes them mroe depressed. If the parent poster, and the others in this thread don't believe that, then maybe a little research would help.
Re:Pretty simple... (Score:3, Informative)
Studies have shown that living a healthy lifestyle decreases your likeliness of getting depressed even if you are naturally prone to depression. It may be a chemical imbalance, but your body can easily be teased into manufacturing more of the chemicals you need to stay mentally balanced. Exercise often, even if you are already within your normal BMI, get plenty of sunlight, keep a norma
Re:Pretty simple... (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes. I should have mentioned that, but I was trying to be brief -- and, to be honest, as a human, it is easier for me to talk about what I had and what I had to deal with in patients when I worked in treatment. In those cases, SAD was never an issue, so, to be honest, sometimes I overlook it.
Studies have shown that living a healthy lifestyle decreases your likeliness of getting depressed even if you are naturally prone to depression.
In general I agree, but there are often uncontrollable factors. If you're trying to be healthy, but have an extreme work situation, that can overwhelm all the other points -- and once that "overwhelming" starts, it can be a very rough downward spiral, leading to not caring to exercise or keep a healthy focus.
One point I've heard, but haven't seen tested, is that it can help to get sunlight around either sunrise or sunset so the body's clock will be reset to the current cycle. I know this works for travellers dealing with jet lag, and I've heard it can help depressed people refocus their cycle, but I have yet to see any proof or talk to someone who tried it with depression in mind.
Sleep patterns are important, but can be disrupted easily and if there is any stress or any other trigger, for someone prone to depression, that can create the downward spiral I mentioned.
Personally, for me, the one big thing that made a difference was when I finally got control of my life, which included getting rid of bitchy girlfriends (or even ones that just treated me poorly), and getting out of jobs where I had little input and starting a business where I actually had control over what happened and there was a direct link to my decisions and work and their effects on my life improving. Now I don't even get sick (unless I work to exhaustion) and don't take any medication other than 2-3 aspirins a year.
But it is still easy for me to remember what depression was like -- the lack of energy, the inability to care about anything, the struggle to get out of bed each day, the emotional and physical pain, the sleeping for up to 16 hours a day, and, especially, and worst of all, the idiots who wanted to blame me and thought all I had to do was "just snap out of it."
BTW, thanks for an insightful post -- especially your last 3 words! It is frustrting to see, in a forum where most people are supposedly well educated, so many post by people that want to "blame the victim" and say things like, "Just stop feeling sorry for yourself."
Re:Pretty simple... (Score:2)
Re:Pretty simple... (Score:2)
And part of my point is that often does not work. If someone is clinically depressed, they don't have the energy to deal with seeing other people. They barely have the energy to get out of bed and get to work each day. Dealing with other people can seem as huge a challenge as climbing a mountain and often a depressed person simply does not have the energy to face it or even enough energy to care enough to consider it.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Informative)
Telling a depressed person to "quit feeling sorry for yourself", or to "just deal with it," or to "get over it," or to "get out and do things" does NOT work. I never believed this until I went through it. Depression means emotional pain a person who hasn't been there can't believe or undrestand. It often means physical pain, sleeping many hours a day (for me it was 14 or more!) and a lethargy that is almost unbelievable. You can give a person like that medication, but then they often don't care enough or don't have enough energy to remember to take it regularly. While symptoms vary from person to person, a person with clinical depression is usually literally incapable of doing anything other than laying around and feeling sorry for him/herself. Think of a person so depressed they don't see a chance of life getting better and can't imagine things being good enough that the pain is bearable. They have no reason or motivation to take their meds or to do anything to get better.
That is what clinical depression is like and for most, they simply can't do what you suggest. The only way out is often only to go through it (and not suicide) or meds -- assuming there is someone to make sure meds are taken when needed until the patient is doing well enough to keep up with them or that there is a way for them to make sure they get all the needed meds, even when too tired to care about them.