Integrating Depression Treatment Into Your Daily Life
When you suffer from depression, the mere idea of seeking therapy can seem overwhelming. Once you do get over that hump and start seeing a therapist, you can start to fight back against depression and live your life. However, going to therapy is just the first step. For the therapy to be effective, you'll need to focus on integrating such treatment into your daily life. Here are some ways to do that.
Schedule sessions more often.
Some people go to therapy once a month, or even on rarer occasions as needed. But usually, these are people who have already been in therapy for a while or those who have some mild relational issues to work through. As someone battling depression, the best way to really integrate therapy into your life is to go with regularity. Schedule sessions once a week, or even twice a week. This will allow you to get feedback more often, and it will keep the strategies you learn in therapy fresher in your mind.
Tell your close family members you're in therapy.
You don't have to tell everyone you know that you have depression or that you're in treatment. But it can be helpful to let your closest family members and friends know. When you're depressed, you may be tempted to skip sessions, or to delay implementing what you've learned in therapy. If your family members know what you're going through, they can gently nudge you in the right direction, encouraging you to stick to your appointments and follow the instructions you're given.
Do a little every day.
Sometimes, implementing all of the strategies you learn in therapy all at once can feel really overwhelming. Your therapist may, for example, tell you to exercise more, meditate every day, and start getting more sleep. If you start thinking about doing everything at once, you may feel so overwhelmed you don't do anything at all. So, at first, it can be helpful to set the goal of doing one thing every day. On Mondays, for instance, you might exercise. On Tuesdays, you might always go to bed early. And on Wednesdays, maybe you spend an hour meditating in the morning. Over time, you can start doing these things more often, but by doing them sparingly at first, you give yourself time to adapt.
Seeing a therapist is just the first step. It's important to also integrate therapy and depression treatment into your daily routine, and the tips above can help with that. Contact a facility that offers depression therapy to learn more.
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