Depression and anxiety can affect even the most well-rounded and happy individual without warning. Because of the social stigma surrounding depression and anxiety disorders, it can be embarrassing to ask someone like a doctor or therapist for help. You can try and tackle your anxiety and depression on your own by making important behavioral and social changes to make your disorder more manageable. By taking care of your mental health, you can restore yourself back to the person you were before your depression and anxiety took hold.
Step 1
Keep an anxiety and depression journal. The purpose for this is twofold. The first is that keeping your feelings and worries inside of you can cause them to multiply and get worse. Writing them down on paper gives them a form, and gives you an outlet to express them. It also can help you identify triggers for your anxiety and depression. It may be a family situation, a social event or even interactions with a single person or job. With your journal you can look for trends so that you can isolate your depression and identify why you feel that way.
Step 2
Identify ways to deal with your anxiety and depression triggers. If it is your job that is depressing you, start looking for one that would be more fulfilling. If it's social situations, take a break from the social scene, and go back slowly when you're ready. Taking a realistic approach to triggers isolates the problems instead of trying to fix the blanket term of "anxiety and depression," which can feel insurmountable.
Step 3
Take the time every day to get some physical exercise. Whether biking, running or going to the gym, a recent study performed by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center found that not only did subjects who engaged in physical activity become less depressed, but they also had less of a chance of relapse over time by continuing to exercise.
Step 4
Check out a few self help books that deal with anxiety and depression. They'll help you to feel that you're not alone in your struggle, and can offer valuable tips about helping yourself deal with anxiety and depression. See the Resources section for a list of helpful books on the subject.
Step 5
Join a support group in your area. The last thing that someone who is feeling anxious and depressed needs to feel is that they are also alone. A support group can give you people who are in the same situations to lean on, and gives you a platform to discuss your condition with those who have been there before. See the Resources section for depression support groups near you.
Step 6
Visit your doctor if your symptoms don't improve after you've employed methods of self-help. Anxiety and depression may need medical treatment if severe enough.
