10 Ways to Stay Depression Free

[hunter]

1. My #1 is to build a support system AND take meds with crappy side effects.

Without powerful meds and a sturdy support system my life always turns to shit.

I blew out my knees "working up a sweat" by obsessively running when I was young, often in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep.

No meds = extreme nightmares = sleepless obsessive thoughts = eventual psychosis.

For milder sorts of depression, certainly these ten items of advice are helpful. But it also plays into our culture's toxic "paste a smile on your face and pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps" fallacy. People with severe mental health issues can be harmed by these sorts of advice. They'll follow this advise and still crash. If they start blaming themselves for their own "failure" it can start cycles of self-destruction.

My natural brain chemistry is fucked up, it's as simple as that. If I don't take meds I end up in a very dark place. Worse, if I don't take meds the very first thing that flies out the window is my ability to judge my own mental state. That's why I need the social support system. I need people around who I normally trust (I don't trust ANYBODY when I'm in my darkest places) to tell me I'm sliding.

I never want to be my crazy grandma being dragged out of her home by the police and paramedics, kicking and clawing and biting and screaming all the way. But that fear also goes away in my dark place.