I’ve been dealing with depression (and anxiety) for well over 5 years now. I’ve tried so many different medications and treatments with no apparent success. Inevitably, in the course of the treatment, the doctor will ask if I’m starting to feel better to see if it’s worth continuing the treatment, up the dose, or swap to something else. And… I never know what to say. If it’s not going to get dramatically better all of a sudden, I don’t really know how to recognize any incremental progress if it’s happening at all and without being able to do that, I might be passing on treatments that could have helped if I gave it more time.
So if you’ve been in this situation, how did you recognize progress? To the extent that you can put it into words, what did it feel like to slowly get better as you were treated?
I’ve been having depressions since i was 12. I’m 44 now.
From the beginning i have been able to pinpoint the reasons for my depressions. I’ve been a caretaker of both my parents, leading to financial stress as well. In 2020 my father died, and i decided to cut back the contact with my mother, and deal with my financial problems.
I can honestly say i’m no longer depressed, and i don’t take any meds.
At first, all my days where black. Then they went to grey, and now i have a grey day every once in a while.
For me it helps that i learned to recognize the thoughts that would spiral me down the dark path. I have a playlist of music that makes me happy. I will play it whenever the need arises.
When i was depressed, even getting up in the morning was tiresome, i had no energy for anything at all. Along the way when the depression got less and less, my energy started to return as well. Noawadays i work 40 to 60 hours a day, and i love taking long walks with my dog. For me those where the moments i started to realize the depression started to go away :)