Self Help For Anxiety and Depression

There are estimated to be 17 million people suffering from anxiety and depression in the USA.

There are varying degrees of depression from the mild blues that we all experience from time to time to severe clinical depression which needs medical treatment.

When you are depressed it isn’t easy to motivate yourself to do anything at all. Sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other seems to take all of one’s strength.

Self help for anxiety and depression is possible for those who are not severely depressed.

First See Your Doctor

If your depression is not so severe as to be incapacitating self help for depression is possible, even though right now it may seem like one step too many. It is important to be assessed by your doctor before you embark on any self help treatments

Your doctor will be able to assess whether self help for your depression is possible for you. Since you are reading this and exploring options then you are most likely a good candidate for self help for your depression.

Cognitive Therapy For Depression

If you are able to explore self help options for depression then one treatment that has been shown to be most effective is cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy for depression helps a person to reframe their thoughts and assumptions. You will need to find a psychologist that is trained in the use of cognitive therapy.

If you can’t find a therapist then a very useful book is The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression: A Step-by-step Program (Workbook)

The theory behind cognitive therapy is that ‘we are what we think’. Your mind accepts the thoughts and interpretations of events that you present to it and thoughts color your mood. In cognitive therapy the therapist guides you to rethink situations so that you are able to come out of your misery and recognize that things are not hopeless.

Once you understand how to use it cognitive therapy can be used as self help for anxiety and depression. It can be a useful tool to help you to reframe and not to spiral into depression again in the future.

There are several other things that will help you to recover from your depression but you may need someone, perhaps a family member, perhaps your therapist, to help you to get started on them. Motivating yourself is the most difficult thing for anyone who is depressed.

The following will help you with your depression and anxiety and are a very important part of any self help treatment for depression and anxiety.

Exercise Helps Depression and Anxiety

Take 30 minutes of exercise each day. Do whatever exercise you prefer such as a brisk walk or an exercise program on a DVD. There are many to choose from at Amazon.com. One that many people enjoy is Wii Fit from Nintendo. This is one that I really enjoy as all the exercises are fun and take your mind off any problems you have on your mind.

Relaxation Is Important

Relaxation is also important because when you are suffering from depression and anxiety you are very tense. Daily meditation is a useful relaxation treatment which will stand you in good stead for the future.

Brainwave Entrainment For Depression

Another less usual self help therapy for depression is brainwave entrainment. Brainwave entrainment helps to change the rate of the electrical pulses that your brain produces. In a depressed person often the brain produces too many right frontal pulses and too few left frontal pulses.

Brainwave entrainment can stimulate pulses on the left side of your brain and slow down the over activity in the right side. This can be done by listening to an audio that plays beta rhythms to the right ear to stimulate the left brain, and alpha rhythms to the left ear to stimulate the right brain. To listen you must of course wear stereo headphones so that each side of your brain receives the right stimulation.

This treatment is not well known but it is well worth giving it a try alongside other self help therapies for depression.

How Eric Cured Depression with Brainwave Entrainment

Brainwave Entrainment for Depression Download