Recovering from depressive episode

We often talk about triggers and the agony we endure during depression episodes , but not much is spoken about what happens post-episode. You know, during the “recovery” phase. That period where you’re just expected to pick up the pieces and carry on with life until the next episode hits. When you experience a depressive episode , especially if it’s severe , you are robbed of all the things that aid recovery.

For example, your levels of energy and motivation may plummet.

Doing anything beneficial or ameliorative takes a huge amount of effort. Alarmingly, many recovering depressive patients are often unaware of the long-term consequences of a maladaptive lifestyle, which include dysfunctional thought, chronic life stress, interpersonal friction, and inadequate rest. Major depressive episodes are believed to leave a substantial impact on many aspects of patients’ lives for a long.

Antidepressants have been shown to reduce the severity of symptoms of depression as well as the length of a depressive episode. A major depressive episode is a period of two weeks or longer in which a person experiences certain symptoms of major depression : feelings of sadness and hopelessness, fatigue, weight gain or weight loss, changes in sleeping habits, loss of interest in activities, or thoughts of suicide. There are residual feelings of guilt, insecurity and uncertainty. Recovering from an episode is never easy.

I’ve realized that this isn’t a time to clean my entire life up.

It’s a time to rediscover myself, maintain my health and remember that my condition does not control everything in my life. We want to hear your story. The longer the episode - the longer the recovery time. This makes sense when we read it, but when we’re going through it, we often expect life to magically get back to normal once the mood swing ends. If it took me days to recover from two weeks of depression , what does it take to recover from a massive manic and psychotic episode ? If you went through a severe depression , you may be relieved to just feel OK again.

Online Therapy with a Licensed Counselor. Available Anytime, Anywhere You Need It. The Time is Now to Put Yourself First. Even if you don’t feel like it’s helping right away, stick at it.

It may be hard to see past the fog, but you can take steps to cope with the depression and find your way out. At the start of the year I returned to work after months off due to a depressive episode , and as always, it was hard. This was the third time I’ve had to pick myself up after lengthy hospital stays for either depression or mania. While you’re in hospital everything stops.

Also, I am finally believing that a post on fully recovering is a future possibility. Sleep issues such as not being able to sleep or sleeping too much are common symptoms of depression 1.

Also, eating way too much or not enough are other signs of depression. Someone recovering from depression will be more likely to eat and sleep normally. This will help the person’s ability to concentrate and get back to a normal weight.

I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder years ago, after a psychotic episode and hospitalization. I have taken medication continually since then and have been able to work successfully. However, although I can function adequately, I still have depression. It is still there, every day. I can SEE the depression still etched into his face.

I am far more patient than my husband is about his recovery. I have tried to get him to be patient and use this time as R and R until he feels like himself again.