5 Steps To Get Out Of Depression Without Medications

5/10/2017

Learn what to do to get out of depression without medication, learn to recognize when you’re getting depressed, and learn to stay out of those lifeless emotional states for the rest of your life.

Depression is an emotional state that has no more control over you than what you give to it. Yes, you have more control than what you think over those deep rooted negative feelings.

About depression

According to the WHO, 4% of the people in the world have suffered from depression in their lives. And according to the ADAA -Anxiety & Depression Association of America, 18% of the US population over 18 years of age have experienced depression.

According to my experience with depression, and what I now know about it, I would say almost everyone has suffered from some form of depression at one time or another in their lives.

Some are too proud to accept they feel depressed, some don’t think it’s a big deal because they’ve been depressed for a long time, and some others don’t even know they’re depressed.

My experience with depression

I suffered from depression for a few years about 10 years ago. For me depression began in my deception with life, the world, and what I was seeing around me that I began falling into a deep depression.

Due to the hopelessness I was feeling, I allowed depression take over my life; that was big mistake. Allowing depression to take over my life, for me meant to allow my mind to think whatever it wanted and I believed it.

You know our mind makes up an entire story in a fraction of a second. If we believe those stories, we feed them and make them bigger and bigger until sometimes we ourselves create monsters that don’t even exist anywhere else; monsters that cloud our perception and view. Monsters that keep you in a deep dark grey hole with only a way out but it feels to be way over your head. That’s what depression was for me.

I was so discouraged that I had no interest in taking over my life until one day my mind began bringing thoughts to my head that I didn’t like; thoughts that were definitely not in line with me and my beliefs.

Up to this point my mind had brought me more or less thoughts that I could believe. But one day I realized I was witnessing thoughts instead of thinking thoughts because some of them appeared and conflicted with my beliefs. I could not believe those thoughts. It was as if at that moment I reacted after a slap in the face. That slap was enough for me to realize I had let it go too far and it was time for me to take control of my mind and emotions again.

Get yourself back to you

It was not that I had an entire plan to take over my mind and my emotions. I just took one step after another after another until I was feeling more in control, hopeful and happy again.

I have to give you the fine print now, these steps are only based on my experience and I do not expect you to follow them to the letter, they’re just to give ideas as to what you can do to get out of your depression. And of course consult with your Doctor if you have any questions.

I know it’s hard to look for options when you’re in a depressive state, that’s why I want to share with you the steps I took, and hopefully they can help you, to get out of your depression too.

1. I said STOP!
The first step was to take back the control of my mind. Even though I didn’t know that’s what I did when I was trying to stop all of those non-sense thoughts, it worked.

You might have heard that when we get in the shower we enter in a relaxing state allowing thoughts and ideas come to us, well, unwelcomed thoughts continued coming to my mind. At that point I knew for sure it was not me thinking those thoughts but I didn’t know how to stop it. So, I did the only thing I could… aloud I said STOP!!! And to my surprise the thoughts stopped.

Do not underestimate the power of your voice over your thoughts, it’s incredible. Use it. Use your voice to calm your mind. The moment I realized this phenomenon it was so powerful and liberating.

2. Looked for help
My next step was to look for help. I knew I couldn’t do it alone so I started looking for the only type person I knew at the time that could help me. So I started looking for a Psychologist.

Just looking for help and setting up the appointment made me feel better. Made me feel as if someone was saying to me “relax, help is on the way.”

I also knew that if I really wanted this to get fixed that I had to withhold nothing. It was the only way I could find the cause. So, I said everything… e-very-thing! If you really want to get well, plan on saying everything. It not only helps your Psychologist to better help you, but it also helps you.

When you’re listening to yourself saying those things, you sometimes might think, “That’s non-sense. I can’t believe I said that!” Or, “That’s not true! I don’t believe that.” That is also healing for you.

3. Identified my top three issues
During the time I was going to the Psychologist I really wanted to get to the bottom of what had me depressed. So I decided to find the top three issues that I thought we causing me feel depressed.

Identifying those issues were easy and once we worked through them, I began finding the next three and then the next three until there was not much to dig.

But let me tell you, I’m almost sure that by working through your first three top issues you are going to improve significantly. They are the top three for a reason; they carry the most weight that brings you down. So, what are the top three issues that are causing you to feel depressed? Write them down.

4.- Thrived for self-empowerment
Once I started feeling better I was able to see new opportunities, new options, and began having new ideas. This helped me see more of life than what I was able to see before. Here’s when I realized life was so much more.

I believe self-empowerment is what allowed me to come across emotional healing and many, many books that continued to help me until I was completely healed.

There was not one person that could have brought me all the knowledge and wisdom that books have brought me. Books helped me realize how much power and control I have over my life, over my emotions and over my thoughts. If you’re looking for a new perspective, allow yourself to be carried by the wisdom of books.

Since the energy of the author is embedded in their writings, I regret to tell you that not all books are good. Just make sure you pay attention to how they feel when you start reading them, otherwise they will bring you down to where you were emotionally. The same goes for television and internet. Use your feelings and intuition to choose wisely and begin feeling better.

5. Closed the gap
The book Ask and It Is Given by Esther Hicks is the one that helped me understand and control my emotions. By seeing where I was in Esther’s emotional scale and where I could be, and combined with the knowledge I acquired about the power and control I have over my life and over how I feel, I began to make changes inside and out of my life so I could close the gap from where I was emotionally to where I wanted to be.

You can do the same. Go to the Joy Scale, a graph I created inspired by Esther’s emotional scale, to find where you are emotionally based on how you feel most of the days. Then find the emotion you would like to feel. If you feel very depressed, I would recommend you to choose as your goal feeling at least hopeful and trust. Once you get to the positive feeling emotions, it will be easier to get to happiness and joy.

The last step is to close the gap between how you feel and how you want to feel. You do this by selfishly focusing on what makes you feel good and doing it. I know it’s easier said than done, but I challenge you to begin with one small thing and then another one and then another one. They don’t necessarily require money and for sure they don’t hurt your body.

It could be watching sunsets, chatting with a friend, visiting a positive person, eating lunch outdoors, drinking a cup of coffee watching the world through a window, helping someone to use technology, etc. You get the idea.

So, what makes you relax? What makes you release? What makes you smile? Do more of that and close the gap.

I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never. What's to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that." –J. K. Rowling

... and so am I.

Don’t wait until you’re depressed to do something to feel good. Do it now. 1) Take control of your mind, 2) Look for help if you don’t think you can do it alone, 3) Find your top three issues, 4) Thrive in your Self-Empowerment, and 5) Do all you can to close the gap from how you feel to how you want to feel.

Let me know how these steps work for you in the comments below. If you have taken other steps to get out of depressive emotional states, please share them with us so others can also benefit. Thank you!

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Claudia LeBaron Islas

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