3 Ways You Can Cope With Depression Without Medication

I cannot take medicine for my Bipolar Disorder as every medication that they give me gets me high (ie. brings me into mania). I have had to come with other ways to cope with my depression and do life with it in my life. This is how I cope.

ONE I have people to ring or to visit me.

Having friends in your life is a very important way to cope with depression. People who ring you each day to check on how you are doing can be very important to your mental health. I know sometimes it may be hard to have friends when you are mentally ill, that is why it is very important to put some effort and time into the friendships that you have.

Often friends can be short of money, in these times picking up the bill for the coffee and cake that you are having are well worth it. I have a very good friend that has Bipolar Disorder and sometimes I like to stay up all night and watch DVD's with him or to simply chat, and the money I spend on him, or the money he spends on me is never counted.

It's important to have someone that you can ring when you just need to have a chat to when you are not tracking right. It's good to have someone that you can just tell it like it is instead of putting on a brave face for.

TWO Have regular places to go to that you will have a good time at when you go.

I have a place that I can go each day if I stay up the night before so I can get out of bed in time. It's a community centre run by the Salvation Army and inside it, it has a soup kitchen where I work and prepare and serve meals. For the past three years it's been hard for me to get out of bed before the afternoon such is my depression, so if I stay up one night, the next day I can go in and have a day of fun at the soup kitchen. I know and love many of the staff there and they are fun to speak to during my day.

On a Friday night I go to church and when there I have a good time catching up with people that I love. At church it is good to spend time singing to God and letting Him know how much I love him. Most weeks after church I go out for coffee with a friend and I enjoy that also.

THREE Escape into fiction

I enjoy escaping my life into the pages of a book or into a story at the movies for a couple of hours. A book can take you a whole night to ring and can be a good friend for the time I takes to read. Books are great fun.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this short article about what I do to cope with my depression. I have many other articles on many subjects if you want to check them out.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?3-Ways-You-Can-Cope-With-Depression-Without-Medication&id=1977835

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