How to cure depression: affordable running or expensive antidepressants? As usual, they deal with chronic injuries. Sport helps regulate negative emotions

5 saving steps from depression to joy Kurpatov Andrey Vladimirovich

Stop running!

In the book “How to Get Rid of Anxiety, Depression and Irritability,” I talked about how all our thoughts can be conditionally divided into “predictions,” “demands,” and “explanations.”

What I call “predictions” are usually at the root of our worries. “Forecast” is when we mentally run into our future, and our consciousness paints us pictures of various dangers and disasters. Of course, in such conditions it is difficult not to be alarmed.

“Requirements” are all our thoughts that begin with the words: “Must!” Must! Must!" When we make demands on other people, on the world around us, on ourselves, we expect that these “wishes” of ours will be taken into account and put into practice. Of course, most often neither other people, nor the world around us, nor even we ourselves are in a hurry to carry out these “orders.” As a result, we become irritated and complain. Actually, this is why demands traditionally lie at the basis of our irritation.

But “explanations” - in the literal sense of the word - are the strong point of depression. What is the essence of “explanations”? Using "explain""we" on the one hand, we are trying to make the incomprehensible understandable, and on the other hand, we are protecting ourselves from the need to do anything. If someone does not act as we would like (“demands”), we explain his actions by saying that he “does not understand anything,” is “poorly brought up,” and is generally an “idiot.”

If we ourselves need to do something, but we are afraid or don’t want to, then we explain to ourselves and others why we won’t do it. We always do it very logically, but in fact, “explanations” are either an accusation or an excuse. Others, as a rule, are accused by us, and of all serious things (we need to find the culprits of our misfortunes!), and our laziness and our fears, of course, are justified by us (how could it be otherwise?!).

Why do I say that “explanations” are the specialty of depression? I’ll try to explain... Depression itself is characterized by passivity, it is a kind of escape from reality, a way to get away from problems, a way to amnesty for “doing nothing.” I say that “everything is bad” and do nothing. What to do if everything is bad? I say there is no future and I do nothing. What will you do if there is “no future”? I say that I am nothing of myself and turn into furniture. Who else should you be if you're in best case scenario a little more empty space?!

In short, it is “explanations” that cause the passivity of a depressed person. And as long as we are passive, we will think our depressive thoughts, because we have nothing else to do and, as it seems to us, there is no need - everything is pointless!

And now, after I explained everything, after “everything became clear” to me, after I ran away from everyone and everything, I can no longer believe in my life, believe that it can be done and built. How can I make decisions if I managed to convince myself that everything is hopeless and life is cruel and unfair? How can I interact with other people if I am sure that no one needs me, and those around me think only about themselves? How, finally, can I use my own potential if I explain my failures by external circumstances beyond my control? No, any activity is now completely impossible!

We run away from our problems, but in reality joy comes from life, and therefore every day the depression of life itself becomes less and less in us. Depression meanly and treacherously drives us into a dark corner, we find ourselves there, and then we say that we feel bad, sad, dark, empty, there is no one, in short: everything is terrible. We must understand: the most disgusting thing that depression pushes us to do, its entire structure, its entire mechanics, is confinement in a dark corner. She is trying to deprive us of the opportunity to live and worry, offering in return only a palette of depressive feelings.

This is how escape is accomplished, with the help of my “explanations” I drive myself into a dark corner, I find myself in a dark corner. Having fenced myself off from pain and problems, fleeing from troubles, stress and disappointments, I actually doom myself to all this! My flight, as it turns out, is not an escape from misfortune, but a pursuit of misfortune.

Now that’s it, I’m in captivity, I’m in a blockade, I’m in a dark corner, and for all this I can only thank my depression, or rather, my explanations. The game of hide and seek with myself was a success - I lost myself!

Well, our task is simple. We must opdetermine where exactly we are escaping and stop running. My God, we are running from our own shadow, and this clean water absurd! This shadow is our life! Where can you run away from her, where?! How can you even escape from her? There is no escape from it, and to our great, gigantic happiness. True, we don’t appreciate it. And it exists, it permeates us, but only we pass it through a terrible depressive prism, we force it to be reflected in a distorting mirror. Bending the flow own life for the sake of depression, we lose our desire to live.

And this is the most absurd, most terrible and most senseless event that a person is capable of. Because it is absolutely impossible to live with such a feeling of life! And we must understand: escape is carried out not by a physical act, not by simple withdrawal from affairs, but by our “explanations.” We thought that the problem was insoluble, we explained to ourselves that nothing could be done, and that is why (nothing else!) Our life consists of continuous troubles and represents a movement from defeat to defeat.

Remember the main thing: escape is always carried out infishing! And then, you hit

running or not is up to you. After all, in the end, “explanation” is only psychic mechanism, Nothing more! It can be used by us in any way we want - both to our detriment and to our benefit. Yes, depression offers us reasons to escape, but we may well formulate explanations that simply deprive us of the possibility of escape. But to create such explanations Of course, you will have to work hard. They will not appear on their own.

Think about how you should explain this or that situation, how you should call it and evaluate it, so that your head doesn’t get nervous. And the seditious thought is to give up everything and disappear. We must form and use explanations that would suggest progressive development, the possibility of solving one or another life problem, that would push us to move forward, make decisions, move, overcoming difficulties and discovering new horizons for ourselves.

Try to understand this: how you named this or that event, how you explained it, will determine how you will act. If you called it and explained it depressively, you will run away and find yourself imprisoned by your illness; if, on the contrary, this title and explanation are promising, you will begin to act. And after you begin to act, you won’t even have a thought in your head that this situation could be understood in some other way, that you could have acted drink in a different way, so that someone is able to draw different conclusions from it.

Identify your depressive “explanations” that involve escape, and form within yourself explanations, explanations which, on the contrary, will be possiblemotivate us to active and productive activities,– this is the key to success. AND Don’t think that you will have to do this kind of “exercise” for life. Because if you set yourself this goal, it will very soon become clear that, being in a depressive state of mind, we simply exude platitudes that give us absolutely nothing. With them we will not develop, we will not live better.

When we think about how we should understand, comprehend this or that situation, how to look at it in order to gain strength and patiently move on - this is a completely different strategy: neither flight nor attack, but a constructive and consistent movement along life, where any difficulty, any trouble that we encounter quickly falls into the treasury of our psychological experience, but does not paralyze or immobilize.

All explanations are needed only to free us from the need to do something, perform some action, or not take action. And passivity is already an escape, because life moves! Forming within ourselves the ideology of futility, we simply stand still, but life moves forward, and you move backward, as if you were going back down an escalator. If you

you run forward if you think about how to use what has arisen life difficulty for your own good, then after a while you look and notice - your legs have become stronger, and your brains have become more mobile. Lots of advantages!

And this is necessary, it is very important to understand, because then you will realize the full extent of your own responsibility to yourself. Not in front of someone, not in front of some guy, but in front of himself. I, no matter how bad I feel, want to live in this world and want to be satisfied with my life, it’s so natural! And I am responsible! Such an internal attitude, such an attitude towards oneself helps one to reevaluate life. You will begin to treat her differently, you will be able to, you will want to treat her differently.

Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.

Arnold Glaz

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

The difficulty with doing nothing is that it is impossible to complete and rest.

Alfred Newman

From the book The Art of Verbal Attack author Bredemeier Karsten

From the book The Unwritten Code of the Lucky Man. How to become the darling of fate by Safin Ainur

From the book Ascent to Individuality author Orlov Yuri Mikhailovich

How I learned to run You remember, above I talked about a friend of mine who lost the desire to run after competing in physical education classes. A similar story happened to me. In addition, since childhood I was clumsy and fat, and our physical education teacher was merciless towards weakness and

From the book Verbal Self-Defense by Glass Lillian

Chapter 13 Enough is enough! How to retreat on time In this chapter How to understand that it’s time to retreat Stop forgiving verbal torture The law of “three strikes” How to know that it’s already over Don’t look back How to heal wounds When the end comes

From the book Throwing Out Old Shoes! [Giving life a new direction] by Betts Robert

"ENOUGH!" OR NOT YET? When people meet, they often ask each other: “How are you?”, and the answer is usually “Thanks, good!” or "Fine." In the Allgäu region, where I gave a lot of my talks, in the local dialect it sounds more vivid: “Goot sho!”

From the book Antifragile [How to benefit from chaos] author Taleb Nassim Nicholas

From the book Psychology of Love author Ilyin Evgeniy Pavlovich

Questionnaire “How long will you last?” Source: He and She. Rostov-on-Don, 2000. What is the expected duration of your novel? You've been together for six months and want to know if your romance will survive another spring? Then test yourself (each spouse answers the questions, then

From the book 100 ways to put your baby to sleep [ Effective tips French psychologist] by Bakus Ann

From the book Rules. Laws of Success by Canfield Jack

Stop waiting Stop waiting, it's time to act in order to: Improve Inspire Allow yourself... Gain confidence again Change Stop suffering The right people appeared Children were able to leave home The horoscope became more favorable The power changed Nothing more

From the book Praise Me [How to stop depending on other people's opinions and gain self-confidence] by Rapson James

Stop lying As with negative behavior, when you lie, you not only become disconnected from yourself, but also risk that everything will be revealed and you will completely lose the trust of others. All the stories that we collect “from the people” and publish in the series “ Chicken bouillon for the soul®",

From the book Thought Creates Reality author Svetlova Marusya Leonidovna

Stop adjusting Gandhi said: “We ourselves must become the changes we want to see in the world.” This means that a person can cause changes in the family only by changing his own behavior. For a transforming personality, this means abandoning the basic

From the book Latte or cappuccino? 125 decisions that can change your life by Janes Hilley

There is not enough of everything - there is not enough for everyone. Our parents lived their lives in a country characterized by a lack of everything that was needed for life: money, food, goods. From my life experience they came up with an idea of the insufficiency, the limitation of everything necessary - and

From the book An unusual book for ordinary parents. Simple answers to the most frequently asked questions author Milovanova Anna Viktorovna

Run flat OR uphill? If running is your favorite form of exercise, leading strength and conditioning coach Matt Roberts suggests finding a grassy slope in a park or rural areas and alternate a fast run up the slope for a minute with a slower descent for

From the book The Key to Superpowers! 100 + 1 ideas for unlocking your potential from the monk who sold his Ferrari by Sharma Robin S.

Run barefoot OR in sneakers? Running barefoot may seem like torture, and it's not an easy option for many city dwellers, but it's what our ancestors have done for millennia. Barefoot running is now becoming more popular thanks to a theory backed by Harvard research.

From the author's book

76. Stop Sleeping I know I'm unpopular on this issue, but I have to tell you the truth: most people sleep more than they need. They fall into the trap of spending several best hours life on a mattress. They waste potentially wonderful gifts. They

It was a mandatory discipline when raising teenagers. Our compatriot - great commander Alexander Suvorov – regularly started his day with jogging and showering ice water. Great kings, generals, outstanding people fought headaches and blues with regular jogging and exhausting physical exercise. And this is understandable, because at a time when pharmacological antidepressants were not invented for depression, it was necessary to find something else effective remedy, which inspired overcoming depression.

Today, all psychiatrists are sure: it is regular running and physical activity, comparable in its effect to visiting a psychotherapist, that cope with depression better than any anti-depression pills. Any exercise stress increases the production of endorphins. They are responsible for creating the mood. Improvements occur not only at the biochemical level - the attitude towards one’s “I” changes, and self-confidence grows.

A recent experiment clearly demonstrated the effects of regular running and exercise on overcoming depression. Participants suffering from depression were divided into three groups. The first group was prescribed a course of antidepressants, the second group was offered jogging and exercise, and the third group combined the two previous methods. After four months Significant improvements were observed in all study groups. However, by the tenth month of treatment, depressive symptoms reappeared in 30% of people taking antidepressants; 40% of people who run; and only in 10% of participants combining the first two methods.

Other experiments in this area have shown that running for fifteen minutes reduces nervous tension more effective than 400 milligrams of tranquilizers or any other anti-depression drugs.

The author of the book “Aerobics” - Dr. Kenneth Cooper - also talking about how to cope with depression on his own, spoke about a man who suffered hidden form depression, manifested by frequent heart attacks. Medicine knew little about this form of depression back then, and various examinations could not identify the true causes of regular heart attacks.

Painful attacks and the powerlessness of medicine brought the man to despair: he decided to take his own life. But family and children prevented us from doing this openly. One evening, hoping that diseased heart couldn't stand it - he went out into the street and ran very quickly. I ran as much as I could, but my heart surprisingly held out! The next day he repeated his attempt at such a peculiar suicide - and again his heart survived!

Then, deciding that he had nothing to lose, this man began jogging every day. Pretty soon he noticed that the feeling of heaviness and despondency began to leave him. The man wanted to live again! And after a few months he began to forget which side his heart was on. And he didn’t take any medications for depression!

The story told by Kenneth Cooper about getting rid of masked depression is more like a true story. But the authority of the author does not allow one to doubt its authenticity. And, in fact, there are many similar stories. Not all of them received publicity from famous people.

The only “but” that complicates the start of regular exercise is that depression can be so deep that it is very difficult to start fighting it. After all, despite the fact that you already want to be cured, and even know how to cope with depression on your own, waking up in the morning at first can be very difficult. Get up, get dressed, go outside and run. However, try it - it's worth it! After just three months of regular jogging, you can feel acute shortage these runs (a kind of withdrawal), if for some reason you suddenly take a break.

What to prefer in the fight against depression - affordable running and physical exercise or pills for depression, expensive psychotherapeutic sessions and courses of antidepressants for depression? It's up to you and only you to decide! And may, regardless of the chosen method, Heaven Grant You Excellent Mental Health and will protect you from any forms of Blues and Dejection!

Light running has a stronger effect on our body than walking. Blood flow - breathing - increases significantly - hence the removal of toxins from the cells, hence the energy saturation from environment, the entire body is thoroughly cleansed with oxygenated blood, and inertial forces reach even greater values than when walking. If you run for quite a long time, then respiratory acidosis occurs, which is why biosynthesis in the cells of the body improves. Seriously increases healing effect, which was noticed by people a long time ago. From ancient Hellas reached us beautiful words, carved on stone: “If you want to be strong, run, if you want to be beautiful, run, if you want to be smart, run.”

Let's take a closer look at the effects that appear when running lightly. The effect of running on the nervous and endocrine system everyone knows. Running allows you to do rhythmic work for these systems. To put stress on the nervous and endocrine systems, long, repetitive work is needed. A long, leisurely run is perfect for this task. We know that most blood vessels are placed vertically in the body, and capillary blood flow At rest, approximately twenty to eighty capillaries are open on one square millimeter of the cross-section of human muscle. While running, when a person constantly overcomes the earth's gravity, jumping up and down in vertical position, the blood flow in the vessels also sways and resonates with running. At the same time, previously dormant capillaries open evenly. The number of open capillaries can already reach 2500. Thanks to this circulation, the activity of organs is activated internal secretion. The flow of hormones is growing and is now able to reach all cells of the body and improve their functioning and coordinate the activities of systems. As a result, this leads to the fact that the activity of all body systems becomes more harmonious and balanced.

Usually, after a long run (thirty minutes or more), a feeling of euphoria occurs. This is the result hard work the pituitary gland, which produces special hormones - endorphins. At different doses they are several hundred times more effective than morphine! Endorphins cause a natural feeling of bliss, have an anti-pain effect and continue to work for an hour after running. Exists special technique for increased production of endorphins. Thus, extreme physical overload for 12-15 minutes increases the level of endorphins from several hundred units to one and a half thousand. This effect is especially noticeable in trained people. Running 5 km at a speed of about 10 minutes per kilometer induces euphoria. Thus, running is an excellent remedy against depression and bad mood.

quarrel or separation with a loved one, dismissal from work, difficulties with money. It also happens that it is impossible to identify the main cause - it’s just bad and that’s all. Some plunge headlong into depression, live in it for some time, splashing out negative emotions, and then “return to normal.” Others lose their bearings in life for a long time and cannot return to normal life without the help of a psychologist.

According to experts, clinical depression 121 million people worldwide are affected.

Psychiatrists define depression as a period of low mood that lasts at least two weeks a year and is accompanied by at least three other symptoms: changes in sleep patterns, decreased energy and inability to concentrate.

The word itself is used too often - more often in cases where there is ordinary disorganization, a pile of problems with all the ensuing consequences. (It seems that if you start solving one problem, then all the others will remain unsolved, and if you pull somewhere from the middle, this whole bunch, clumsily concocted by us, will completely fall apart...)

There is depression associated with the time of year - autumn or winter. Just like in animals, changing seasons can cause changes in a person's mood, metabolism and behavior. The mood deteriorates and it becomes more and more difficult to wake up. According to statistics, 2% of Northern Europeans experience autumn depression extremely severe, 10% have less acute symptoms.

To the signs of seasonal affective disorder(this is what they call autumn or winter depression) attributed to sleep problems - despite prolonged night sleep, hard to get up in the morning; binge eating - a large number of carbohydrate foods contribute to weight gain; feeling of anxiety - ordinary tasks seem extremely difficult, etc.

There is an opinion that depression has nothing to do with the time of year - they say it is just an excuse. Just an unwillingness to do something, to develop, an unwillingness to be responsible for your life. Instead, I want to curse everything and everyone and cry, suffering from self-pity.

However, some scientists argue that depression is nothing more than chemical reaction which a person cannot control.

It has been proven that bright light changes processes in the brain, but what exactly happens to the unfortunate ones in the fall and winter, researchers do not yet know. However, they deny the version of a far-fetched diagnosis.

There is another opinion according to which in our depressed state genes are to blame. Scientists from King's College London said the effect of the gene encoding the protein 5-HTT, which appears when people experience divorce, debt, unemployment and other events associated with feelings of "threat, loss, humiliation or defeat." In people with two short 5-HTT genes, there is a 43% chance of developing clinical depression after four or more stress-related events experienced between the ages of 21 and 26. Those with long genes have a 17% chance (Inopressa).

Whatever you are suffering from - lack of light or short genes - you need help.

Of course self help does not always lead to results, and if you do not feel strong enough, it is better to consult a specialist. But it’s definitely worth trying, like Munchausen, to pull yourself out on your own.

1. Take a piece of paper and write down everything that worries you. Next, we turn off the unnecessary option “everything is bad, but it will be even worse” and think rationally. We develop new, positive judgments about ourselves and the world around us. If you know what exactly worries you, write on the right what you would like ideally. Now, between what is and what you would like, write down the actions that can be taken to achieve the goal.

2. Try to act like you're having a good time. You don't have any depression! Get yourself in order, call your friends, go to visit, or better yet, to the cinema or cafe.

3. Do useful things - wash the accumulated dishes, take your sheepskin coat to the dry cleaner. Don't think about anything, just do it and don't stop. Occupational therapy is an extremely useful thing. Firstly, it distracts from bad thoughts, and secondly, the results of your work are visible, and this has a very beneficial effect on the psyche.

4. B Lately People are increasingly talking about “sports therapy” as an alternative to antidepressants. Active activities improves heart and brain function. In addition, playing sports changes the perception of oneself, increases self-esteem and also relieves negative thoughts. It is not necessary to engage in professional sports.

Studies have shown that running and race walking are the best for depression.

So let’s put on our sneakers and walk away from depression with a sporty step. And on the way home you can buy yourself something tasty.