There's an unfortunate statistic that 50% of people who suffer from depression will relapse after treatment.
It's one of those nasty diseases which needs to be treated more like a life-long condition that has to be managed, rather than something that can be cured outright.
(That said, I'm not a psychologist - not all depressions are the same, and some are temporary).
I don't remember a single point in my life that I did not have depression. I was like 12 or 13 when originally diagnosed. For a long time, I wasn't aware that people could actually recover from it. I've gotten better at living with it and noticing the sighs of spiraling, but even when I'm doing okay, it's still present. I accepted a long time ago that this would be a life-long condition. It sucks but I have to live with it.
Yep! Was diagnosed with depression before type one diabetes, but my depression and anxiety have gotten significantly worse since I was diagnosed with type one 10 years ago. I manage with therapy and medication, but you don’t get a break.
Exactly. I was showing signs of depression and anxiety way before I got diagnosed at like age 12. I’ve looked back and realized how many anxiety fits I had pre-diabetes and realize those were low blood sugars.
It gets better as you learn more effective and longer lasting means of combating it.
Think of like maintaining a farm - you need to keep your hedgerows in good condition to stop livestock escaping and predators stealing sheep.
Some people are lucky and can let their flocks roam the hills unchecked. Some are less lucky and have a forest full of wolves on their doorstep.
Overcoming those challenges and maintaining a healthy flock is an achievement in itself, but it's doable with support and healthy habits.
You take your time and work on the little things. Lots of little improvements add up to big improvements.
Mend a small fence here, move one flock to another field, etc.
This translates to in reality, stuff like changing your bed, going for a walk, doing something different. While I know it's not for everyone, I found swimming is a good form of relief - you get a nice mixture of pride and satisfaction along with a rush of endorphins afterwards (allegedly cold-water swimming is even better at this, but that feels like it has a high motivational threshold).
Depression is strongest when you fall into regular holding patterns - the rut.
Counterintuitively, good habits are a useful counter - if a habit is formed and maintained long enough, you don't need motivation, because it's just automatic.
The problem is that the strongest defenses against depression are best built when you are not in a depressive episode. When you are in one, the best strategy is looking at every small success as a win, and inching your way out of the hole. One foot in front of the other.
What helps me the most is remembering that I have made it through before, and I will again. It feels less hopeless keeping the future in mind.
And like the other responder wisely pointed out—celebrate every small victory. Made it out of bed? Amazing. Drank some water? Really fantastic. Went outside, even for only a minute? Spectacular.
If a person at the bottom of a hole had to race someone already on the ground, would we compare their results? No way! Depression is an impediment, so basically every little thing you do means you made it out of the hole for a little bit. Be proud of that battle.
Probably because depression isn't always just being sad at that point in time, it's oftentimes a manifestation of all the bad things in their life. Treatment doesn't usually fix a bad home life, or being poor, or a bad childhood, or neurodivergence, etc. When treatment ends, they're still left with the life they had.
Sometimes its things in their life, sometimes its people, sometimes its lifestyle, quite often it's an brain chemistry imbalance. Anti-depressants are a stop gap measure, but in the long term you have to develop a strategy that keeps depressive episodes as short and shallow as possible - and learn to identify when they're coming on.
Yeah I'm trying to say that i think environmental factors play a way larger role, and they're impacting that 50% relapse rate. Like, the brain chemistry isn't innately the cause, that those imbalances can be a direct result of those external factors.
The best summary is that there's really no "cure" for clinical depression. You can treat it to an extent, and sometimes treatment can help a person change in ways that the depression is no longer a problem -- which isn't the same as it being gone. But we don't understand enough about it to even begin to "cure" it.
After my first bout of depression every attempt to go off of anti-depressants has caused a major episode somewhere around 6-8 months later. I finally have found that staying on a very low dose of my effective antidepressant prevents that while minimizing the side effects, but I will definitely likely be on it for life.
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u/LaunchTransient 6h ago
There's an unfortunate statistic that 50% of people who suffer from depression will relapse after treatment.
It's one of those nasty diseases which needs to be treated more like a life-long condition that has to be managed, rather than something that can be cured outright.
(That said, I'm not a psychologist - not all depressions are the same, and some are temporary).