Anyone suffer from severe anxiety or depression?

[Diamond Eyes]

I wonder if a standing or walking desk would be good for helping with anxiety / depression. I have heard that sitting for long time periods is bad for the body and can cause health problems. Probably not that great for the mind either sitting stationary for so long.

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[NikOK]

I wonder if a standing or walking desk would be good for helping with anxiety / depression. I have heard that sitting for long time periods is bad for the body and can cause health problems. Probably not that great for the mind either sitting stationary for so long.

This is a good point, and I think it's a great idea, but a big problem with anxiety and depression is finding the cause, and sometimes there may not even be an external cause.  I don't have any of these conditions myself, but a lot of my best friends and family have had depression, anxiety, debilitating OCD, or schizophrenia, so I have seen a lot of it from a little distance.  It's really hard to tell someone with these illnesses what they should try because what makes sense to a healthy person doesn't always make sense to someone who is experiencing something.  Generally the best we can do is to remember that it is an illness, and in no way is it a person's fault.  I think it's easy for a healthy person to say, have you tried exercise, that might solve it, but the actual answer is almost never one thing.

For anyone dealing with these issues, it's a tough road.  The only advice I can possibly give is what I've seen, and that's to say that sometimes an answer takes time.  If you try something new and it doesn't help right away, that doesn't mean that it doesn't help, but just that it's not a silver bullet.  Sometimes a solution is a combination of small things that help a little, and it might take some amount of time for those things to actually make you feel right.  But, on the flip side, activities that make you feel more anxious or more depressed are easy to identify.  If watching the news makes you anxious about the world, then take a break, read a book, stretch out, take a walk, or do anything other than watching the news.  Things don't change if you don't change them

Most of all I just wanted to say that I hope everyone is feeling alright today, and thanks to everyone on this forum.  You've all always been great with advice and this thread is no different.  You guys are great!

[Trioxin 245]

This is a good point, and I think it's a great idea, but a big problem with anxiety and depression is finding the cause, and sometimes there may not even be an external cause.  I don't have any of these conditions myself, but a lot of my best friends and family have had depression, anxiety, debilitating OCD, or schizophrenia, so I have seen a lot of it from a little distance.  It's really hard to tell someone with these illnesses what they should try because what makes sense to a healthy person doesn't always make sense to someone who is experiencing something.  Generally the best we can do is to remember that it is an illness, and in no way is it a person's fault.  I think it's easy for a healthy person to say, have you tried exercise, that might solve it, but the actual answer is almost never one thing.

For anyone dealing with these issues, it's a tough road.  The only advice I can possibly give is what I've seen, and that's to say that sometimes an answer takes time.  If you try something new and it doesn't help right away, that doesn't mean that it doesn't help, but just that it's not a silver bullet.  Sometimes a solution is a combination of small things that help a little, and it might take some amount of time for those things to actually make you feel right.  But, on the flip side, activities that make you feel more anxious or more depressed are easy to identify.  If watching the news makes you anxious about the world, then take a break, read a book, stretch out, take a walk, or do anything other than watching the news.  Things don't change if you don't change them

Most of all I just wanted to say that I hope everyone is feeling alright today, and thanks to everyone on this forum.  You've all always been great with advice and this thread is no different.  You guys are great!

Your on point about if something doesn't work right away not to bin it. It is a collection of many things that all work together. Think of a plant. Nutrients for soil, water, sun and so on. It needs them all.

[Louis_Park]

I wonder if a standing or walking desk would be good for helping with anxiety / depression. I have heard that sitting for long time periods is bad for the body and can cause health problems. Probably not that great for the mind either sitting stationary for so long.

You'd burn a good amount of calories as well. One of the issues with sitting is staying in the same position for too long. Even with a good posture, you're causing issues for your muscles as they are supposed to be regularly moving. So, yeah, a standing desk would be good for your body, as it burns calories, and encourages more bodily movement. Just not so good if you have bad knees.

On the 20booksto50k Facebook group, I've read of people having good results using dictation through Dragon (I think it's that) software as a means to create their novels. It is reported to be difficult to grasp, but once it is, it has allowed more words to be "written" and it has meant not so much repetitive strain on their body as they can do it without being hunched over the computer.

[inmymind]

Thanks for the many tips. I also often have anxieties or depressions myself. Simply because I am afraid that I will not be able to do this or that. I am somehow glad to hear that it is not just me. It's just a phase and I'm glad that you can get out of it again sometime. Unfortunately, I often put too much stress and pressure on myself, then I lose the fun in an activity and don't feel like carrying on. I have learned that you really should take a break and start working again bit by bit. If you keep on working all the time, even though you don't enjoy it anymore, then there is a very high risk of becoming depressed.

[kyokominamino]

Yep. Huge amounts of anxiety and depression, but with the added benefit of ADHD and insomnia! It's the quadruple mental illness pack!

Writing helps. It's just how my madness manifests itself. I barely sell a gorram thing, but I just...bleed words. I can't stop if I wanted to. So everything gets written down, regardless of if I publish it or not. I wish I could write during high stress situations, though, but the depression and ADHD prevent that hardcore. I can write out the depression sometimes, but the anxiety is extremely hard to deal with as a self published author. I'm in therapy, but this is a loosey goosey therapist, so she doesn't use CBT, which I probably need very badly. I agree with others who have said reducing social media intake makes a serious difference in mental health. I encourage anyone suffering from high levels of anxiety or depression to use social media less and try to concentrate on calmer, less hectic activities. The pandemic has really, really made it harder on those like us, but we just have to get creative to figure out a way to weather the storm. It really, truly sucks. Everything about it sucks. But we can do it. We just have to support each other and anytime we feel the urge to write, just go for it.

[Indy Strange]

Yep. Huge amounts of anxiety and depression, but with the added benefit of ADHD and insomnia! It's the quadruple mental illness pack!

Writing helps. It's just how my madness manifests itself. I barely sell a gorram thing, but I just...bleed words. I can't stop if I wanted to. So everything gets written down, regardless of if I publish it or not. I wish I could write during high stress situations, though, but the depression and ADHD prevent that hardcore. I can write out the depression sometimes, but the anxiety is extremely hard to deal with as a self published author. I'm in therapy, but this is a loosey goosey therapist, so she doesn't use CBT, which I probably need very badly. I agree with others who have said reducing social media intake makes a serious difference in mental health. I encourage anyone suffering from high levels of anxiety or depression to use social media less and try to concentrate on calmer, less hectic activities. The pandemic has really, really made it harder on those like us, but we just have to get creative to figure out a way to weather the storm. It really, truly sucks. Everything about it sucks. But we can do it. We just have to support each other and anytime we feel the urge to write, just go for it.

I'm in this same boat. Every time I adjust to how chaotic things have gotten, something else goes haywire, and I'm back where I started. This might be the first year I go on meds for ADHD because none of my coping mechanisms are working. It really doesn't help to live in an American state where there is no escape from politics right now. Phones, mail, radio, all local tv channels, people I run into at the store, family, friends, crazy messages on vehicles, etc. The enthusiasm is understandable, but my brain needs to decompress and unless I can magically find the money to live in a cottage in the woods for a while, that won't happen. All of my new books are late, and that's making me feel worse too.

[kyokominamino]

I'm in this same boat. Every time I adjust to how chaotic things have gotten, something else goes haywire, and I'm back where I started. This might be the first year I go on meds for ADHD because none of my coping mechanisms are working. It really doesn't help to live in an American state where there is no escape from politics right now. Phones, mail, radio, all local tv channels, people I run into at the store, family, friends, crazy messages on vehicles, etc. The enthusiasm is understandable, but my brain needs to decompress and unless I can magically find the money to live in a cottage in the woods for a while, that won't happen. All of my new books are late, and that's making me feel worse too.

God yeah, I feel you on the coping mechanisms. That's what drove me to try therapy--that and I finally got hired to work somewhere that has it covered in health insurance for once--and it's still a serious struggle. All the stuff I taught myself to get by no longer works, so it's just so much harder to continue functioning as a result. Therapy is excruciating. I have no idea if it's even remotely helping given how far gone I am at this point, but I am still at least trying anyway. My financials make it hard for me to explore getting a shrink who can prescribe medication, too, unfortunately, so it's a slow, painful battle. The politics are agonizing to endure, so while it's probably not likely one can ignore them entirely, definitely just reduce how much you let yourself absorb. It's very draining.

Hey, it's okay if the books are late. I mean that. Look at this freaking year. LOOK AT IT. The fact that you HAVE books at all, whether on time or not, is seriously an accomplishment. I'm proud of you. Keep going. One foot in front of the other. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Indy Strange]

God yeah, I feel you on the coping mechanisms. That's what drove me to try therapy--that and I finally got hired to work somewhere that has it covered in health insurance for once--and it's still a serious struggle. All the stuff I taught myself to get by no longer works, so it's just so much harder to continue functioning as a result. Therapy is excruciating. I have no idea if it's even remotely helping given how far gone I am at this point, but I am still at least trying anyway. My financials make it hard for me to explore getting a shrink who can prescribe medication, too, unfortunately, so it's a slow, painful battle. The politics are agonizing to endure, so while it's probably not likely one can ignore them entirely, definitely just reduce how much you let yourself absorb. It's very draining.

Hey, it's okay if the books are late. I mean that. Look at this freaking year. LOOK AT IT. The fact that you HAVE books at all, whether on time or not, is seriously an accomplishment. I'm proud of you. Keep going. One foot in front of the other. Thanks for sharing with us.

Thank you so much for saying all of this, and I hope you get some kind of improvement from therapy.

[Becca Mills]

Anxiety -- yup. 

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