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If you've recovered from depression, what did it feel like? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 hours ago by darthelmet@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I’ve been dealing with depression (and anxiety) for well over 5 years now. I’ve tried so many different medications and treatments with no apparent success. Inevitably, in the course of the treatment, the doctor will ask if I’m starting to feel better to see if it’s worth continuing the treatment, up the dose, or swap to something else. And… I never know what to say. If it’s not going to get dramatically better all of a sudden, I don’t really know how to recognize any incremental progress if it’s happening at all and without being able to do that, I might be passing on treatments that could have helped if I gave it more time.

So if you’ve been in this situation, how did you recognize progress? To the extent that you can put it into words, what did it feel like to slowly get better as you were treated?

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[–] LetMeShowYouAThing@sh.itjust.works 16 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

The first thing I noticed when I started Bupropion was changes in behavior and motivation. First keeping up with self maintenance (showering daily, flossing, etc) became easy. Then I started going for walks and later started working out. I noticed an increase in my capacity for emotion, I wasn’t sociopathic when I was depressed, but I just kind of didn’t have it in me to deal with other people’s emotions, I had little empathy. That changed pretty quickly. I gradually found myself self medicating less, some bad habits started to fade. I had the ability to complete tasks I wanted to complete. I surprised myself when I lost weight, again when I quit smoking, then completed a degree, then a masters, and I was just able to keep rolling like a normal person. I kind of caught up with people my age after a decade of not accomplishing anything except surviving.

I feel better, but I don’t think there was ever a moment when I was like “oh shit I’m pretty happy now”, it was more that my life just started to improve as my capacity increased. I’m not smiling all the time or anything but now I look at what I’ve accomplished, my degrees, my career, my little family. I’ve got a pretty good life. All of that has happened in the 10 years since I started bupropion. I can’t put a finger on when I felt better, but I do.

Good luck stranger.