Depression Learning

How to Reduce Stress and Depression during a Recession?

Many people are going through hard economic times with the recession. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and are out of work. Unemployment insurance only lasts for so long, and that is never enough to stretch to pay the bills, the rent, car, fuel and food. It isn’t any wonder that so many people are becoming severely depressed in this recession. When you start feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders, you need to do something about the stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms that are building up, before a toll is taken on your body. Stress plays a role in exacerbating depression symptoms. Stress chemicals, neurotransmitters, create pathways for your feelings and emotions. These adrenal hormones and brain chemistry work hand in hand to “flip switches” to turn contentment off and turn depression on.

Stress increases cortisol, which is commonly called the “stress hormone.” People with major depression, chronic depression, with very high stress levels need to seek medical help to stem the stress. If your depression is situational, due to the recession, you will have to get a handle on your stress, because it won’t get better on its own. The high levels of stress hormone will keep the cycle of depression going indefinitely. You may not be able to change your situation right away, but you can change how you feel about it. Rather than panicking, you can be thankful for what you do have, and not dwell on what you don’t have. This positive way of thinking will activate the brain chemicals to come into balance and lessen depression.

What action can you take to decrease your stress related depression? One strategy to help reduce stress and depression is to give thanks that your situation isn’t worse. One consolation might be to acknowledge that a big percentage of the country is in a similar situation that you are in. Often, the depression symptoms that people have are situational to the recession. When there isn’t enough money coming in to pay all the bills, this is not the time to be passive. You need to communicate with people to let them know the financial situation you are in. Sometimes the act of actually doing something to problem solve, your stress will go down, which will help to decrease depression.

Your automatic response might be to panic when you find yourself without a job, and the bills are piling up. Panicking will not help your situation in the slightest; in fact panicking will work against you. Fretting and panicking will increase the stress hormone which feeds the symptoms of depression that you are experiencing. To help reduce the stress and anxiety, it is good to open up to your friends and family. Your first instinct might be to close yourself off from people, but that will only make your suffering worse.

The best way to fight depression is to problem solve the best you can. Make a plan how you will pay the necessary bills with the money you have. While you are looking for another job, sign up for unemployment insurance. Prioritize your bills in the order of importance. Some bills may have to go unpaid, and other bills may have to have partial payments for a while. The important thing is to talk to your creditors. When you take an active role in solving your immediate problems, you should note that your stress levels will go down, which in turn will decrease your depression symptoms. Whether you have major depression, chronic depression, or situational depression, you must do something about it. If you weren’t depressed before life got tough with the recession, it is likely that you have situational depression.

Related Depression Posts

• Top 10 Anti-Depressant Facts
• Major Depression
• Is there a Connection between Anxiety and Depression?
• How Does Journaling Improve Depression Symptoms?
• Does Positive Thinking Affect Depression?
• What Are The Causes?
• Chronic Depression