What Are The Worst Things I Could Do If I Had Depression?

0:00What are some of the worst things I could do if I had depression as a double board certified

0:10psychiatrist?

0:11I'm going to tell you, I'm Dr. Ryan Riggs from Healing Sky, I'm also the medical director

0:16of the Delray Center for Healing and today we're going to talk about what are the worst

0:20things I or you could do with suffering from depression.

0:27The first thing that is the worst thing to do is to isolate.

0:32Humans are social creatures, we are not meant to isolate.

0:36Isolation, although the depression pushes you, feels like you should or could or ought

0:42to isolate, is really that.

0:46Isolation makes depression worse, so that's the first thing to account for.

0:49If you find yourself tending to isolate, that's first off a red flag that you have depression.

0:55If you know you have depression already, isolating makes it worse.

0:58So any opportunity you have to be with somebody, to be with family, to be with friends, be

1:03with co-workers, you name it, please take the opportunity, don't isolate.

1:09Isolation makes depression so much worse.

1:13Next thing that's one of the worst things to do is going to be inactivity, being inactive

1:20and not exercising, not going out, that makes a big difference.

1:25I always tell people exercise is a medication.

1:29It's a medication for depression, it's a medication for life, it's a medication to be healthy.

1:35We are biologically engineered to exercise.

1:39In modern society, because of how things are, we don't have the same need to exercise that

1:45we used to when it was a primitive society where we had to go out and catch our food

1:50every day.

1:51There, you were forced to be more active, so this was not an issue because if you did

1:56not catch your food, you would just die and that was it.

1:59But in modern society, we have the luxury of a supermarket, so we don't have to do that

2:04and most of our jobs nowadays are not active, physically active jobs, so inactivity is common

2:13and it is bad if you have depression.

2:15So staying active, exercising is key because not exercising, even though that's what the

2:21depression pushes you to do, to not exercise, definitely makes it worse.

2:27Now the next thing that is one of the worst things to do if you have depression is to

2:31do anything that your depression is pushing you to do or not do, meaning depression is

2:39a behavioral driver.

2:41It usually gets you to not want to do things, it usually makes you want to withdraw, makes

2:47you want to not exercise, not see people, not go to work, not go to school, you name

2:52it.

2:53It tries to get you to not do things because everything seems so hard, everything seems

2:58so difficult and I get it, you know, in the moment when you're feeling depressed, everything

3:03does seem so hard, it really does, but avoiding it, escaping from it, not doing it makes the

3:10depression worse and it reinforces that negative thinking.

3:14So really doing anything that the depression is telling you to do makes the depression

3:19worse.

3:20So you don't want to do that, ever.

3:23Next thing that is very common and absolutely one of the worst things anybody could do is

3:28to not take your medications correctly or consistently.

3:33Antidepressants, they work, they work well and they can save lives, however they must

3:40be taken reliably and consistently and at the proper doses.

3:46So the first issue here is compliance, if you're prescribed medication, take it as prescribed

3:51until directed otherwise.

3:54Also make sure you don't run out, meaning make sure you make your follow-up appointments

3:59so you can get your refills so you don't run out.

4:03Having gaps in your medication supply works against you.

4:08Having inconsistency with your taking of your medication on a day-to-day basis, where

4:13you miss a few days here and there, really disrupts the ability of the medication to

4:18work.

4:19It really disrupts it a lot.

4:20The more you miss, the worse it is, but even missing a little really hurts you quite a

4:24bit.

4:25So taking it every day is critically important and definitely not having gaps is very important.

4:32Also it helps to have proper guidance with your medications, meaning it is better to

4:39receive treatment for a mental health condition from a mental health specialist than from

4:46a general doctor or general practitioner.

4:48You will get better choices of medications, better choices of the doses because all these

4:55factors absolutely matter when you're treating depression.

5:00Now, even worse than not taking medications correctly or at the correct dose is not receiving

5:07treatment at all.

5:09Depression is something that gets worse over time.

5:12It is bad for your brain, it is bad for your mind, it is something that will become harder

5:18to treat the longer that you are depressed.

5:21They have done studies on this.

5:22If you're depressed six months straight, that makes it harder to get treatment.

5:28If you have been depressed for longer than a year, that makes it harder to find successful

5:33treatment.

5:34People have often been depressed for many years, which does make it harder.

5:38Not impossible, but it makes it harder.

5:40So if you have identified that you have depression, please seek treatment because you're making

5:46it harder on yourself.

5:48If you're not sure, but people have been suggesting that you may have depression, go out and seek

5:53an opinion, get an evaluation and that can help you determine if you in fact have depression

5:59and then you can receive proper treatment.

6:01But not receiving treatment is one of the absolute worst mistakes anybody can ever make.

6:06They're digging the hole deeper.

6:09Even if in the past you were depressed and you came out of it on your own, that's pretty

6:14common in the earlier stages of depression for somebody.

6:18But if it keeps coming back and if it's lasting longer, it's more likely to stay and not go

6:25away on its own.

6:26And that happens enough times, even if it does go away, eventually it definitely will

6:31stay permanently and it'll get worse.

6:34So if you're better off, just get treatment and get it with a mental health professional

6:40so you can address this more quickly, more efficiently, and you can get better sooner.

6:44It is necessary.

6:47Another big one is self-medicating with alcohol.

6:52Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant.

6:56And as that term implies, it makes you more depressed.

7:01People drink because it makes them numb.

7:03It numbs the pain of depression.

7:05And that numbing quality of alcohol is its most dangerous trait because that is what

7:14leads people to become addicted to alcohol if they're depressed.

7:19That numbing effect of the alcohol is a powerful negative reinforcer and that leads to horrible

7:26alcoholism.

7:27So people with depression that start drinking often will become alcoholics and then they'll

7:32be depressed alcoholics, which is going from bad to even worse.

7:37That's a vicious cycle.

7:39Alcohol also is a very high risk for suicide.

7:43One of the biggest triggers for suicide is alcohol, so it really creates a dangerous

7:48situation.

7:49Along those lines, the use of drugs will make depression worse as well.

7:55Any drugs, any street drugs, uppers, downers, no matter how you think you're taking it,

7:59no matter how good you think you are at handling these, this will make your depression worse

8:05and lead to a number of complications.

8:08So using street drugs is definitely never the solution.

8:13As a rule, any substance that would be safely and reliably usable as an antidepressant has

8:21been acquired by a pharmaceutical company and has been given a patent and has been sold

8:27and marketed as a medication.

8:29So whatever you can find on the street are these scraps that are left that are either

8:34not safe, too dangerous, or they don't work.

8:37That is the hard rule.

8:38That is reality.

8:40So you're not going to find a better solution on the streets.

8:44Trust me, you're not.

8:45Along the same lines of not seeking treatment is not seeking psychotherapy.

8:51Psychotherapy is a very important part of treatment and will greatly enhance the benefits

8:56you can get from medications.

8:59Psychotherapy will help you cope with daily life stressors, internal conflicts, and will

9:04teach you coping skills to help you get through the difficulties of life.

9:09So not engaging in psychotherapy is definitely one of the worst things you can do if you

9:15have depression.

9:17Now even worse than all of these in terms of the drugs is really marijuana.

9:25You wouldn't think, but yes, marijuana, especially medical marijuana, is horrible for depression.

9:32It is commonly used to try to numb out depression.

9:36People get caught in that vicious cycle, they use marijuana to numb out because they feel

9:39so horrible.

9:40Marijuana will make the hole deeper, it will make the depression worse.

9:45So if you're using marijuana to handle your depression, you are making a mistake.

9:50It is a neurochemical, neurophysiological mistake and it will make it worse.

9:55I have never seen anybody use marijuana as the solution and have the marijuana pull them

10:02out of the depression.

10:03They might feel a little less bad in the moment, but the hole gets dug deeper and everything

10:08gets worse.

10:09Marijuana is never the solution.

10:12If you're using marijuana to treat the depression, it's absolutely one of the worst things you

10:17can do.

10:18If you want to get better, you will need to quit the marijuana.

10:21You can do this with the help of a psychiatrist, so please seek help for that.

10:26Now some extra bonus extras of some of the worst things you can really do if you have

10:31depression, and these are big ones, a little more complicated, but really big ones are

10:36hanging out with depressed people.

10:39If you are depressed and you spend all your time with people that are also depressed and

10:44not doing anything about it, that makes your depression worse.

10:49If you are in an echo chamber with negative thoughts and ideas because all you hear are

10:56negative things from negative people, that will make your depression worse.

11:00So that is not good.

11:01If you want to fix that, find new friends, encourage your friends to get help, but don't

11:07just sit there and take all the negativity.

11:09It will bring you down.

11:12If these other people, if one of them is your partner, okay, that's a problem.

11:16If one of them is your spouse, okay, that's a problem.

11:19Seeking couples counseling might be a good introduction to getting them to seek the help

11:23that they need, but just ignoring it will make your depression worse.

11:28Along those lines, using a relationship as an antidepressant probably is the single worst

11:36thing you can do if you have depression.

11:39Relationships are not antidepressants.

11:41Relationships are not meant to pull you out of this hole.

11:45It's not like, oh, if I could just find somebody, I would be happy.

11:50No, that is not the case.

11:52That is possibly the worst thing anybody can ever do for a lot of reasons because one,

11:57it is not a treatment for depression and it will merely mask the depression briefly just

12:03with a surge of emotion that comes with infatuation, but the depression will assuredly resurface

12:10pretty quickly.

12:11And the kind of person that you would attract as a depressed person is somebody who is seeking

12:17a depressed person so they can dominate them and give them a lousy relationship experience.

12:26Not that they intend to give you a lousy relationship experience, that is just what happens with

12:32the kind of people who seek out depressed people as partners.

12:35So these are very codependent or toxic relationships that will make the depression worse.

12:41So definitely the absolute worst thing you can do if you're depressed is to seek out

12:46a relationship as your solution because that is not the solution that can make it much

12:50worse.

12:51So please do not do that.

12:54If anything, I would strongly recommend if you are single, do not even date or seek a

13:00relationship while you are still depressed, wait until you are better and have it better

13:05for a bit, then you can start dating again, then you can seek a partner because that is

13:11when you will attract the healthiest partner for you and the one that you truly deserve.

13:16I hope you find this helpful.

13:19If you'd like some help from me as a psychiatrist, you can find me at DelrayCenter.com or here

13:25on Healing Sky.

13:27Please look for my podcast, The Smiling Brain, also here on Healing Sky.

13:31Thank you.