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Ways to stay well

Here are some tips to help you and to help build resilience to depression

• Do a healthy amount of exercise – this has been scientifically proven to help with depression. Read more detailed information

• Just like exercising your body, it is important to exercise your mind. Take an interest and learn about things that you have a curiosity for

• Read good books - read things that you enjoy and things that may cheer you or motivate you

• Write - perhaps keep a journal or consider other ways that you may be able to express your ideas and creativity

• Treat your ears – listen to music that makes you feel great and that you enjoy

• Create a mantra - speak well to yourself and remind yourself of the many positive, wonderful and admirable qualities that you possess. Make this your personal mantra and repeat often!

• Give your mind a break. Think of your brain as a hard drive on your computer. If you keep opening programs, open endless spam, turn it on and off constantly, it’s not surprising that it will sometimes crash. Take a few minutes to lie down and just focus on breathing, in, out, in, out, in, out….

• This one is simple….laugh whenever possible!

• Set do-able goals - it’s a great idea to set goals that are realistic and provide you with a target and something to work towards

• Help others - there are real benefits in helping others and deriving satisfaction and meaning from these acts

• Appreciate the little things like:
  • The taste and smell of a hot buttered toast
  • The sun on your face
  • The warm water on your back in the shower
  • The love and loyalty of pets
  • Being in nature
  • Eat healthy foods
  • Get the right amount of sleep.

Useful websites

Reachout - Managing Depression
Fact sheet from Reachout (Australia) explaining what can cause depression, and the different ways to get help. 

Getting help

What should I do?

The first thing to do is to discuss how you’re feeling with someone you trust and feel comfortable with. You might also need to see your doctor. 

Sometimes people are embarrassed to go to their doctor about their mood problems. If you are worried about talking to your doctor remember that:

• Up to 1 in 4 people visiting their doctor may suffer from a mood disorder like depression and bipolar disorder

• Mood disorders are very common

• Doctors can prescribe medications and also offer non-medication treatments, such as counselling, or even refer you to a specialist psychologist or psychiatrist

• With the right treatment and support, you will definitely feel better and be able to get on with enjoying your life again

The most important thing is to talk to someone you trust and feel comfortable with. If you try one doctor and you don’t like their reaction, don’t give up! Make an appointment with another one and try again.

If you are feeling really down and cannot cope, speak to someone immediately, try one of these services:

• Lifeline: 13 11 14

• Kids Help Line: 1800 55 1800

Watch our interview with a psychologist to see what getting help can be like.

Different treatments

What are the different treatments for depression?

Treatment for depression depends on the type of depression.  The reason for this is that different types of depressions have different causes, and treatments need to deal with the different causes.

• Non-melancholic depression treatments
• Melancholic depression treatments
• Psychotic depression treatments
• Identifying your ‘triggers’ and ‘early warning signs
• Ways to stay well

Non-melancholic depression treatments

Causes of non-melancholic depression are usually related to stresses (life events), personality styles and coping, or a combination of both life events and personality styles.  Treatment usually involves counselling and learning some stress-management and problem-solving skills. Medication is rarely required.
Read more detailed information about the different types of counselling (psychological therapies) on the Black Dog Institute website

Melancholic depression treatments

The cause of melancholic depression is considered to be physical (biological) – an imbalance of brain chemicals. Therefore, the treatments for this type of depression are physical or chemical such as antidepressant medications. Counselling can help with other issues that have arisen from having this type of depression.

Psychotic depression treatments

Like melancholic depression, psychotic depression is also caused by physical factors and is mainly treated with medications.

Identifying your triggers and early warning signs

Keep a Daily Mood Chart. This will help you to become more aware of behaviours that can lead to your depression (‘triggers’).  Keeping a Daily Mood Chart can also help you to recognise your early warning signs before an episode of depression.  An example of a trigger might be going for a long time without getting enough sleep, or drinking a lot of alcohol over a weekend.  An example of an early warning sign might be not wanting to see your friends as much as usual.

For more information about depression watch an Online Depression Education Program.

Useful websites

Reachout - Managing Depression
Fact sheet from Reachout (Australia) explaining what can cause depression, and the different ways to get help.  

Orygen Youth Health - Medications for Depression
Fact sheet from Orygen Youth Health explaining how anti-depressants work, what the different kinds are, what might be possible side effects, and how long it will take to work. You can also look at their fact sheet on Medications for Pyschosis which is specifically about the drugs used to treat pscyhotic depression.

How does it feel?

Symptoms of depression can be different for each person and no person feels exactly the same as another. If you are experiencing some of the following symptoms you should see your doctor to tell them what’s going on. 

Key symptoms of depression:

• Feeling sad most of the time

• Feeling really bad about yourself and who you are (loss of self-esteem)

• No longer enjoying activities that used to be fun

• Not looking forward to anything in the future

• Feeling like there’s no hope for your life to get any better

• Feeling worthless and guilty

• Feeling like you need to be alone more than usual.

Other symptoms:

• Sleeping more or sleeping a lot less (having trouble getting to sleep or waking during the night)

• Feeling a general lack of energy

• Not being able to concentrate properly

• Being cranky and irritable

• Experiencing a change in appetite (wanting to eat more or wanting to eat less)

• Crying and not knowing why

• Having thoughts of hurting yourself

• Having thoughts of hurting others - bullying.

What is depression?

Depression is a common experience. We have all felt 'depressed' about a friend ignoring us, misunderstandings in a relationship, stress with school - sometimes we feel 'down' for no reason at all.  That doesn’t necessarily mean we have a ‘clinical’ depression though.

A ‘clinical’ depression is when:

• The feeling of sadness is intense and stays with you pretty much all the time
• It lasts for two weeks or more and
• It makes it difficult to do your usual activities like school, socialising, etc.

Three types of depression

Non-melancholic depression

The most common type of clinical depression is called ‘non-melancholic depression’.  The cause of this type of depression is usually from one or more life stresses (life events) or the ways in which we cope with life events and relate to people around us (related to our personality styles) or a combination of both life events and personality styles.  An example of a personality style is ‘perfectionism’ – when people set very high and unrealistic standards for themselves and get stressed and depressed when they think that they’ve failed to meet these high standards.

Read more about personality styles in depression on the Black Dog Institute website.

Melancholic depression

Another type of clinical depression is called ‘melancholic depression’.  It is much less common and only occurs in about 2-10% of people who are clinically depressed. People with a melancholic depression usually have more severe and long-lasting symptoms of depression including a lower mood state than those with non-melancholic depression.  They may also suffer from ‘psychomotor disturbance’ – becoming physically slowed down and experiencing slowed thinking OR, feeling agitated, unable to sit still and experiencing  excessive and persistent worry.  The main cause of melancholic depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, so melancholic depression rarely improves without medication.  Melancholic depression also occurs in Bipolar disorder.

Psychotic depression

Psychotic depression is the least common type of clinical depression.  Like melancholic depression the causes are mainly biological and people experience psychomotor disturbance. What makes it different from other types of depressions is that that people with psychotic depression also experience psychotic symptoms like delusions or hallucinations. Delusions are false beliefs that others don’t believe but that the person is convinced are real – for example, believing that you are being sent special messages from the TV, radio or computer. Hallucinations are seeing, hearing or smelling things that aren’t really there, or that other people can’t see, hear or smell. Sometimes having delusions or hallucinations are part of the symptom pattern of other conditions like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

Useful websites

Reachout - managing depression
Fact sheet from Reachout (Australia) explaining what can cause depression, and the different ways to get help. 

Help Guide - Dealing With Teen Depression
Information from Help Guide about teenage depression. Includes such topics as what depression feels like, what you can do to feel better and how to talk to your parents.

Teens Health - Depression
A guide from Teen Health describing and explaining depression in easy to understand terms. Provides examples and medical info in a simple but powerful way.

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance - Is It Just a Mood Or Something Else?
The DBSA asks the important question, "Is it just a mood or something else?". Explores what depression is, what causes it, how you can find help, what treatment is like and how you can help someone else.

Orygen Youth Health - Psychosis
Fact sheet from Orygen Youth Health explaining the different kinds of psychotic illnesses. It ranges from schizophrenia to psychotic depression and explains what it's like living with those conditions. It also explains how you can help someone else who is suffering.