The 10 Best Ways To Beat Dysthymia — Part 2
We Can Beat It Together!
--
Welcome to the second half of my post about beating dysthymia. If you haven’t read part one covering ways 1–5, please feel free to do that here. All done? Great, let’s begin! Of course there are not just 10 ways to beat dysthymia; there are probably hundreds and different things will work for different people. That said, I can only speak from my personal experience so if you’re struggling, these are the 10 things that worked for me. Please feel free to pop your own tips into the comments.
6) Therapy
I can’t talk about any mental health problem without mentioning therapy. To be honest, I found therapy a bit of a mixed bag. There are lots of different therapists and lots of different therapies, finding the right type of therapy and a therapist that is compatible with you within your budget can be a huge challenge. I’m lucky in that in the UK, the NHS will pay for certain types of therapy. However, the downside is that gives you less power to choose the therapist you’re paired with.
Feeling miserable, the majority of days can take a huge toll. Having therapy to explore the root of your issues, as well as challenging destructive thought patterns can be invaluable. I believe that the majority of people could do with regular therapy. We live in a fucked up world and having someone impartial to talk it through with would be a massive benefit so if you have any form of depression or anxiety and have never seen a therapist, I would recommend you at least give it a try.
7) Take Baby Steps
I cannot stress this point enough. I have explained in my other articles about depression that when you feel depressed, simple tasks conceal like climbing a mountain. If you have formulated a plan or a list of ways to beat dysthymia, that is fantastic but you need to keep your goals realistic. If the steps on your plan will take too much physical, mental or emotional energy. The likelihood is you simply will not do them. If you don’t do them, you’ll feel like a failure which could actually make your dysthymia worse.
Whatever you choose to do, make it small. Make it so small that it’s easier to do it than not to. For example, I suggested eating colourful foods in…