What should I do to manage my depression den?

This article will discuss how depression can affect you, and your environment, which can often become messy, and dirty, making you feel worse. It also showed what are the best ways to care for the place you live in when you are depressed.

What should I do to manage my depression den? 

It has been known that when a person is depressed they may have trouble caring for themselves, but also, it seems like it is hard for them to care for their environment, especially their room. So here there are a few things you can do when that is happening to you.

Take it little by little

When you are depressed, you tend to just leave things where it is easier. And at some point, it turns out everything is a mess. When faced with that, you may start to feel like you shouldn’t be living like this. 

You can start to judge yourself for the mess that your house is. And you begin to argue with yourself that you should fix it all at once. And this may be your first mistake when talking about dealing with your depression den.

That is because depression already makes it harder for you to do things. If you tell yourself you should fix everything at once, you may feel overwhelmed, making it impossible for you to deal with any of it.

One way you can deal with this matter is by taking it all little by little. You can’t tell yourself when you are depressed, to get up and all of the sudden clean the whole house. Rather than that, divide what you need to do.

To do that, you can get yourself a timer, and set it for five minutes. As the five minutes start, focus on one area you would like to clean. During that time, do as much work as you can in that area. And by the time the timer rings, you will be done with one part of the things you wanted to clean.

Congratulate yourself 

When you realize you have done one part of the cleaning, be sure to congratulate yourself on it. You may have come to realize that when you are depressed, doing things may not be as simple as they were before.

So recognizing every effort you have made to improve is an essential part to help you keep motivated to do a little more. It may be that you feel frustrated that you didn’t finish what you wanted in those five minutes. If you have the energy to do so, you can carry on.

If not, congratulate yourself on what you did in those five minutes. Look at how this place you cleaned looks now, and how different it is from five minutes ago. Congratulate yourself for that. It wasn’t easy, as a matter of fact, sometimes to clean even a little you need to master all your strength, but you did it. 

Know it is not the cure, but it is something

If you manage to clean a little, or a lot of the space you live in, know that this won’t be the cure for it all. Having an organized room won’t be what takes you out of depression. But having an environment that is not that hard to be in, may make your mood a little better.

You also need to know that cleaning your depression den won’t be a one-time thing. Unfortunately, depression can make it harder for you to keep things in their place. And you may just want to have all the things you need at your disposal, making your room messy. 

And that is okay. Just keep in mind that once in a while you may want to direct some of your energy towards cleaning that. Which can give you a sense of calm, and even improve your mood a little. But don’t put too much pressure on yourself. For that, let’s understand why it may be normal to clean your house when you are depressed.

Why is it so hard to clean my house when I am depressed?

There may be some reasons related to why it may be hard to clean your house when you are depressed. The first one may be that when you are depressed, you will lose interest in everything.

Unfortunately, this can lead you to feel as if you don’t care about things being clean, or not; organized, or not. And that can make you keep piling up your clothes, not taking your trash out, or prevent you from cleaning your bathroom.

Another reason why this can happen so often when you are depressed has to do with the lack of energy depression leaves you with. Depression can make you feel a lot more fatigued than you did before. Some days you can feel completely drained out. 

And when that is the case, all you want to do is to lay somewhere and be still. You feel like you won’t have the energy to lift a single piece of clothing to put it back in the closet. When you need to go to the bathroom, you will practically drag yourself to it.

In that, cleaning your depression den may be the furthest thing from your mind. And it is understandable. There are many people with depression that are going through the same thing. So you shouldn’t blame yourself.

But with that said, know that sometimes being in a cleaner, the more put-together environment can make it easier for you to find some motivation to do things. You can feel like getting dressed, when you know where your clothes are, maybe easier. 

And other parts of your routine may also become simpler when you know where things are and have it all at your disposal. So try to use the five minutes technique as often as you can to try and make your depression den a place in which you feel comfortable, and a little better.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): What should I do to manage my depression den?  

Can only medication cure my depression?

No, depression will hardly get better only through medication. This is just one way of treating your depression. Which will allow your depressive symptoms to not be so intense, and give a little balance to the chemical imbalance that is going on in your brain.

But you may also need to develop strategies to deal with your emotions and stressful situations in a more positive manner. For that, you will likely need to go to therapy, as a way to create new strategies to deal with the difficult things life sets your way.

What are the forms of depression? 

Depression can happen in four forms. It can be mild, moderate, major, and persistent. The first form, as the name says, causes the person to experience mild symptoms, and because they don’t go on for a long time, it can be hard to diagnose. But to cope with mild depression people will often only need to change their lifestyle.

Moderate depression can go on for longer, and the symptoms are more intense to the point to impact the person’s life. To treat it, people will often go to therapy, and in some cases, they will need medication. 

Major depression, which is also known as clinical depression, is the most intense form of depression, and it can cause the person to have difficulty maintaining their everyday life functioning. Aside from the common symptoms of depression, major depression may also cause the person to experience hallucinations, and even become delusional.

To treat major depression, the person will need to go through therapy, and also medication. The same is true for people that are going through persistent depression, which is one in which the episode can go on for as long as five years. During that time the person will swing between moments of mild depression and moments of major depression.

How can I help my friend who is depressed? 

If your friend is going through depression, the best thing you can do is talk about it with them. Going through depression can be extremely lonely, and they may not want to worry about others or feel like they are not worth saving.

So having this open line of communication, with someone that is saying that is by their side can be extremely comforting. You can also offer to help them, but not in a way like you will fix everything. 

But let them know you are there if they need company going to therapy, or even if they need help with the chores in their house, which can be hard to do when you are depressed.

Will my depression last forever? 

No, your depression won’t last forever if you treat it. Indeed, depression doesn’t have a cure, so when you get better you will still need to care for your mental health. 

But if you treat it the proper way, you will be able to get better. You will feel that the depressive symptoms will become less intense, and you will have a better hold on your emotions. But on the off chance that you chose to not treat your depression, then you should know it will only get worse.

Depression is something that will often feed on you unless you stop it. And the way to do so is by fighting the best way you can. Be it by taking the proper medication, going to therapy, and getting into a healthier lifestyle, in which you will be supported by your loved ones.

Can depression kill me?

No, depression itself won’t kill you. But it can happen that, when you are depressed, you let go of yourself in ways that can impact your life, and even lead to dangerous situations.

When a person is depressed, they can become so numb, and feel like they are worthless that they can begin to neglect not only themselves, but their hygiene, and even their health. 

So not caring for that can, at some point lead to other health matters, which can be serious. You may also have trouble keeping to your doctor’s appointment, which can make it harder to discover if you have any other underlying condition.

Aside from that, the numbness that comes from depression can make you act in desperate ways to feel something. Because of that, people with depression can put themselves in risky situations, or even take up cutting as a way to make themselves feel something, which can lead to harmful situations.

Conclusion

This article discussed ways you can help yourself to clean your depression den. It also explained why depression makes it so hard for you to keep your place organized.

If you have any questions or comments about this article, feel free to write them in the section below.

References

The Depression/Messy House Cycle

https://www.boredpanda.com/depression-room-before-after-cleaning-up/