Self Help For Anxiety And Depression

Although it is often recommended that those with anxiety and/or depression get professional help, perhaps with medication in additional to behavioral therapy, for those who cannot afford or do not want to go this route, there is help for those who simply want to self-treat for anxiety and depression.

If you are feeling suicidal or have other serious health issues as a result of your anxiety and depression, or if you suffer physical symptoms in addition to your anxiety and depression, you should see a doctor at once, since anxiety and depression can be a result of actual physical ailments, and not actual psychological disorders.

However, if you’ve been given the all clear physically, and you want to try to self treat for anxiety and depression, this can certainly be done, although, again, you should not try to do so if you’re having thoughts of suicide or feel that you may be putting yourself in any danger or at risk of harming others.

Some of the most effective “treatments” for anxiety and depression are not actually treatments at all, but simply healthy lifestyle changes that everyone should incorporate and that the American population at large has been woefully inadequate with for about the last half century.

These include, simply, exercise and proper nutrition. Lack of B vitamins, especially B6, has been touted as a possible reason for anxiety on a nutritional basis, as well as lack of sunlight, and the nutritionally inadequate diets we consume as Americans.

Therefore, simply ensuring that you get adequate nutrition in your diet (meaning plenty of fruits and vegetables, adequate amounts of complex carbohydrates, beans and legumes, and a modest but healthy amount of dairy, animal protein if you so wish, such as meat, “good” fats such as fish oils and unsaturated fats), while you limit most fats, white flour, salt, sugar, and all refined carbohydrates will go a long way toward helping improve your mental health.

In fact, it is known that, for instance, the omega-3 oils are woefully inadequate in the American diet at present, and in fact, this situation is helping create depression in both adults and children.

This is because the brain uses omega-3 fatty acids to function. When it does not get them, it makes substitutes, but functions at a less than optimal level. Therefore, poor diets that do not include enough omega-3 fatty acids can contribute to depression and even anxiety.

While we should be getting equal amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in our diet, in fact, we get almost all omega-6 fatty acids in our diet while we almost completely ignore the omega-3 fatty acids.

Secondly, exercise contributes to improved mental health, because exercising your mind and body does two things. First, exercise increases endorphins’ release in your brain, which are “feel-good” hormones.

Second, as your body begins to feel better from the increasing physical activity, your mood improves. Therefore, exercise is also an essential component of mental as well as physical health that most Americans do not include in adequate amounts in their lifestyles.

Third, getting adequate sleep and relaxation in your lifestyle, while limiting caffeine, which can induce anxiety, in your diet may also help relieve anxiety and depressive symptoms.

There are supplements on the market that some have touted to be effective in helping treat depression, such as St. John’s Wort, but these should be used only with the advice of a health-care practitioner or naturopath, and only if not contraindicated because you have other health considerations that would prevent you from taking them.

Should you not wish to use these supplements, or if they are contraindicated for you, simple good nutrition and excise will go a long way in helping improve your mental health.