5 Alternative Ways to Treat Depression
In honor of Ralph Rickgarn. May he rest in peace.
No, we’re not talking about meditation and yoga. Although we do support both of those. We don’t think they will help unless it is something that the individual enjoys doing. We have suffered from various mental health issues throughout our lives. We don’t say “suffer” to sound negative, but to highlight that mental health disorders are extremely difficult to manage and life-altering. We’re not psychologists (although we did go to college for psychology) so this list is based on our own personal experiences and world view. There is no cure for depression and other mental health disorders yet. But, we do think there is always hope and something we can do.
Studies have shown that fish oil can help improve brain health. It can reduce anxiety and depression symptoms and even possibly prevent Alzheimer’s if taken regularly. It is an anti-inflammatory and helps with overall health. While it does not cure depression, it does assist with it. Countries that have diets that mainly consist of fish have reported lower rates of depression. When we run out of fish oil we have noticed a significant difference in our mood and mental health.
Get a Job That You Like.
We think this is a big one. Don’t live to work, work to live. Follow your passion and something you’re good at. Then find a career in it. If you are doing something that you enjoy you are much more likely to find some sort of happiness. We get it, sometimes we have to take what we can get to pay our bills, but the long-term goal should be to find a career doing something that you want to do. Something that makes you feel good. Our very own Rachel started working in a restaurant as a server when she was 15. While there are many downsides to this type of work, it does provide an alternative to the 9-5 jobs out there. Today, Rachel has retired from the restaurant industry (after spending 20 years in it) and we are both working on launching our YouTube channel together!
Choose Your People Carefully.
How can you expect to thrive in a negative environment? Consistently enduring abuse from a significant other, job, or friend can have devastating effects on your mental health. The scary thing about this is that abuse can cause a brain injury. It’s not obvious right away and most often doesn’t show up until the individual leaves the situation. This is called PTS(D). Your mental health is not going to get better until you surround yourself with people who treat you kindly and actually support you. Just like we don’t immediately see health problems from smoking, toxic people and environments can cause significant and possibly deadly symptoms over time.
Find Your Passion.
Most people want to do something that matters. Yes, we have met a few people who simply don’t care. However, the majority of people wander through life looking for their purpose. When we get stuck in a rut and don’t feel valuable it’s easy to fall into a depression. This is probably why our mental health fails us after a job loss, divorce, or any sort of big change. There are going to be times in your journey that you may have trouble leaving your home or talking to people, and that’s ok. But it’s very dangerous to stay in that spot. Go out and find something that you enjoy doing. Writing, running, playing board games, youth mentoring, singing, etc. You have to give energy to get energy.
Take Care of Your Body.
Exercise...if you can. If all you can do is get out of bed and go for a walk, then do that. And be proud of it. Also, figure out what your allergies are. Get allergy tested. Imagine how much our food affects our brains? We found out we can’t eat gluten and dairy. After we changed our diets our mental health improved. We’re not here to preach to you about the dangers of alcohol and smoking, but how can we expect our brains to function correctly if we aren’t putting healthy things into our bodies? We’re not going to give up our coffee, whiskey, and candy, but we are going to enjoy them in moderation.
We took a class together in college called Psychology of Suicide/Suicidology from the late great Ralph Rickgarn. He was a suicidologist and a great teacher. Sadly, he passed away from cancer. However, he did meet Emma when she was a small baby and even held her. Ralph’s biggest piece of advice, when faced with a suicidal person, was to 1. Believe them. If someone says they are going to kill themselves, take it seriously and act. 2. Say something. It doesn’t really matter what you say to someone who is depressed as long as it is said with love and kindness. Don’t just sit there like a bump on a log and stare at them uncomfortably.
We are also huge fans of Kenneth Cole, brother-in-law to Chris and Andrew Cuomo, who is a champion for mental health. He is a clothing designer. He also founded the Mental Health Coalition. He coined the phrase, “Shut the hate up.” Imagine how much the world’s mental health would improve if we stopped hating each other so much? Thank you, Kenneth Cole!
We hope that you enjoyed this piece. We put a lot of time and effort into this. Please support our work by subscribing to our YouTube channel and sharing our videos and articles with your friends and family! If you have any tips for us please email them to thegalafam@gmail.com.
