2 Things You Can Do To Manage Anxiety And Depression

There are many people who deal with intense feelings of anxiety and depression. In fact, most people would say that at one point in their life, they experienced these emotions. So the question is, how do you know when it is serious enough to seek treatment, and how do you determine if it is just a bad day? Here are some things that you can do to help manage the anxiety and depression. If you are unable to get past the feelings even after trying these things, it may be time to seek more professional help.

1. Identify Your Triggers

The first thing that you need to do is try to identify triggers and things that set you off. Even if you have general anxiety, there are still things that cause you to feel this way. The first way to managing it is to learn what things trigger the emotions. It could be something at your job, a certain environment, smells or memories of difficult times, past trauma, and so forth. The triggers don't even have to be logical. You might be triggered by a word, without even realizing why it is difficult for you. The goal is to first identify what things are jump starting these difficult emotions.

2. Manage The Triggers

Some triggers you can simply do away with. If you find that you feel worse when you eat certain foods, simply eliminate those foods from your diet. It should be mentioned that diet can play a major role in anxiety and depression, so pay close attention to how you feel after eating certain foods such as wheat, gluten, and even dairy.

Some triggers, however, can't be eliminated and instead need to be managed. For instance, your kids or spouse can trigger those feelings. Does that mean you need to leave your family and get a divorce? No, of course not. It simply means that you need to learn better ways to deal with the stress. For instance, when your kids start making loud noises that trigger you, you can first recognize that this may be a problem for you and then decide what you are going to do. Go to another room, turn on soothing music, smell essential oils, and so forth are just a couple suggestions. In most cases your triggers will need to be managed rather than eliminated.

If, after doing these two things, you still feel that your anxiety and depression are unmanageable, then you should consider seeing a psychotherapist who can give you additional treatment. 

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