Well, I joined this because since my mother lost her job and thus lost our health insurance, I needed some help dealing with my depression. I won't be able to afford medications or therapy after the end of this month, and I saw an ad for this place on DA and figured..."Why the hell not? A support group might be a good idea." Plus, I scared myself when I recently started up my old cutting habit from High School again.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here had any good coping strategies that they'd be willing to share. I'm pretty dependent on medication, so when that's gone I need something that'll help. I try exercising, I walk the dog pretty much everyday, but that's about it.

I'm so sorry to hear about your sudden need to stop treatment.  Have you talked to your doctor?  You really need to wean off your medications rather than stop cold turkey when they run out; trust me, withdrawal is not pretty.  Sorry to hear about the cutting too - Seems like things really aren't going your way, huh?  You can pull through it though; you seem to have a resilient attitude.

As for coping strategies, exercise seems work really well.  I've never dealt with depression, but my cousin has bipolar, and whenever he hits a low, he starts exercising.  It's supposed to release endorphins, I believe (don't quote me on this), which help to lift the depression.  This feeling is similar to that produced by cutting, only it's MUCH healthier and productive.

You also mentioned that you were on DA when you first found out about this site.  Art and writing are great ways to cope with feelings.  Whenever I'm stuck in one of my OCD modes, working in Photoshop or Corel Painter really calms me down.  I rarely (if ever) create great works of art, and sometimes I don't even finish what I started, but it allows me to release my feelings through my work. 

Along these lines, reading also helps.  Don't read something too tragic or too mindless though.  Shoot for something in the middle: it'll keep you occupied while not being too depressing.  Apply the same rules to music. 

 Hope this helps!

~Caitlin

Yes, things have been quite distressing here. It's not just me either suffering, my brother has depression as well and my mother has had it in the past. With the stress of her losing her job for the first time in her 52 years of life, I've seen some depression symptoms surfacing in her as well. Depression runs very strong in my family. 

I wish I could get the motivation to exercise more, as just the walks seem to have little effect. I'm horribly lazy though and my sleep problems make it so that I'm pretty much always tired. I did pick up some new books today, so hopefully that will help some.  As with the art, it does help sometimes...though if I'm really depressed I truly do not want to create, my muse abandons me.

 Anyway, thank you for the suggestions and your concern.
 

its a shame your country doesn't have a free health service, anyway there will probably be many local charities who will be willing to help and might fund your medication but the only thing is finding one, you should go through a phonebook and look for charities or groups that will help depression and give them a ring or get your mam too if you feel unable, hope that helps

 Well, thankfully our therapists (mine and my brother's) are willing to work for only the $10 copay we'd normally pay if we had insurance. At least for the time being.

you should tell them thats not good enough, if they were really dedicated they would be willing to sort something out, i would try and contact some local charities

liamjackson333:

you should tell them thats not good enough, if they were really dedicated they would be willing to sort something out, i would try and contact some local charities

That's not being entirely fair to them. If they knew of anything they'd tell us, it's amazingly nice of them to even still see us for $10. Mine wanted to do it for free, but it's not fair to her really, so I offered to pay the copay. Plus, they've got tons of other patients to worry about as well. It's not an issue of being dedicated or not. Furthermore, I'm not aware of any local charities that would be willing to pay the huge expense of our medical bills. 

Partnership for Prescription Assistance
About.com Bipolar/Depression meds
Med Solutions
Needy Meds

You might want to get full spectrum light bulbs for the house too. They're inexpensive and if you get some for where you spend most of your time, they can help. Look for light bulbs (florescent or incandescent) that say "full spectrum", "natural light", or "sunlight".