Probably good for those with depression identify themselves so we’ll go easy on them.
Nice idea. Big can of worms.
I dance with depression on and off and don’t mind talking about it.
8 Likes
It’s not random. You are letting your emotions out but your mind doesn’t know how to rationalise that so you conclude that it’s random. Cry. Let it out. My friend was telling me a sad story this morning and I started to cry, on a bridge, at 9am. Fuck it.
Be kind to yourself. Give yourself the love, patience and care that you’d give to someone else who needed some TLC.
10 Likes
Highly variable. I would say that for me, the counsellor acted more like a coach that gave me tips to deal with my anxiety, but I found her quite intimidating and felt judged and uncomfortable most of the time. It was hard to open up to her. Yet, her exercises and tips were quite helpful, and I feel much better now.
On the other hand, my friends who also used the counselling service got something more like therapy instead of “coaching” and are very satisfied with their experience.
2 Likes
Learning a few strategies at the beginning is very important. What kind of tips did she offer you? Which ones did you respond to better?
Counseling is longer term. It really depends on your immediate needs and your longer term goals come later. But, of course, YMMV.
2 Likes
First, she told me that when I was feeling social anxiety, I should stop for a second and think if the same standards of social behaviour from my country applied here. I often felt I was being impolite or disrespectful (or that people were behaving in this way to me), but it’s mostly that the social rules from my country don’t apply in a multicultural environment (in my uni, for example) or with my Taiwanese friends.
In addition, I had lots of trouble adapting to the HUGE amount of people everywhere in Taipei. I come from the capital city in my country, and it is nowhere as dense as any major city in Taiwan. She helped told me to remind myself that Taiwan is safe and if people get too close or stare at you, they are probably not going to mug/pickpocket you. (I am from South America)
Also, I felt uneasy about my future in professional terms. Because now I’m on a scholarship, so my budget is quite tight. But she reminded me that engineers are highly employable (if I go back to the industry).
TL;DR: she told me to stop catastrophizing and thinking that everything will go wrong in the future. And that social norms here are a bit more relaxed than in my country.
7 Likes
Good advice ! They should be used working with students. Also many more private mental health clinics in town in most major cities might be an option. (not sure if insurance covers this but you can ask)
1 Like
Out of curiosity, is that from the government? Do they offer free counseling?
A friend of mine is in contact with me about his depression. He feels very negative (not quite sure what the feeling is) about the medication he’s taking. I’m actually the one who talked him into seeing a psychiatrist as I’ve known two others with depression (my mom and another friend- both doing okay and off meds now). I tell him there’s no shame in taking medication.
He says he just feels bad all the time, and adds that the medication really helps.
I want to help him with more and better advice but really don’t know what to tell him.
Can anyone who has had (does have) depression tell me how I can help him? What advice should I give him? Should he be worried about the medication he’s taking? Should he have a plan to get off them the sooner the better?
I don’t think he talks about his depression with many people. His wife. A couple of church friends. I think his church friends offer to pray for him, etc. I think this is good (any social support must be good), but I think it’s only part of the solution.
3 Likes
Yup. I won’t feel good for inducing some suicide.
No, but I have used their services before and so has my wife. They offer cross cultural counseling.
I’ve not had good experience with churches. For me it’s sitting around listen to worship music (which I don’t really like), then listen to some guy lecture on and on about an elementary topic. After that everyone basically clears the entire building, absolutely no chance to meet anyone at all outside of scripted bible study events. Felt like a total waste of time, apart from all the expectations and gossips.
I had the same dilemma when I was a student with a scholarship , many free time but very tight budget for going out .
My advice is to take advantage of all the resources the university can give you : library , join a student club , try to get closer with locals , learn new things .
Don’t worry too much about your professional future and live the present (take the time to appreciate where you are, what you’re doing, and who is with you)
3 Likes
Thank you! That’s great advice! Participating in student clubs certainly made me feel better. I think the anxiety stems from the fact that before my Master’s I worked in software developing, so it was tough to adjust to living without a real salary and in a country that is much more expensive than my own.
At the same time, all of my friends from Uni have great jobs now, even the ones that barely passed the courses. So, it’s inevitable to question if I’m making the correct decisions (though I love doing research!)
1 Like
I read. Habit changing is hard, and harder when you’re blue.
I have an autoimmune issue which causes psoriasis on my scalp. It’s gross and it bums me out even more. So, now, I shower and after I shower, I blow dry my hair. 90% decrease in scalp psoriasis. I no longer feel added pressure from my scalp.
If you have deeper issues, try reading Seneca’s Letters. There’s something in there for all of us.
5 Likes
A couple of millennia and we’ve learned less.
Well, being introspective is hard when one has immediate access to a majority of human knowledge, and pron.
1 Like
Is “pron” porn?
1 Like
Either that or short for “pronoun.” What are your pronouns, by the way?
Sir Dickus
EDIT:Shoukd be Sir Biggus. Schoolboy error
1 Like