Help for Anxiety & Depression

Anxiety patients experience anxious thoughts and feelings to such a degree that they interfere with normal life activities. Clinically depressed people can have feelings of self-worth and misappropriated guilt that have the potential to lead to suicide attempts. Basic strategies than can help anxious or clinically depressed people include exercise, a proper diet and selecting the right type of therapy.

Exercise

• Exercise is not just good for the body; it's good for keeping the mind in a better mood. Exercise helps release the muscle tension anxiety patients can suffer from lack of sleep or staying in a "stress mode" due to those anxious triggers. It also releases the stress-inducing hormone cortisol. For depressed patients, exercise can help produce endorphins, hormones related to creating a "feel-good" attitude. Patients can benefit from the boost to self-confidence that comes with completing certain goals such as finishing an aerobics class or riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes nonstop.

  It is important, however, to choose enjoyable exercise routines so you don't risk feeling a loss of self-worth or greater anxiety by just thinking about exercising.

Proper Diet

• A proper diet can help lift the moods of both anxiety and depression patients. In some cases, diets can be more effective than medication. Notably, caffeine can stimulate more anxious thoughts about triggers in people with anxiety; anxiety sufferers should be careful how much caffeine they consume.

  Increasing magnesium content can help keep brain synapses healthy and active for depressed patients. Good sources of magnesium include nuts and seeds, wheat bran, and spinach.

  Including complex carbohydrates such as potatoes and whole-grain bread can benefit people with anxiety or depression because those foods provide a steady source of energy. Simple carbs found in glucose or many prepackaged snacks can cause a spike in energy but create a proportionate low that can be dangerous for depressed patients.

Therapy

• One of the most reliable strategies for getting help is therapy. With interpersonal therapy, mental health professionals may seek out the root causes of anxiety or depression in hopes of addressing them and working from the ground up.

  Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on dealing with symptoms of anxiety or depression by addressing them head-on, discussing the thoughts and behaviors that surround them, and developing coping strategies to produce more positive results.

  Group therapy allows patients to be with like-minded individuals who have similar experiences and can convey a sense of understanding free of judgment or superiority.