Hello all!

So basically, my problem is that I alternate between upsurges in my mood where I feel okay and even good following positive events, and crashes a few days later where I can be extremely dysfunctional as my mood shifts back toward "depressed".

So I would please like some tips for coping with crashes so I can be functional even in the middle of one.

Thank you very much y'all!

Find something that "brightens your day".

i.imgur.com/Zdl1ugC.gifv

This might work. It worked for me when i had hardest days in job.

You should be asking actual mental health professionals about your concern, or at least be lloking for help from a site dedicated to health and wellness, instead of looking for answers on a porn clearinghouse.

Here's the resource sticky link: hypnohub.net/forum/show/44668

Check out the <<hypnohub.net/forum/show/19822?page=48|vent room>> forum post from time to time maybe - lots of tips to be had there, too.

Depending on how your crashes work, there are different tips to be had, but generally speaking ... don't be too hard on yourself. You don't have to be happy 100% of the time to be happy, and you don't have to be sad 100% of the time to be in a bad spot, either.

This may sound weird, but try taking pictures of happy moments. Selfies with your phone, just pictures of stuff reminding you of a time where you were happy like that time you got a milkshake and drank it in the sun.
Whenever you feel bad then, you can pull up those pictures on your phone and scroll through them, trying to remember that there are good times to be had, too. It doesn't "fix" it, but it definitely smoothes over my mood when I scroll through those pictures.

Alright, thanks for your responses.

First thing, I'm already seeing a psychiatrist, but there's only so much that one visit every 3 weeks can do.

Second thing, my mood crashes are not life threatening. I'm not suicidal, but I tend to be... Well, to oversleep and miss classes when on a mood crash. So obviously not good either.

When I'm on a crash, I tend to get... Dismotivated, lazy and bored. I get a hard time finding the will to do just about anything else than randomly surfing the web and (sometimes) playing video games. But thanks for the advice to try to take pictures of my happy moment, will try it, it's something my shrink has not suggested to me, but hey, it's worth a try. Worst that can happen is that it doesn't change anything.

I will add that I've received decent advice from non-medical sources that medical sources never gave me.

When seeing my GP and mentioning I had shitty sleep patterns, he told me: "maybe you should shut down the computer around nightfall" and I was like "No way, no how". Someone in my MMO guild told me to download f.lux and while my sleep amount stayed roughly the same, my sleep quality has improved (even though it's still far from perfect when I'm on a crash), and I told my mom to tell him. Turns out he knew about blue light filter apps but never thought to recommend them to people. So I can get some good non-medical advice when professionals don't think about the simple solution.

Your insurance (or employer if applicable) might have resources you can talk to as well.

Is there a way you can feel it coming? Or is there a pattern to their occurrences? I wouldn't rule out a medical issue but maybe you just run out of spoons easily.

Push ups, jumping jacks. Stop you thinking and get you doing something. Which can help for anxiety and depression. Any kind of exercise you can do without equipment can be helpful.

Mental illness tends to be pretty unique, even if it follows a well defined pathology. So that's about the only thing I really feel comfortable recommending anymore. I know art works for me under certain well defined circumstances :\ I've seen it do more harm to people then good, what you want to watch out for is following a specific pattern, especially if behavior intensifies.

I will say that video games do not help me. Socializing online is hit and miss because you will make some great friends. But no one can see each other's face.

I have pretty severe mood swings myself, as does my partner and many of my friends. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, there comes a point where medication really is the only thing that will pull you out of a cycle, but there are always things you can do to at least mitigate it.

Vitamin D isn't the cure-all it's sometimes touted as, but I have noticed that when I take some every day, it really helps keep me from just randomly falling into a depressive spike, and while I don't exactly have data to back this up, I feel like I recover from them a little faster, too.

Exercise will help with both depression and sleep patterns. I know, trust me, I KNOW, everybody says that and it seems so hokey and stupid and, like, missing the point. But it really, really, really does help. Even just getting out of the house and going for a walk will do wonders, especially if you set out with a goal in mind--getting a candy bar and soda from the gas station, or walking just long enough to listen to a podcast or an album on your headphones. The trick is, you have to keep it consistent--no walking three miles one day, and then not walking for a month.

Depending on your tolerances and tastes, caffeine can help a little, in that it will keep you from feeling "foggy" and unable to concentrate or motivate yourself. I'm a coffee nerd, so I'll go through a French Press every morning, but even just a cup of tea when you're feeling down can help.

Okay, so this is all about prevention--you asked about maintaining in the middle of a crash. Unfortunately, in my experience, once you're in a crash you kinda just have to ride it out--but, there are things you can do here, too. Getting off the computer really does help--I know, see above re: exercise, but the trouble with the internet, especially when you're feeling down, is it's WAY too easy to find something that will just upset you more, and the "reload page" reflex just perpetuates the cycle in your own head. I think that's much more the issue than the blue light thing (although I use f.lux, too, so take from that what you will!). I guess I would ask, why is getting off the computer after, say, ten o'clock a hard thing for you to do (they said, writing at 2:15 am), and does it balance out the problems with your sleep patterns?

Well, exercise didn't do much for me, I've gone to a Krav Maga class twice a week, and about the only thing it's done to me was giving me a few tricks to show off, and helping me be less scared of people because I know that I have a few tricks up my sleeve should I be assaulted (especially sexually, where it's "play along until the aggressor is distracted and then unleash Ragnarok on them", I feel I've got that one in the bag.), so that helped me on this front, but not on the depression front, and worse, I could never sleep properly after a class. Getting my blood pumping prevents me from sleeping. But it should be a workable schedule next year since it'll likely help me lose some weight, or at the very least lose some fat and maybe replace it with muscle. That's probably gonna be good for my health, and I kinda want to learn advanced tricks to show off.

Riding the crashes without shutting down is a hard part. My biggest problem is that socially, I'm pretty isolated, no friends at the University, and one maybe sorta potential friend at the other side of the department (that's basically a "County" for American readers), so really I can get there by train but it makes logistics pretty hard. So when I manage to get some positive social interactions I get in a euphoria followed by some okay period followed by a crash. I am getting some more social interactions over the net (as someone said, pretty hit and miss since it's more limiting than face to face interaction), but those tend to trigger some more regular upsurges in my mood. At least my potential friend whom I have met twice IRL is among the group I play with online, so I can try to organize logistics with that guy and he's pretty nice.