Getting out of a slump

Reffner · Senior Member

Getting out of a slump

soberdrunk · MIP Old Timer

Hey Brian,
It's funny to me that we have about the same amount of sobriety and are going through depression right now. I'm trying to get started on my 4th step with no luck and I attribute feeling down partially to that. Some say it's (SAD) Seasonal Affective Disorder, a temporary depression with the crappy weather through the winter time.
Don't know if this helps but I feel ya.
Keep doing what you are doing though. It will get better! This I am sure of!

lukin · Veteran Member

Hi Brian... I just wanted to say I totally & completely sympathize with your situation. I suffer from crippling depression & anxiety (although much less anxiety now that I am sober), and on occasion the self pity takes over me & throws me for a loop & I get so depressed I can hardly breathe.

It's so great that you know how to reach out for help. That's the toughest part for me, and I can completely identify with sometimes, no matter what you do, work the steps, pray, call people, sometimes you just can't overcome depression.
For me I found that if I was able to reach out for help to my sponsor, and speak up in meetings, and call people, it made it that much easier for me to reach out for professional help & start working with a therapist.
The therapist diagnosed me with my depression & also made me realize that I suffer from the winter blues (SAD). It took a little while, but I got on the right med for me and I also got this lovely little thing for my desk called a light box which gives me a full spectrum of light for an hour a day, and I swear I feel giddy afterwards. (I live in the Northeast, any giddiness during winter is very welcome for me.)
I am not in any way shape or form advocating getting yourself on medication, I can only say what has worked for me. Overcoming depression is not just a matter of "snapping out of it", sometimes it's chemical & very serious & if nothing else, the BB does advocate the use of trained medical professionals to help us get well.
It was not easy for me to admit that I needed professional help. I do love AA, I find it to be the best free therapy out there, but my situation didn't radically improve without a doctor. And, at the same time, as my depression went away, my obession with my next drink seemed to lessen every day.

I don't know if this helps you at all. Be good to yourself.

Avril G · Senior Member

Same here!! I cannot believe it's snowing AGAIN, and bitterly cold, which is not goo news for Fibromyalgia sufferers!! Everywhere aches, in fact I have pain where I never knew I had places. Thank God for central heating, TeNs machine, painkillers and a light therapy box, just in case there is a bit of SAD in the mix.

Maybe tomorrow will be different eh? Nothing wrong that a drink won't magnify by 110% that's for sure.

leeu · MIP Old Timer

Same here....the willingness to seek and use professional help and proper meds saved my life. I must say, tho, that it took some real work on my part to locate providers who were trained/knowledgible in BOTH substance use disorders AND mental health conditions. But also crucial---for me, if the doc or therapist didn't have expertise in co-occurring conditions and differential diagnoses they could actually do more harm than good. So I asked for a free "interview" session (me interviewing them) before just turning myself over to someone's care. Most were willing to give me 15-20 minutes and that was usually enough for me to tell if they knew what they were doing with my multiple disorders and the tricky role of meds & recovery.

ljc · MIP Old Timer

Id have to say that what you are experiencing is very normal and can be very typical at 10 months sober . I believe I even had some 'blue' days in my first year. And I even have them now too at a little over 5 yrs sober .
I dont expect myself to be happy, joyous and free 24/7.

And yeah ... this too shall pass. But it only passes if I get up off my duff and do some changing.
I find things to do to take my mind off what is bothering me. Making a gratitude list really helps me. And the thing that helps the most is to reach out and find another drunk to work with.

If my daily life gets 'stagnant' and I become bored or depressed, I really got to be careful cuz a drink is usually right around the corner. I didnt get sober to be miserable.
I want to be happy on a regular basis and that takes work. And sometimes I need to change something to make this happen.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Reffner wrote:
The past few days have been a little rough, and I was hoping to get some ESH from my friends here. Depression has set in for no good reason (not that there's a good reason for it anyway) and I can't seem to get myself out of this slump. I feel like I've taken out and used every tool in my box to no avail. I've called my sponsor and others many times, read my BB and worked steps, prayed and meditated, and made gratitude lists. Nothing has changed as far as meetings go (at least 1 every day). Some of these little "episodes" are almost incapacitating at times...feels like all I can do is sit in a chair and keep breathing. It's starting to affect things at home with my wife and kids.
I can feel the "old" alcoholic ways creeping back in. I'm full of self pity (oh poor Brian, no one understands him), anger, and not very accepting of anything. I recognize that I'm all up in my head, but it seems like every time I try and climb out, I'm drawn back in by situations and circumstances that are out of my control.

Hey Brian, you're right where you're supposed to be struggling in your first year. The big thing here is too quit thinking so much. Your computer has a virus and it's going to take HP a good while longer to deal with it. If you've so much time on your hands to be thinking about all that crap, then you're not busy enough with meetings, hanging out with your sober friends, exercise, extracuricular activities... In my first year I rarely was at home long enough to eat sleep and do some chores. Get busy my friend.

FlyingSquirrel · Senior Member

Brian,

I can definitely relate to the slump. I was about where you are just a week or so ago, coming up on my 1 year anniversary. I posted something about depression and one thing I'm currently doing to combat it here:

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=42735&p=3&topicID=33533735

Hope it helps!

Glenn

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Yah, I was brutally depressed for a few months out of the first year and it still hits me every so often. I have to take a step back and realize I self medicated with alcohol for years and it's going to take time to recover. Rarely does a total funk seem to last much longer than part of a day now before I let go and the light seeps back in again. I won't say I have my depression totally in check at all, but it is certainly better than it was. I used to look at the steps and think restoration to sanity was impossible for me because I had a mental illness (depression and anxiety). The sanity is really in my behavior and not my feelings per say. I show up daily, even if I'm not feeling all peachy and I don't look for solutions in a bottle any more. That is significantly more sane than I acted before when I drank nightly, passed out all over the place, cried all the time, and thought God was crapping on me every time I was depressed. Hang in there Reffner. You are right when you say "this too shall pass."

Mark

-- Edited by pinkchip on Sunday 7th of February 2010 07:11:45 AM