[Dezdemona]

Hi everyone. I don't know if there is already a thread on this, so I thought I'd do a new thread on ideas or different methods of coping strategies for when in crisis.

My T once suggested a very simple strategy called H.A.L.T, or halt. This stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. What you do is when in crisis, you stop and ask yourself if you are any one of these. I think it's a good strategy. Another I like to use is journal writing. I find I feel better most of the time after I've spilled my guts onto paper.

Anyway, does anyone have other ideas they would like to share?

I do many things-

Listen to music
call my therapist
take a bath
squish playdough
take a walk
go biking
Activities from the books-
The Courage To Heal textbook
The Courage To Heal Workbook
Mind Over Mood workbook
Amongst Ourselves workbook
The PTSD workbook
The Relaxation and Stress Reduction workbook
Recreating yourself
Getting Through the Day
Managing stress through the Arts
Weekly practices in conscious living meditations and activities
Journal writing
Book writing
Research
contacting professions in the field of my disorder
making -
collages
Diarama's
Scale models of nightmares and so on
Hypnosis otherwise known as relaxation visualizations on my own and with my therapist
Call friend
write and email friends
Depression management group and classes
Anger management group and classes
Parenting classes
started and facilitate a local branch of HOPE a support group for women survivors of child sexual abuse
Many on line support groups

The list goes on..

[(JD)]

http://forums.psychcentral.com/showf...v=1#Post298951

hmmm looks ominous.

Anyway, I don't know what your s/n used to be so I'm not sure how much help you need around here but there's a search engine onsite... I typed in coping for the depression forum and found bunches of stuff

The halt is a good way to assess what is going on, but isn't a coping per se, right? Distraction is an excellent way to pass time safely...esp if you are "just" trying to get to the day of a session where you can discuss things.

IDK about journaling just for depression for myself, as I can go deeper that I am... but it might be good for others. Also, that workbook Myself mentions is way too much to load on when I'm depressed and T said not to...must be a reason?
In fact, most of those items I can't do when very depressed ((MYSELF)) I can't do reading because I can't concentrate. I can't do physical stuff but htat is good for most for depression, you're right.

I joined PC to "kill time instead of myself" the day after Christmas... it's a distraction.

[Ohlostme]

Thanks, Dez, for starting this post. In the last post on my SOOOOOO Depressed thread I asked for people to tell me about their coping mechanisms, but no one replied. Sigh...

Myself -- as Sky said, I'm not really in the mindset to journal when I'm upset and need a coping mechanism. Venting does help, sometimes, but it takes time and discipline to sit down and write. And doing so doesn't necessarily make the bad situation better. I'd rather just vent to a friend, or on this forum. Although, I must tell you -- I'm a writer. I once worked at a place where a bunch of the employees got together to persecute me, en masse. I sat down and wrote a murder mystery book, using each of their names as characters, vivdly describing their hateful personalities and murdering off each one of them, in the story. It gave me tremendous satisfaction and amusement, for a while. Sort of mental voodoo...

You listed a lot. I'm going to go through them and see if anything jumps out that me that I think I could try. Thanks.

I usually just try to pamper myself when I'm depressed/upset. Any little thing, like going to a movie or out to a nice meal, buying myself a small gift, requesting tickets to a tv show taping (I'm in L.A.), driving up to the mountains, etc. Or I listen to affirmation tapes (REALLY focus). There are records/tapes that are impossible to stay upset while you're listening to - like Monty Python, Spike Jones, anything you might hear on Dr Dimento, etc. Or...this is going to sound strange...I look at tapes of the old tv show "Kate & Allie." For some reason, that show always makes me feel good, just by watching it. Or old tapes of Andy Griffith, **** Van Dyke, or some show that was on when the world was less cruel. Seeing the old familiar characters is like visiting with old friends who you know are nice. I can get lost in it for a while. Or I watch "What the Bleep" again ("...if thoughts can do that to water, imagine what your thoughts can do to you...").

Sometimes I take a long hot bath with candles, music, incense, etc. It doesn't make anything better, but it helps me relax a bit. Yoga can help (it forces you to focus on something other than what's causing you pain. But it takes discipline to do any kind of exercise when you're really depressed/angry).

As I said in my SOOOOO Depressed post, I changed my name, once. I legally took on the middle name of Hope, because I thought it was a quality worth celebrating. Also, I thought it might help me to remember to have hope when things were bad. (It hasn't, alas) But it was, as my T said, at the time, a "life affirming gesture," and it picked me up.

I also created a document that was an award for myself. I gave myself an award for being a good, resilient person (the bad that's happened to me throughout my whole life hasn't made me bad, and I thought that was worth celebrating). It does help me to read it, when I'm feeling down. It reminds me of how much I've overcome and that I've had the resilience to do that. Makes me feel proud of myself.

Two more things --
I typed up a list of things I was able to do/get that took me a long time, but I finally did accomplish them. It reminds me that things may be hard now, but that doesn't mean that the things I want won't come, eventually. I've made "some" dreams come true, in the past (even if it took a while -- sometimes a LONG while). It makes me feel better to remind myself that I haven't ALWAYS failed - to take care of myself, to make my life better, etc.

Also, I went through all of my saved emails and took out all of the passages in which people said good things about me. (Thankfully, it took days) I put all of those quotes into a document. I printed it out and put it in a plastic folder. Now, if I'm feeling bad (if some bully is putting me through hell), I can look through that folder and see that GOOD people had wonderful, kind, flattering things to say about the kind of person I am. It helps keep things in perspective.

While I've tried to be creative in my coping mechanisms, I've pretty much worn them out, after years of relying on them to pull me out of depressions. I'll be keeping an eye on this topic, to see what other people have to offer. Thanks again for starting it.