What Cured Your Depression?

[YourUniverse]

I'd recommend reading Ray's article on cascara & laxatives, and trying to incorporate all of his listed substances:

Cascara, energy, cancer and the FDA's laxative abuse.

 

[reality]

I've noticed the things that move my bowels quickly snap me out of depression, and when my bowels are stagnant, I become stagnant. So things like coffee, vitamin C, aloe vera, fructose, and anything else that quickly moves bowels help tremendously, almost like an on/off switch.

In fact, I'd be very grateful if someone count add more things to the list of things that speed up gut transit time...

this is interesting because I was just thinking about this. I always feel better after a bowel movement, and if I’m not regular then I always feel ‘off’ until I go.

 

[mbachiu]

I don’t know if I’d say it’s cured, but it is much better after beginning T3 supplementation

 

[DB_2014]

NoFap has been the only thing that has consistently helped my depression. I hate acknowledging it since I still think there isn't enough science behind it. At times, I'll trick myself into thinking it's just in my head. But sure enough, every time I PMO, my mood goes back to absolute ***t within hours.

 

[Constatine]

NoFap has been the only thing that has consistently helped my depression. I hate acknowledging it since I still think there isn't enough science behind it. At times, I'll trick myself into thinking it's just in my head. But sure enough, every time I PMO, my mood goes back to absolute ***t within hours.

Considering the nofap subreddit has over 500 thousand members all saying the same thing we can safely say there is some evidence behind it. There is a cultural obsession of scientism where all things must have well controlled studies to back it up before it can exist. If there are no studies people will automatically assume it is a placebo effect.

 

[DB_2014]

Considering the nofap subreddit has over 500 thousand members all saying the same thing we can safely say there is some evidence behind it. There is a cultural obsession of scientism where all things must have well controlled studies to back it up before it can exist. If there are no studies people will automatically assume it is a placebo effect.

I agree. I just find it easier to believe in the effects of any given therapy/way of life/treatment when there's at least some kind of scientific evidence to be able to back up it's effects. The anecdotal reports definitely can't be ignored. Always nice to have an explanation for why it works though. There's definitely an inordinate amount of bro science on the NoFap forums (attributing every positive benefit to raised testosterone, advocating veganism, etc...). I definitely think there's overwhelming evidence at this point that porn is definitely negative. Masturbation by itself...I'm still not fully convinced.

 

[Jib]

Grape juice with 2-5 grams of creatine and 1-2 grams glycine, with 125mg magnesium malate (Jigsaw brand) and 420-840mg phosphatidylcholine taken as pills, 1-3 times a day, seems to be a great all-around mood and energy combo for me lately. It's subtle, but after a week or so of supplementing with this, I can feel my depression lifting just a bit. I've been practically bedridden with severe depression for the past several months, so having motivation to exercise and go on walks and even putter around in my workshop is a huge sign of improvement to me. My outlook is also a bit more positive.

Subtle but long-lasting effects are key. Like overall just feeling a little bit more positive, a little bit more to imagine good things in the future, a little bit more motivation to do things you're interested in. These are good signs.

Then there are things like psychedelics. I've only tried magic mushrooms a couple times, and not in doses large enough to have a full-blown trip, but it definitely made things seem way more interesting and novel, and I'd be very curious to try them again in equal or potentially larger amounts. Or smaller amounts more regularly over a set period of time. Used responsibly, I've heard a lot of anecdotal evidence for mushrooms in terms of curing depression.

Consciously changing your perspective, such as with the use of Faster EFT (Robert Smith's system, check it out on YouTube), can be incredibly beneficial.

Social and intimate relationships are hugely important for me. I think that goes for a lot of people. I live a very isolated life, and having interaction with a friend or romantic partner makes a tremendous difference. It's like a ray of sunlight coming in through a crack in a dark cell. Huge difference.

Abundance of energy is good. Abundance of social/intimate activity is good. At the core of my depression now is not being a part of any group or society and feeling like I have no meaning to my life, nothing to contribute, and a severe lack of intimacy and socialization in general. Isolation can make me very depressed, and the depression will dance with the isolation in a vicious cycle.

I need human contact to make me feel human. Nutrition only goes so far. That's the hard part for me. But it's a very clear player in depression for me, and I'm certain it's the primary player. You can feel great alone, but not having anyone to share that feeling with can end up wearing you down after a while.

Having the belief that you CAN socialize and be intimate if you WANT to is very different from believing you're helpless. When you feel in control, periods of isolation can be beneficial and invigorating. If you feel helpless, periods of isolation can be soul-destroying, as if they're affirming your inability to integrate with and interact with other people, and experience the pleasure and motivation that comes along with that.

It's a very dark place to be, and the social aspect is the only cure I can see for that kind of problem.

 

[Jib]

Circadian rhythm is another. I felt great today for the first time in a long time, and probably not coincidentally, last night I went to bed around 11 or 11:30 PM, at least a few hours earlier than I normally do. Last year, for about the entire year, I was waking up around 4PM, and going to bed around 6AM or 7AM. It was awful. More recently I've been waking up a bit earlier but staying in bed almost till 2PM most days.

Doxylamine helps me sleep, and I think can be useful for 'forcing' sleep at an earlier time than you're accustomed to. Light exposure is a big one too. I have an LED light for Seasonal Affective Disorder but I don't feel it's as effective as larger units I've tried that run on regular bulbs. I did notice those seemed to make a significant difference in my depression. Just never got around to getting one of the larger units and currently don't really have space for one.

Re: NoFap. I'm experimenting again with quitting porn. I'm also not convinced that masturbation without porn is harmful. Either way, my urge to masturbate without porn is much, much lower than my urge to masturbate with porn. Self-regulating, you could say. With porn, I can induce the urge to masturbate artificially. Without porn use, my urge to masturbate is much, much less frequent.

I'm also curious if quitting porn in the long-term will help my premature ejaculation. So much of porn is focused on ejaculation, and I think that can end up heavily distracting from focusing on sexual pleasure without orgasm. In my personal experience, porn is all about orgasms, focusing on orgasms, and finding the most stimulating, exciting porn possible. General sexual pleasure was never a focus for me in my porn use.

Of course, that's how I used it, which is part of the problem: we can just say "porn" without having any context for how individual people are using it.

I do notice that I feel better in general when I stay far away from porn. It can take a few days of abstinence from porn to notice elevated mood. It's very difficult to remind myself to stick to abstaining from porn, but lately I've been so heavily depressed, avoiding it is something I need to try again. It's only been a few days but I already feel like a fog is lifting.

There's so much back and forth on the porn issue, it makes it easy to dismiss it as 'placebo effect' and just say 'screw it' and start using porn regularly again. It seems quite foolish to think porn is completely harmless in light of all the anecdotal evidence from so many people, as well as the scientific research, for example:

Brain Studies on Porn Users & Sex Addicts

Anyway, going to bed earlier and waking up earlier has immediately put me in a better mood today. I'm not sold on "NoFap" but very interested in the idea that porn is damaging and giving up porn for good can help get rid of depression.

Having been addicted to tobacco and alcohol, I will say my experience of porn addiction is very similar. Abstaining for any appreciable amount of time leads to intense flashbacks and cravings. My brain will start replaying memories of porn I've seen, seemingly out of nowhere, and the thoughts are intrusive. And I'll want to watch and masturbate. Just like craving a drink or a cigarette after a period of abstinence. Thoughts and memories of the taste, experience, that are intrusive and distressing and cause intense cravings to use. They get worse the longer the abstinence continues. I'm not sure I've actually ever quit porn long enough in my life to make it over the hill, and for those cravings to subside. I always give up and go back to it. Longest I ever went was maybe several months.

Looking forward to quitting porn helping with my depression. It's sobering to realize that even a few days without porn feels like an eternity to me. And really makes me wonder about the long-term effects such heavy use can have on a person.