I was wondering if anyone here has had to deal with either depression, a desire for self harm, or sex addiction (which in my case seem to be quite interrelated, feeding on one another in a vicious cycle), and what coping strategies you have used to cope with either? Sex Addicts Anonymous? Any other experiences? Any advice would be appreciated. Also, whether a therapist was worth it in your case, what recommendations he had made, etc.
Coping strategies for depression and 'sex addiction'?
Thu, 2014-12-04 14:53
#1
Coping strategies for depression and 'sex addiction'?
Thu, 2014-12-04 14:55
#2
Sorry for the double thread.
Thu, 2014-12-04 19:25
#3
Hi. I've dealt with depression since I was a young teenager and I'm now an old man. I am in no way qualified to give advice but maybe some hope. It has gotten easier to manage as the years went by. I tried anti-depressants years ago but had a scary episode with them and never went back. I'm pretty analytical about things and I believe that is what helped make the episodes easier over time. Through my twenties and thirties I actually kept track of the major events. I recorded when they started, how they progressed (how long it took to bottom out), how long the bottom lasted and the recovery. I had a pretty reliable pattern. It was only on the anti-depressants and one episode of late that I've been surprised. I believe this approach helped me. First the recognition when an event was beginning (allowed me to arrange things in my life before it got too bad) but more importantly an expectation of when it would end. I knew I was going to feel hopeless ... but I also had a pattern and knew when it would end.
Mon, 2014-12-08 05:58
#4
I have to admit to not knowing anything about sexual addiction, but as far as I can tell, there is nothing inherently wrong with depression. I see depression as a state of being that often results from too many external factors bearing down upon and saturating an individual’s capacity to process them. The fact that there is an overabundance of depression inducing stimulus in society is no fault of the individual experiencing it. Over time I’ve come to understand that depression is merely one alternative means among many other contingencies that one resorts to in order to adjust to contemporary reality. I find it is no less of a mechanism that allows a person to continually acclimatize oneself to every new abnormal that this society conjures up. Others of course are better able to flow right along as if everything were normal. It makes it unclear to me as to which elements of society should really be offered psychoanalysis and treatment.
Mon, 2014-12-08 14:19
#5
Mon, 2014-12-08 16:34
#6
Thanks, Pondering. I feel a little better today. I had seen a psychologist recently, lots of very uncomfortable questions but gave hope. I felt like a therapist could not help, just talk maybe judgmentalism, looking for an excuse for my choices. I still feel uncomfortable but more hopeful, maybe more in control, I don't know yet. But definitely emotionally exhausted. But I think it's just a really bad bout in the last month and getting better. A friend had helped a lot too. Very thankful.
Mon, 2014-12-08 17:03
#7
@slumberjack. My experience is kinda the opposite of what you describe. Depression makes me unable to deal with external factors. External factors can make me sad like when one of my dogs die, or angry or stressed, they can't make me depressed. Over the years when people have asked me why I'm depressed, I've told them if I could answer that I wouldn't be depressed, I'd be something else.
Mon, 2014-12-08 17:31
#8
Thanks Glen. I can definitely identify with that. Triggers are elusive, difficult to identify. It comes and goes like waves, but seemingly unrelated to external factors. Even thinking an actions become compulsive and irrational.