It is quite normal to sink into a mental low for a short time from time to time. Various circumstances can trigger these periods of deep self-pity, low mood and depression. Bad weather, personal circumstances, stress, dissatisfaction, hormonal imbalances and chemical imbalances in the brain are the most common causes of depression.
It is not possible to predict what will work to get out of a mental slump, as it depends on the cause and the character of the individual. However, various methods are worth trying out in order to bridge or even shorten the bad phase and perhaps prevent it altogether in the future.
The person affected should be honest with themselves and recognise their emotional low as such. If you recognise that it is a phase of depression, you know that it will pass again at some point. If nothing else helps, you can wait out the phase or try to keep yourself busy until it passes by itself.
Going for a walk helps many people when they are feeling low, as physical exercise in the fresh air revitalises the mind and can restore the imbalance in the body. Depending on your state of mind, it is not advisable to go for a drive, as your mood can have a negative effect on your driving style and become dangerous.
You should try to mentally distance yourself from the situation that triggered the condition, even if you can only do so for a few minutes. By distracting yourself and mentally focussing on other things, you can sometimes even out your mood or reduce the intensity of the phase. If you are able to do this, you should try to find an activity that you normally enjoy. However, you should avoid activities that rely on a sense of achievement, as failure can have the exact opposite effect.
Make sure you try to think about things other than your own bad mood. The more you think about your low mood, the more it turns into self-hatred and intensifies the depressive phase many times over. Even if it is difficult at first, you should force yourself to think about positive things. Positive thoughts and activities, if you allow them, can often pull you out of the slump very quickly.
Unfortunately, it often doesn't help at all if an outsider or even the person's partner tries to persuade them to get out of their slump. Anyone suffering from a mental low will rarely be motivated by others. The depressive can only pull themselves out of it and lift themselves up, because they alone know which activities and thoughts could have a positive effect on their condition. It is therefore better for those around them to keep their distance and wait until the person concerned comes out of the phase on their own. Well-meaning, encouraging remarks or phrases such as "others are much worse off than you" often contribute to a worsening of the mood, as the person concerned, in their self-pity, does not want to know anything about it.
Sport and relaxation help to reduce mood swings in the future. Some people feel better after regular meditation. Sufficient sleep also makes a significant contribution to keeping mood swings under control.
If you have frequent, severe bouts of mental depression, you should have a medical examination, as there could be an underlying psychological problem or a chemical imbalance in your body that can be treated with medication or therapy.
