{"id":1368,"date":"2012-01-23T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2015-12-02T11:59:47","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T16:59:47","slug":"getting-unstuck-24-ways-to-fight-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/01\/getting-unstuck-24-ways-to-fight-depression.html","title":{"rendered":"Getting Unstuck: 24 Ways to Fight Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Gettting unstuck\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Getting-Unstuck-Escapte-Depression-discorders\/dp\/0884196526\/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1326982081&amp;sr=8-6\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1369\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2012\/01\/Publicity-shots-and-book-covers-023-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>God&#8217;s plan is not for you to be depressed. He wants you experiencing His joy no matter the circumstances of your life. Yet approximately 20 million people suffer from clinical depression feeling hopeless, listless and stuck. The voice of depression says you cannot move out of the darkness blanketing your life. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is much you can do to lift yourself out of that stuck place.<\/p>\n<p>Some types of depression are caused by genetic\/biological factors such as lack of sleep, lack of exercise, PMS, hormone changes related to giving birth, menopause, medication side-effects, poor diet or disease. Other depressions are rooted in psychological, cognitive, and spiritual causes like troubled family experience, stress over postmodern living, social inequities like poverty and abuse, loss, negative thinking, sin, unresolved hurt and anger and poor coping responses.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the cause, try these helps from my book, <em>Getting Unstuck<\/em>, to improve your mood and start living again:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>See a therapist to help identify your causes of depression.<\/li>\n<li>Acknowledge negative feelings of anger, unforgiveness or hurt. Don\u2019t keep that negativity swimming around inside your body.<\/li>\n<li>Release those negative feelings through talking, praying and working through relationship problems.<\/li>\n<li>Forgive those who have wronged you (Colossians 3:13).<\/li>\n<li>Clean up any sin in your life. Acting in ways counter to God\u2019s Word contributes to depression.<\/li>\n<li>Develop realistic expectations. Difficulty is part of life but God promises His presence (Hebrews 13:5).<\/li>\n<li>Change your negative thinking. Rehearse the promises of God (Psalm 91; Romans 8:38).<\/li>\n<li>Be around positive people. If negative thinkers bring you down, find those who experience joy in living and spend time with them.<\/li>\n<li>Get a physical to rule out any biological cause that may be treatable.<\/li>\n<li>Take care of your body by eating well, getting enough sleep and engaging in regular exercise.<\/li>\n<li>If antidepressant medication is needed, don\u2019t feel stigmatized using it. It may be a healing agent.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t blame others for your problems.<\/li>\n<li>Know what triggers depression and learn new ways to respond.<\/li>\n<li>Be assertive when necessary.<\/li>\n<li>Manage your negative emotions. Don\u2019t let them manage you.<\/li>\n<li>Do something for someone else. Take the focus off of you.<\/li>\n<li>Get support.<\/li>\n<li>Correct your self-image through the Word of God (Ps. 139:14; Eph. 2:10).<\/li>\n<li>Accept God\u2019s love for you. It is unconditional (John 3:16).<\/li>\n<li>Trust in God, not circumstances or people (Philippians 4:19).<\/li>\n<li>Pray for healing (2Timothy 1:7).<\/li>\n<li>Renew your mind (Phil 4:8; Romans 12:2)<\/li>\n<li>Even if you don\u2019t <em>feel<\/em> like it, take action (e.g., get out of bed, go to church).<\/li>\n<li>Get to know your heavenly Father. He wants to give you good things and bless you (Psalm 84:11).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>God&#8217;s plan is not for you to be depressed. He wants you experiencing His joy no matter the circumstances of your life. Yet approximately 20 million people suffer from clinical depression feeling hopeless, listless and stuck. The voice of depression says you cannot move out of the darkness blanketing your life. Nothing could be further&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[916,925],"tags":[908,304,157,83,906,13,907,513,905],"class_list":["post-1368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god-relationship","category-mintle-mentions","tag-causes-of-depression","tag-depression","tag-down","tag-health-2","tag-hurting","tag-mental-health","tag-practical-steps-for-depression","tag-sad","tag-the-blues"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Getting Unstuck: 24 Ways to Fight Depression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Getting-Unstuck.aspx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Getting Unstuck: 24 Ways to Fight Depression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"God&#8217;s plan is not for you to be depressed. He wants you experiencing His joy no matter the circumstances of your life. Yet approximately 20 million people suffer from clinical depression feeling hopeless, listless and stuck. The voice of depression says you cannot move out of the darkness blanketing your life. Nothing could be further&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Getting-Unstuck.aspx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-23T13:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-02T16:59:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/01\/Publicity-shots-and-book-covers-023-195x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Getting Unstuck: 24 Ways to Fight Depression","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Getting-Unstuck.aspx","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Getting Unstuck: 24 Ways to Fight Depression","og_description":"God&#8217;s plan is not for you to be depressed. 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Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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