I want to start this topic, also if the subject is a little bit sad and inappropriate.
Sad because depression is not a good topic to deal with, but i guess is very common for people that had to suppress their inner feelings and little and big desires for a long or short time.
Inappropriate because when you recognize or have been diagnosed with depression, of course you need a therapist. but mostly you need as many good advices or personal experiences as you can get, just to choose the ones are good for you too. This is why I started this topic.

For me, well i have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it's kind of tricky. I try to deal with depression by doing the things I like to do, painting, composing music ( if someone has a musical background and wants to be share views or even creative stuff please contact me), reading, caring for the people i care ( giving love to someone really helps in finding love for myself too).
When I suffer so much that i go inside maniacal states to avoid my same own feelings, i tend to do silly things , like eating too much ( oh choccolate ), smoking too much, hating myself too much... By now, i haven't found a good strategy  to fight this secondary effect of my tricky depression, and these states ruin my day and my concentration. However, i guess it's fine, i am a little crazy just like every other woman out there :p, I will find a better equilibrium with time.

And you, if you have it, how you deal with it?

O.T. Also shopping is a good healer. But i guess it's impossible to find clothing for oversized women like me i'm 182cm with wide shoulders and 44 feet (EU misures), if you don't have a clue about deprrssion but have a good link with nice fashion clothing, i think it would be enough

wish  i could offer some advice but when im having a depression eppisode i dont function i dont take care of myself i dont do anything i play guitar but not when im like that in fact i usually dont even realize im having the episode until im coming out of it and i feel drained.
jessi

Anything that keeps you alive is a good thing during depression.  That's the time to allow yourself to break some rules.

For me, anything to look forward to is good.  It doesn't have to be far off, but just something that isn't *now* but in the future.  Could be as "dumb" as wanting to watch the next episode of a TV show, try a resturant I've not yet visited, etc.  Anything I'd want to do before I kicked the bucket.  Just find something to look forward to, and when you've done that, find something else.  Always try to have something you want to do.

Something new is definitively a must do!
Breaking rules to find your real self too, well of course just the internal unnecessary rules.
I definitively don't function well, but i trust there's a better life in front of me, it just takes patience to get there.
And i know I won't be depressed because I will always have simething interesting to do, or something special t feel, even in the bad times.

For me transitining is more than just a gender affirmation, is getting there from here.

Serena

I exercise. I know that's corny. I kinda turn my thoughts off and do pushups or walk or ride my bike or whatever. The physicality sometimes chases away the misery.

Sitting, isolated, letting my thoughts go where they will

As Felix suggests, exercise.

Sleep can be dramatically imporved with a decent bed.

Avoid alcohol and drugs

I'm with Felix. I exercise or do something physical. I have been known to listen to music and dance around my house like a total dork, but it helps when I feel bad. Or I watch something that I enjoy. A few days ago I watched a few episodes of a cartoon I liked as a kid. I felt better after.

I turn up the music as loud as I can until I can force myself to move again. Usually there's music at hand.

There's not really an effective strategy for me either.

Sometimes I can write myself out of it.

As Felix and Emma said.
Exercise, and blast loud music.

Also I tend to play video games.
Anything to get my mind off things.

Talking to my girlfriend helps a lot too.

With Felix on this one. Exercise has helped me a lot during my worst days with depression, a lot of the time when I feel like I'm cramped up and claustrophobic with all my thoughts in my house, I get my iPod, put on old clothes and I jog at the park near my house. It exhausted me so much that all I wanted to do was sit quietly and relax. But I would usually do it around 9-10PM, just so I could sleep a lot easier, too.

I found that setting goals for yourself, small or big, gives you something to work towards and look forward to. Whatever they may be. Finishing a game, watching a particular movie, painting something you've wanted to paint, finishing a TV series (or starting one), reading a new book, whatever it may be. It's worked for me

Do get medically assesed. I was and my medication kicked in and I'm fine. Is it the medication, I weaned myself off it and went suicidal in days, back on it I'm my happy little self.

As overs have said avoid alcohol, it is a depressant.

Cindy

Exercise gets the Endorphins going too, as well as distracting the mind from going in circles.

I meditate, and also journal my feelings daily  to help sort them out.

 I haven't really figured out how to fight depression. Hormones help, for sure... but I usually just end up waiting it out (it sort of cycles for me). During such a period, I mostly sleep, and dream, and imagine things. I created a whole universe on my feelings, and I expressed them in my imaginary world. I created people that I grew to love and hate, and a world I marvelled at. I planned to put it on paper eventually... and perhaps I will. There's little better than sorrow, despair, fear, and rage to build a universe with. At least that's what I found.

Music helps a lot with that. I would suggest getting a dramatic playlist

Joining a support group also helps... making friends there is a big deal. I wouldn't be happy if it weren't for the friends I've met at mine, I'm sure!

My best wishes to you.

It's hard. I haven't found anything that truly works, but lots of little things help.

Go outside. Though in Chicago this doesn't work year round, I'm fortunate to live a mile from the lake shore. I left therapy unsettled yesterday, and stopped by the beach on the way home. Freezy, but worth it.

Venting to friends helps, if they can stand it.

Arts and crafts also help me a lot. Pottery class especially, when it's in session.

I have one of those books with blank pages.  I use it to write down quotes and words of encouragement from the reading i do.  Then, when things start getting crazy, I can usually look at the words in this book and find encouragement.  I have quotes from the Bible, Abraham Lincoln, Norman Cousins,  etc.  Many times, i can find the words i need to hear. 

Other than the OTC antidepressant I've been trying, I deal with it using a cocktail of listening to/writing music, youtube, marijuana, reading/writing poetry or novels, studying science, and playing video games. 

It's hard to make a suggestion because everyone has different approaches to what makes them happier.  The only advice I could give is that mine is whatever provides the best escape from my own life into the world of the abstract.

How does everyone get the energy to do something to make them feel better? I always have to wait it out because it's a chore to even get out of bed, and I can't bring myself to do anything.
But then it's not like I've got anything diagnosed, I'm probably just kind of pathetic.

I'm a big of an old school gamer, so sometimes I play them to help keep my mind off of the doom and gloom that sometimes surrounds my world.  Another thing I do is watch old game shows that I have acquired over the years.  It helps to feel happy by watching some contestants win big prizes or even laughing at the cute whammies on Press Your Luck.

I do also suffer from depression, to the point where I almost committed suicide.  Thankfully, I found guidance through a great counselor and my friends and antidepressants. 

Quote from: Solobear on November 24, 2011, 05:47:54 PM
How does everyone get the energy to do something to make them feel better? I always have to wait it out because it's a chore to even get out of bed, and I can't bring myself to do anything.
But then it's not like I've got anything diagnosed, I'm probably just kind of pathetic.

Energy is the point.
I find defìnitively not attracting the idea of going out of the bed in the morning, just to shave, drink a coffee... i find it easier if i have a goal, something more important to do, like buying something, seeing someone. otherwise i stay under the blankets too many days.
Don't blame yourself, you're not pathetic. Also if someone can say it, they can criticize what they want, maybe they just want you to feel rage enough to have a reaction. But It's not about being pathetic at all as I said, it's just about

I guess I started by visiting someone in the business of therapy who is Transgendered herself . I also take a medication too. I also work with youth and Non transpeople as to educating whom we are and what we face . ellen