What you can do
Even if you have little drive to do anything due to your illness, it is important to remember a few important things.
- Take your medication regularly and do not miss any psychotherapy sessions.
- Draw up a schedule, ideally with a person you trust. This schedule should include the activities that you would like to do every day. These include household tasks as well as physical exercise or running errands.
- Set yourself simple and manageable goals and above all else, pay consideration to the things that you are good at doing.
- Do not become withdrawn, and make contact with those in your surroundings. You could visit a self-help group, for example, where you will meet people who feel the same way as you.
- Maintain a regular and balanced diet and avoid alcohol.
Always remember: Negative thoughts, inner emptiness and dismal days do not mean that you have failed, they are symptoms of the illness of depression. Make sure that you get help!
Help and further information
NAKOS – National contact and information office for the promotion of support groups (Nationale Kontakt- und Informationsstelle zur Anregung und Unterstützung von Selbsthilfegruppen, NAKOS)
Wilmersdorfer Straße 39, 10627 Berlin
Tel.: 030 / 310189 – 60
Fax: 030 / 310189 – 70
Email: selbsthilfe@nakos.de
Federal association of relatives of the mentally ill (Bundesverband der Angehörigen psychisch Kranker, BApK)
Oppelner Straße 130, 53119 Bonn
Tel.: 0180 / 59 50 951
Tel.: 0228 / 63 26 46
Fax: 0228 / 65 80 63
Email: beratung.bapk@psychiatrie.de
Email: bapk@psychiatrie.de