This is what I know about depression: it is a recurrent illness. I see it clinically all the time and this is backed up by research. If you’ve had a depressive episode you’re likely to have another one later in life and the more episodes you’ve had the more likely you are to have another one.
That is the bad news.
But I also know this: you don’t go to bed on Monday night feeling fine and wake up on Tuesday morning being clinically depressed. Depression is a decline in functioning over time.
That is the good news.
The decline in mood and functioning over time is good news because it gives you a window of opportunity to avert another episode.
Two things are helpful in preventing a future depressive episode:
1) early signs monitoring
2) a mental first aid plan
Early signs monitoring means that you become aware of the signs and symptoms that indicate that you are becoming depressed again. Typically, these are things like: disturbed sleep patterns (either sleeping too much or too little), disturbed appetite (gaining or losing weight without trying to), becoming socially isolated, ceasing to do thing you normally enjoy, ceasing exercising, finding it hard to get motivated, feeling low, having negative thoughts, irritability, a sense of hopelessness about the future (it all looks bleak), a feeling of guilt and worthlessness.
When you notice these signs you may then pull out your “mental first aid plan”. A mental first aid plan is a plan of action that you have thought about at a time when you were not depressed. The advantage of having thought this through in a non-depressed state is that when we’re depressed our cognitive functioning often slows down and so it becomes harder to work through our situation and determine what we need to do.
Components of a mental first aid kit can be: challenge negative thoughts, get back into exercise, schedule some booster therapy sessions, consider medication, doing enjoyable things, connecting with friends and family, etc. Basically, the things that have helped you in the past.
Looking back on your past depressive episodes and what you did to help you recover from those will help you make your own individual mental first aid plan and help you become aware of your specific early warning signs. It is worth spending a little bit of time reflecting on this in order to prevent another episode.