Tips for venting...........

[Todash]

Pick up a good book. My suggest is It, by Stephen King. Get lost in the lives of other people with other problems. It might help you get perspective. At the very least it is a good distraction. Even if it doesn't help the original problem at all, you will get a good book out of it. I'm going to be blunt. You are going to have a problem only as long as you want to have a problem. There is no magic cure. There are not shortcuts. You can spend a lot of money on professional help (they are called professionals for a reason). You can read a lot of self help books. You can try drowning your sorrows. None of those things will help unless you simply decide you are done with it. Life will go on, but only when you decide to let it.

I'd add to this that deciding is required, yes, but alone it's not enough. Our brains unfortunately aren't quite that easy to mold, and depression (because that's quite clearly what's going on with you) is partially a habit. It's pathways in your brain, worn into a nice, comfortable pattern by years of travel, and eventually it damages our brains. It can be undone but takes work. My recommendations:

1. Good drugs, at least in the short term, to help break the cycle.
2. Cognitive therapy to get you started on the right thinking/behaviors path.
3. This book: http://www.amazon.com/Undoing-Depres...dp/0316043419/ (I'm halfway through it myself, and that's enough for me to give a hearty recommendation.)
4. If you have a smartphone, the app MoodKit looks very promising. I've downloaded it but haven't started using it yet; however, it gets excellent reviews.

You could just keep venting when you feel the need ... but I don't think you're happy with that approach, or you wouldn't have posted.

[ZMeister]

This may sound like a strange suggestion, but I'll offer it anyway. It works wonders for me when I need it.

I use my smart phone to video blog. Not to post online but simply to vent and listen to later. It's essentially a form of high tech journaling but you get sound and video. You can listen to yourself after and see the emotions on your face. It allows me to find clarity in issues very quickly when I can see and hear the way I'm behaving.

Of course, sometime I can see that I am being overly dramatic. Sometimes I call bull**** on myself. Sometimes I can see that I have a legitimate gripe and it feels good to hear myself say it. In any case, it's seeing your face and hearing your own words back that is most important.

It helped me a great deal at the end of my 17 year partnership with my ex. For me, speaking my feelings to my phone (whom I call Wilson) was amazingly therapeutic. My therapist also saw dramatic improvements as she believed it was a great enhancement to standard "talk therapy."

Attachment 17022

You are one brave soul. I always think of recording my ex when we have arguments so he can hear how he sounds. But me? Perish the thought! I don't even like mirrors.

[Brian]

Recording your significant other in a vulnerable or negative/angry state will lead to personal disaster. Don't do it.

[Todash]

Recording your significant other in a vulnerable or negative/angry state will lead to personal disaster. Don't do it.

Agreed. But recording your SO being goofy and silly is probably an excellent idea. Context counts for a lot.

[ZMeister]

Which is exactly why I've only thought about it and never carried it out. I have made recordings of family members doing goofy things though. My grandmother used to do that when I was little. She always hid the tape recorder between herself and the arm of the couch. I'd prattle on and then she'd pull it out and press play. She got me every time.

[guido tkp]

todash ??

'good drugs' ??

define, please...

[guido tkp]

did i say 'define' ??

i think i meant...disseminate...

...silly me...i think i've lost my mind....it's somewhere around here.........................in the dark....

[Todash]

todash ??

'good drugs' ??

define, please...

LOL ... Um, I'm not sure what all the hip psychiatrists are prescribing now.

[PatInTheHat]

LOL ... Um, I'm not sure what all the hip psychiatrists are prescribing now.

Oh down with that silly ol' frown and out with the pout, Doc PatTheHat* is so in!...and no appointment, much less an anointment, necessary ;- ) .
(* Not a real 'doc', never even played one on on TV, though one time a nursing student, yours truly, and a floor model Zenith..yeah yeah okay, maybe not quite the same thing so let's not go there and just say we did...hmm, and ya know now I'm thinkin', it's no damn wonder our kiddos today don't have any real appreciation for high quality well made American, furniture)

[guido tkp]

humor IS the best medicine, right Doc ??