Thread by @johnmoe

Hello!
I think the pandemic is awful for people with depression and anxiety in a way that is somewhat different than how the normies experience it.
Folks like us have always gone through the world fearing that something murderous is just around the corner and now: hello!

"Just deal with it" has never been our specialty, you see.
And now the vague fears are the reality. And "I KNEW it!" is no consolation.
It would be nice if getting it right brought us consolation but instead it's just a double helping of the bad thought patterns.

Let me speak to the normies here: Hi. How are you? How are you enjoying your, I don't know, Bradley Cooper films? And Foo Fighters records?
All this terror and anxiety and self-doubt you're feeling about what to do and what will happen?
That's us ALL THE TIME. Sucks, right?

So, I host a podcast about depression and although I'm not a doctor or a therapist, I've had a lot of conversations for years now about anxiety and depression (the Hall & Oates of mental illness). And while I can't give advice, I'll tell you things I've kept in mind that help me.

1. Facts. People with depression and anxiety often have cognitive distortions where the worst case future scenario becomes the only possibility. And BOY can we dream up bad scenarios. Our imaginations are a superpower. Sooo...

Check these out:

cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…

arstechnica.com/science/2020/0…

Go heavy on information, go light on imagination.

2. Social media is a firehose. So don't put it in your mouth.

Please remember that your Facebook, your Twitter, are often the ids of other people. And they're often a bending of information to fit the point of view of the people posting. Be wary!

A lot of people cope with the freakout by using dark humor (often the overused punchline "We're all gonna die!") and hey, that's them, whatever. But if you deal with depression and anxiety on a clinical level, recognize you are more susceptible to seeing that shit as real.

So sip from that firehose. Or turn it off. People with depression have a diminished sense of their own strength. They can be swayed by loud voices and brashness sometimes. Believe in your own strength. You got some. You do. Honest.

3. It is okay to take breaks. The coronavirus stuff is a lot but unless you are a network of epidemiologists, it doesn't need you to watch it all the time. Watch a movie, pet a dog, it's okay. Be a human in a situation that can make you forget that you are.

4. Know that you can do a small thing that helps. Stay in. Wash hands. Check on people you know. These are small things, yes, but they are good things and parts of a positive movement. Depressed people: you are a person, you have power, you are making things better.

5. Maintain self-care protocols.
Don't go off your meds. You're helping no one that way. Stay with them. If you exercised before this, stay with that. No need to switch to decathlon training either, just do the things that worked for you in the past. Have your therapy sessions.

And it's not that hard to figure out how to therapy from separate rooms. Use that oft-forgotten "phone" app on your phone. It works great.

6. Be kind. Be kind to yourself if you freak out sometimes. This is some horrible biz right now and humans freak out occasionally. That's okay. Be kind if you have to collapse or cry. Be kind to others if they do that too.

If someone is handling this different than you, maybe skip the argument about it. Put a moratorium on that. A person with depression, lacking that grounding in self, can feel swept away and powerless more easily than some normie does. Know that about yourself.

For a normie, fresh off watching a Young Sheldon episode or something, a crisis feels like walking through a river. For people with depression, it feels like being swept down stream. Be kind to yourself and know that such a feeling is normal for you but is a cognitive distortion.

I can't say everything will turn out okay. It's a crisis out there. We can't get over it but we must walk through it. It can be harder for the already depressed because it's the equivalent of looking under the bed and finding an actual monster. We will persevere.

Okay, depressed and anxious folks. You're stronger than you think. There is a monster but you're a very great monster too. That's all.