What can you do about sadness and despair?

The most important points in brief

• The number of people who feel sad or even desperate has been increasing for years.
• Since the beginning of the Corona crisis, the number of people who are sad, lonely, desperate or discouraged and listless has continued to rise.
• But there are a few things you can do yourself to combat depressive symptoms.
• Important: If despair and sadness cannot be contained by these measures, professional help is essential.

The fact that we are sometimes sad or desperate or have depressive symptoms does not necessarily have to do with the external circumstances. It is then important to take great care of yourself and, if in doubt, to get help from outside. The corona pandemic has increased the loneliness of many people in the past two years - and with it in many cases also the grief and depression.

Be or become active if you can

In the past few months, the human psyche and what the pandemic is doing to it has often been an issue in the media. Hardly anyone can claim that Corona and the effects do not personally leave any traces. The risk of getting a depression has certainly become a lot greater than "before Corona". The pandemic has fueled fears, not infrequently mere existential fears.

And yet: Even without the effects that the global epidemic brings with it, sadness and despair are constant companions for many people. The ultimate cause of the illness does not play such a prominent role. Ultimately, mental illnesses almost always arise as a reaction to crises of any kind - the important thing is how one can counter the symptoms. And the word "activity" is at the top of the list. Anyone who is able to do this should go outside and socialize with people, but many, and this is known, costs infinite overcoming.

Think in small steps

A first small step could be, for example, to acknowledge the despair, the sadness and the depression and at the same time tell yourself that this will only be a temporary condition - it does not matter, you will get through this stage, whether on your own or with external or professional support. Hope is an extremely powerful motive that drives us, and it is not infrequently the hope that everything will get better. The German stress researcher Mazda Adli puts it this way: "Hope is the real currency for our psyche".

Hope, too, is a small step that can be mastered on the way to improvement or recovery. However, if you find that activity and hope are getting harder and your health is not improving: Get help. And the earlier, the better. The sooner a (onset) depression is recognized and treated, the higher the chance of an early improvement through therapy or medication.

No self-experiments

Keyword medication: Nowadays everything can be ordered online, e-prescriptions are often not required on the Internet. Even if you are very desperate or sad: You should not order antidepressants online without a prior medical examination. Often this makes the personal situation even worse. Instead, you can hold on to the fact that depression - or sadness and despair - are clinical pictures that are very treatable today. Take care of your health.