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BlueCat @"RaccoonCity"
I suffered serious depression starting about 20 years ago and it lasted about 10 years. I fully recovered from it.
That said some advice from me:
Find something that pushes your selfconfidence. Something active, and possible something with other people involved.
Physical activity is good, sunshine is good, contact to people is good.
Since it is a symptom not to have any motivation for doing these things: Involve friends and family, make them push you to do these things. Make them push you to go out. It is really important, although you might not feel a sudden effect. You need consistency.
Recognize whenever you get into a spiral of bad thoughts. Recognize the circumstances, note the things that made you going into the bad thought spiral.
Second step: Once you recognize the bad thought spiral, you need to do something to break it. It is your task to find out what helps, it depends on the circumstances or triggers you detected. Get away from them. E.g. if you got into the bad thinking, because you are alone, get someone to talk on the phone or go out to meet people.
^ The two paragraphs above are the small things that also help for very mild forms of depression (even such forms that are not really a depression from a clinical standpoint, but a normal reaction to your circumstances). The rest of my advice is rather for the serious type. You will know if you have it. If you don't have it, be glad and grateful. It is one of the most terrible things that can happen.
Note: Being able to cry and feel is a very good sign. If you can not even cry anymore, that's when things are the worst.
Bad thoughts about yourself and the world are a symptom, not the reality. Your perception is distorted. Don't believe in it. If you think, it will never be any better and you would like to end it, don't believe in it. Your alarm bell should ring. It is your distorted perception. Get help. Immediately.
Antidepressants are the last resort, imho. They have side effects, for example more appetite. The kind of side effects depend on the type of antidepressant. Sometimes, however, medication is necessary to push you doing the first steps. Medication should never be the only solution, it only works well together with other treatments.
If it doesn't go away, find out the reason for your depression. Maybe with a therapist.
Never be too proud or too shy to ask for help (no matter if that is asking friends, family or doctors). Although you might not see any reason for being depressed: It doesn't matter if you have reasons. You don't feel well and need help. That is all that matters. Depression is a serious condition and having bad episodes without knowing a good reason for them is a symptom of it. Finding the reasons for depression might be part of therapy, but might also be not necessary or possible. It depends. You have to find out, what works for you.
If it is very serious: Accept the fact that you have depression and that it is something, you probably have to live with. Some people live with it all their live. Do not ignore it, do not pretend it isn't there. It is, it will come back and you have to deal with it.
I myself am always prepared to see the signs for it to come back and I work actively against it to prevent things from going down. However, I hadn't had any serious episodes for 10 years.
Last but not least, two TED talks you might find interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eBUcBfkVCo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1QoyTmeAYw