Depression is more than that sense of feeling "down" or discouraged at times when things are not going well. Depression involves sadness, pessimism, a preoccupation with personal problems, and perhaps self-pity, anguish, crying, and hopelessness.

Symptoms of depression can range from mild versions such as temporary withdrawal, low energy, tiredness and sleeping problems over moderate forms such as feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness, decreased productivity, poor concentration or poor appetite to severe symptoms of recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

There are many reasons why you might feel depressed. You may undergo major life changes such as divorce, separation, loss of a job, retirement or moving town. Or you may feel unhappy about your marital situation or fear physical and mental problems of old age. Or you may be sensitive to the change of seasons. As we enter the dark time of the year, you may suffer from the lack of light.

Depression may also occur without any outer trigger. Perfectionism, low self worth, mood swings, dissatisfaction with life, the chronic use of alcohol or other drugs or even prescribed medications may lead to depression.

There are many effective ways to deal with depression.

You can use exercises to increase the energy level which has a major impact in dealing with depression. Depressed people mostly use shallow upper breathing. The chest is collapsed and in breath seems to be difficult. The Latin word for "breathing in" is inspirare, a word which we find in inspiration and to inspire. If the breath is shallow, you may lack inspiration. Exercises help to increase the breath and in this way the level of inspiration.

You can learn to control your thoughts and feelings and replace the typical negative thought habits that focus on problems and faults with a realistic appraisal of the small successes and joys of life that we all experience no matter how challenging the conditions may be.

You may explore new activities and interests that give you satisfaction, help you to feel good about yourself, and keep the mind off problems and negative thoughts and emotions. On top of it, they open the door to meet like minded people, improve conversation skills and help in making and keeping friends.

You can replace bad habits of blaming, criticising and expecting the worst through assertiveness skills, good problem-solving skills, positive thinking and humour.

The most difficult part may be to get the first step and then keep walking towards a self-empowered life. To support you, I offer a range of options suitable for each pocket.

I offer on my website free articles and a free course with suggestions of how you can cope with depression. The Ebook 'Beyond suffering' will help you to discover the four pillars of how to grow joy in your life and provide tools for transforming restrictive life patterns on the mental, emotional and physical level.

Sometimes, a depression may reach so deep that it may feel like a task too big to even start the journey out of it.

This deep-rooted resignation has to do with the underlying energetic structure that keeps depressive thought forms, habits and feelings in place. For basic shifts to happen the body-mind-system needs rewiring so that new options become available in order to successfully cope with depression.

The distance courses provide a continuous support by shifting the resonance with those energetic patterns that keep the depression in place

About the author:

Dr. Ulla Sebastian is a well-known author, trainer and psychotherapist. Her work spans a wide range of themes for professional and personal growth and is the result of forty years of research, work with thousands of people from all over the world and a lifelong experience of self growth and transformation. Visit her website http://www.visioform.com for free courses, distance courses, books and articles