I enjoy playing tactical games to get through some of my mildest depression and mildest anxieties. Mario Rabbids or Into The Breach on the Switch is fantastic for it. Allows me to think moves through, neither game is a huge time sink but they can eat up time, and they allows me to focus my thoughts when I am having a lighter bad one. Helps with non-triggered random night-time ideation a lot too.
@fluidk said:
But having dealt with depression in my life, none of that will ‘help”. If you REALLY want to get out of the depression, make changes in your life that lead to major, beneficial adjustments to your circumstances. That, plus time, is what will actually “help”.
People will tell you that there is nothing you can do. Ignore those people.
I know this comes from a good place, and can apply to many people, but a lot of people with various forms of clinical depressions which will last their entire lives do exist, more commonly than may be realized.
I'm one of those who doesn't use video games for management of my disabilities if it's severe (/31 year old who made many mistakes to get to this point), but sometimes small things are what people have to cope with, and not everyone, especially those with brain fog or fatigue, can truly just do the "let's change" thing. Plus, poverty, family, relationships, and other things remove the ability for people to just up and change shit, which is unfortunate but consistent across a lot of experiences because it's all systemic.
I do agree changing what you can and know is a distinct proven trigger is important if you can manage it, it's just a bit of a pet peeve of mine to say if people *really* wanted to do something, they would do it as it's so broad to be almost inapplicable to any specific situation. Just because I/you/others have done well with it at a few points in time, doesn't mean it's possible all the time. I've fucked myself up through those thoughts/actions done wrong, as many others have too. It's a balancing act.
Avoiding manias, psychosis, further black/white thinking, and other such things which may move into destructive tendencies is important too, which unmonitored/loosely planned/badly formed change can sometimes encourage. Change is inevitable, but planning and managing change is a different set of skills that change depending on your situation at a single moment in time.
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