Getting used to life after divorce can range anywhere from a few weeks to many years. During the time of dealing with divorce, you may experience a variety of emotions. You may also be prone to various conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other forms of physical challenges. The depression that results from traumatic life situations like divorce differs from clinical depression. It is known as situational depression or adjustment disorder. Both types of depression exhibit in a similar manner.
Symptoms of Depression
- Hopeless Perspective – Crucial depression is mood disarray that influences how you feel about life in particular. Experiencing a hopeless or defenseless aspect of your livelihood is the most common symptom of depression. Other feelings may include a lack of self-love, unnecessary guilt, or loss of interest in oneself. Usually, repeated thought of depression may be verbalized, like always saying that it’s your entire fault.
- Escalating Fatigue and Sleep Disorders – Among the causes, you may cease doing things you love doing because you feel exhausted. Depression usually presents with a shortfall of energy and immense fatigue, which may exhaust signs of depression. This can result in limitless sleeping. Depression is also associated with insomnia, as one may result in the other and vice versa. They can also worsen each other. The absence of proper, peaceful sleep can result in anxiety.
- Irritability in men – Depression affects either sex differently. Research indicates that men with depression may develop irritability, dangerous behavior, drug abuse, or unnecessary anger. Compared to women, men may not readily identify depression or look for treatment for it.
- Change in appetite and weight – Weight and appetite can alternate for people experiencing depression. Change of appetite may vary for different individuals. Other people may have an escalating desire and increase weight, and others may not feel hungry and may lose weight. One sign that dietary changes are associated with depression is whether they are intentional or not. If they aren’t, it shows that they are a result of depression.
- Unmanageable emotions – One minute, you may have an outburst of anger, feeling pain, and the next, you can be crying unmanageably. Nothing from the outside caused the change, but you get emotional stages moving up and down in a minute’s notice. Depression can result in mood changes.
Coping with Depression After Divorce
- Minimize Contact with Your Former Spouse – After divorce, your previous spouse becomes the chief activator. Being in contact with him or her may make you get angry or lead you to distress, which can increase your depression levels. You may not be in a position of avoiding your spouse entirely but try to have very minimum conversations with them if possible. Once you manage to overcome the cause of your depression, you will not be easily offended by their presence.
- Write a Journal – Even though you may be having a supportive network, it is always proper to scribble down anything in your mind. There’s no need for you to hold back. If you need clarification of some kind, contemplate writing a letter to your ex-partner as a way to overcome your emotions. However, you don’t have to send the message.
- Find Other Ways to Get Human Contact – In a relationship, you are used to regular human touch. When a relationship is over, you may find yourself discerning that contact more and more. You don’t have to do anything extravagant to fulfill your desires. You can have a massage, hug your family and friends when they are around, or have a pedicure. In case you have children, spend plenty of time cuddling them on the couch as you watch a movie. They may need physical contact just like you.
When Visiting a Doctor
It is much easier to be truthful about your feelings to a neutral person you’ve never met through the phone than to people you know. Such a person can assist you against the imagination of giving up. Call your doctor and plan an appointment if you experience symptoms of depression for over two weeks. When scheduling an appointment, come with a friend for moral support. List down your significant symptoms and come along with it. Also, take note of any medications you are using.
Your doctor can prescribe:
- Psychotherapy
- Antidepressants
- Anti-anxiety medication
They may also advise:
- Unconventional treatments like acupuncture or massage remedy
- Art therapy
- Procedures like yoga or a sports session
Post-traumatic disorder affects thousands of people, and there are different treatments available, ranging from lifestyle changes to prescriptions. Regardless of the treatment mode you choose, seeking professional assistance is the initial step to feeling a sense of relaxation again.