Fighting Situational Depression After an Accident
After being hurt in an accident that left me bed ridden for months I was broken. This happened after my company had laid everyone off which led to me feeling extremely hopeless and it put me on the fast road to developing situational depression. Because I couldn’t go anywhere, it made it extremely difficult to get motivated and apply for jobs when I knew I couldn’t physically go to an interview, let alone start a job because I couldn’t drive or go anywhere alone.
To top it all off, I had to seek the help of a personal injury attorney, because the person responsible for my accident was a hit-and-run driver. That opened up a whole new avenue of stress and worries that weighed heavy on me. Being involved in a lawsuit is not easy, luckily I had the help of family members to make sure I chose someone who had my best interest at heart. Although the process was long and timely, eventually I was able to hold the person responsible for their actions. The whole process was extremely stressful and it contributed to feelings of depression and helplessness. In time, I did figure out how to deal with feeling depressed, and sought out help to understand how to deal with my emotions.
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Given this experience, I thought I would share my tips on how to fight slipping into a depression after being seriously injured. This helped me. Your journey may be different but you won’t know until you try.
- Don’t hold your feelings in: Speak to someone you trust, a friend, a significant other, a family member, anyone that will let you vent. It’s important to express your feelings when you are feeling down, especially if you are bed ridden and have all this extra time to dwell on things you can’t control. You are not alone, over half the people who are unemployed and injured have reported feelings of depression according to a study.
- Find ways to stay busy: I began doing online puzzles to keep my mind busy. I also started reading. Watching TV or movies can keep you busy but it can get old, games and books switches up the routine and still keeps you entertained. I also went through old photos and organized them. This also helped me keep busy.
- Seek professional help: If you believe that nothing helps, or begin to have suicidal thoughts, you should seek professional help. Injuries also go along with prescription medicine, which means, you could become dependent on medicine which leads to a darker path. If you feel like this is something you are experiencing call the National Helpline, someone can help you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Learn more here.
- Accept help: In the beginning it’s hard to keep a positive out look, but you can’t take it all alone. If you have people around you that are willing to help, let them in. Shutting people out will only push you deeper into a depression. Even if you don’t believe it will make a difference, let people visit, let them help you in any way. I promise it will only have a positive result.
As you may have heard before, hindsight is 20/20 and looking back, I now realize that being in that situation was a blessing in disguise because it gave me time to reflect on what I wanted. It also showed me that I could motivate myself and that you can pick yourself up, accept your situation, not worry about the things you can’t control, and accepting help from everyone around you.
