Tips to Prevent a Depression Relapse

Depression relapse prevention is about monitoring your mood, identifying your early warning signs and their triggers, and developing an effective and proactive plan of action to prevent or minimise its effects.

The likelihood of recovery from depression, with appropriate professional treatment, is very good. Depending on the type of treatment, most people start noticing an improvement in about two to six weeks.

Although most people recover from an episode of depression, some may experience a relapse within the following year. It is, therefore, essential to learn how to prevent it from occurring again.

Early Warning Signs of Depression

Before a relapse occurs, you typically experience early warning signs and symptoms. These can be experienced through changes in your mood, feelings and behaviours.

Although each person experiences their unique signs and symptoms, many of them are common to most people, including:

Feeling down or sad
Feeling irritated, tense, restless
Low self-esteem
Loss of motivation, enjoyment and interest in doing things you usually enjoy
Low energy
Changes in sleep (insomnia or sleeping more than usual)
Feelings of worthlessness
Changes in appetite or weight
Poor concentration and memory
Overuse of alcohol and drugs
Withdrawing socially.

Regular self-monitoring of warning signs is critical to preventing relapse.

Tips to Prevent a Depression Relapse

There are some things you can do to prevent a relapse or minimise its effects. First, you must monitor your mood regularly and be aware of your early warning signs. The sooner you identify them, the quicker you can take action and minimise the chances of a relapse from occurring.

The following can help you prevent a relapse from occurring.

Monitor and rate your mood daily.

Monitoring and rating your mood every day, preferably at the same time, will help you identify patterns and the situations that trigger your low moods.

Keep track of your mood over a week. For example, you can use a ‘Mood Monitoring Worksheet’. Keep the worksheet handy at all times, and take note of your mood throughout the day. Then, after a week, you can take it to your GP or psychologist to discuss your patterns and observations with them.
Identify your early warning signs and symptoms.

Becoming aware of your early warning signs and symptoms of depression can help you minimise or prevent a relapse. Identifying the triggers is also essential, as well as determining whether they can be avoided or not. If not, a plan of action will be developed detailing what to do before, during and after the situations that trigger your symptoms.

The ‘Symptoms Monitoring Worksheet’ will help you keep track of your warning signs daily. That will allow you to identify your typical symptoms of depression early and help you take appropriate and proactive action once identified.

When your symptoms persist for a few days and start impacting negatively on your daily life, it is time for you to take action.
Develop an action plan.

Developing an action plan is the next step, detailing what to do when exposed to trigger situations or identifying early warning signs. For instance, you can plan a visit to your GP or Psychologist if you have been feeling down for a few days, phone a person you trust to talk about how you feel or ask a friend to check on you if you are not answering the phone or are avoiding social events.

By following these tips and getting to know your mood and symptoms better, you can be better prepared for action and take proactive decisions to prevent further relapse and improve your quality of life.