Recovery can take time and is different for everyone. As well as getting treatment underway, you'll need to find new ways to manage and live with the changes and challenges of anxiety and/or depression.
While psychological and/or medical treatment can help with your recovery, there are many other ways you can help yourself to get better and stay well.
Recovery
Stages of recovery
Recovery is a unique and individual process that everyone goes through differently. However, there are some common emotions that many people may experience.
- Shock at having to deal with something difficult and scary that you have no prior experience of.
- Denial or difficulty in accepting having a health problem, particularly one that many people find hard to understand.
- Despair and anger at having to deal with the condition and its related difficulties.
- Acceptance of having a condition and the changes it brings, and accepting how others see you and how you see yourself.
- Coping by finding new ways to live with and tackle these changes and challenges.
Recovery goes beyond focusing on managing distressing symptoms but about having choices and being able to create a meaningful and contributing life.
Available support
There is no one proven way that people recover from anxiety or depression, and it’s different for everybody. However, there are a range of effective treatments and health professionals and other support people who can help you on the road to recovery. There are also many things you can do to help yourself to recover and stay well. The important thing is finding the right treatments and the right health professionals and support team that works for you.
Different types of anxiety or depression require different types of treatment. This may include lifestyle changes such as regular physical activity, healthy eating and adequate sleep, family and peer support, and psychological therapy for mild-moderate anxiety and depression, through to more specialised psychological and medical treatments for severe depression and/or anxiety provided by a team of health and mental health professionals.
What’s important is getting the treatment and support that’s right for your condition and situation.