Hello! I really hope my answer can be of some help to you.
I'm so happy to hear that your depression has improved so much! I'm wondering if, in addition to medication, we've done some counseling as an adjuvant therapy? If we want to make some big, fundamental changes in our lives, adjust our cognitive structure, and improve our inner selves, we need to do some counseling as an adjuvant therapy. In addition, we also need to do some self-healing, such as regular emotional release, changing our minds, and accumulating a sense of accomplishment and pleasure.
I truly believe that when you're feeling good, your relationships with others will improve. When you love yourself first, it's only natural that more and more people will love you back.
I really want to help you, so here's my advice:
If you're going through psychological counseling, it's totally okay to talk to your counselor about how you're feeling. If you're not currently in counseling, it's a great idea to combine it with counseling to help yourself.
Depression can be caused by a number of different things, including social, physical and psychological factors. While medication can help to make you feel better physically, it's also important to look at the psychological and social aspects. The best way to do this is to seek help from a professional counselor or join a supportive group.
Psychological counseling can be a great way to help you release internal repression, channel and transform emotions, adjust our irrational perceptions, establish positive thinking patterns, enhance inner strength, and ultimately achieve personal growth. These effects can't be achieved with medication, so it's really helpful to combine the two!
2. And don't forget to use some effective self-help methods to heal yourself!
And, of course, we also need to use some effective self-help methods in our lives to heal ourselves. I've got two books here that I think you'll find really helpful. They correspond to the two therapies.
I'd highly recommend checking out "Cognitive Therapy: Foundations and Applications" and "The Eight-Week Mindfulness Journey: Freedom from Depression and Emotional Stress."
We can make a big difference in our emotional state by adjusting our perceptions. By identifying our automatic thoughts and unreasonable core beliefs, we can see what thoughts affect our emotions. Then, we can improve our emotions by changing the way we think—that is, changing our minds! For example, you might feel that you are not socially competent and that no one likes you. This is your belief, but it's not necessarily true. Ask yourself, is it really true that no one likes you?
Of course not! You're going to be just fine.
Then we can adjust our own perceptions. For example, we can change them to: "Although my social skills have declined somewhat now, and I don't have as many good friends for the time being, I believe that through my learning and growth, I can definitely improve my social skills and I can also truly make real good friends... Another example is if you define this as you are not good enough or not worthy of being liked, then you can adjust your beliefs to: "Although I am not very good at socializing now and there are not many people who like me, it does not mean that I am not good enough. I still accept and understand this real me, and I love myself!"
We can also use mindfulness cognitive therapy to help ourselves accumulate inner strength and improve our emotional quotient. It's a great idea to make two lists for yourself: one of pleasure (things you do that make you happy and enjoy), and one of accomplishment (things you do that don't necessarily make you happy, but that fill you with a sense of power and satisfaction when you've finished). Every day, pick an appropriate number of things from these two lists to do. The more you do these things when you're feeling down, the more effective they will be in improving your emotional quotient. And when your emotional quotient goes up, you'll have more and more inner strength, and you'll have the courage to socialize, to create your new social circle, to meet new people, and to attract those who really like you.
3. It's okay if you don't have good social relationships right now. It doesn't mean it'll always be this way. As you start to feel better and have more energy, and as you learn to love yourself more and more, you'll find that you have more and more friends around you. We all need to take care of ourselves first and learn to love ourselves enough.
It's so important to remember that the external world is a reflection of our inner world. When you feel like basically no one likes you, it's because you don't like yourself either. It's totally normal to crave other people's approval because what we lack internally, we will look for externally. It's so common to care so much about whether other people like us precisely because we don't like ourselves enough.
So, the most important thing is not to worry about whether others like you. Instead, focus on becoming the kind of person who likes themselves.
When you really like yourself, appreciate yourself, and recognize yourself from the bottom of your heart, your inner world is full and you have no lack. You'll find you're not so concerned about what the outside world gives you. At that time, more and more people will like you because you'll exude a confident radiance that attracts similarly "high energy" friends. When your energy is low, you'll attract low energy friends. Everyone wants the other person to give them energy, but no one has the strength to give it away, so they get caught in a bad cycle. So, love yourself, care for yourself, appreciate yourself, and recognize yourself, and your world will change dramatically!
I hope this is helpful for you! Sending you lots of love and best wishes!
Comments
I can relate to feeling like you've lost your ability to connect with others. It's really tough when it feels like no one understands or likes you. Sometimes, healing from past trauma takes time and the right support, and it sounds like medication has helped you make progress. Maybe focusing on small steps to rebuild social skills could be beneficial.
It's heartbreaking to hear that you're struggling with social interactions now, especially since you had good relationships in elementary school. Depression can really affect how we see ourselves and interact with others. Perhaps seeking therapy might provide some tools to help improve those social connections and boost your confidence.
Feeling this way must be incredibly challenging, especially after having enjoyed positive friendships before. Losing that ability to socialize can feel very isolating. It might help to explore group activities or support groups where you can meet others who understand what you're going through and gradually regain your social comfort.