Demystifying Depression/The Recovery Process

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The Recovery Process

Depending on your age, your general health status, how serious the depression was, and how well the recovery progresses, it typically takes between two months and two years before you can be fully recovered. Do not despair, however, because this certainly does not mean that during all this period you will feel as bad as in the beginning. The first few months are the hardest, but after that things will slowly improve, and little by little you will get your happiness and normality back. Moreover, remember that you only feel the nasty aspects of a depression when you go over your limits: you just have to be patient and to realise that your limits will indeed be very short during an extended period.

As the recovery progresses, you will feel not only that you can perform more concentration intensive activities and during longer periods, but also that your subjective mood improves. At some point you will be able to start working again, only for a couple of hours each day in the beginning, but increasingly more until you can work full time again. Finally, your mood should start approaching normality towards the later stages of the recovery: you should regain the feelings of fullness, vibrancy, and what is sometimes called the elan vital.

Next page: Recovery Guide, Previous page: The Buildup to a Depression, Top: Demystifying Depression