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Hello I'm Dr. Bernice Bernhard a New York State Licensed Psychologist practicing here
in New York City. This segment is called living with depression. I categorize depression in
three different ways. For some people there has been a tragedy in their life, something
that was very important and traumatic and they are situationally depressed but we expect
that that depression will not be a life long thing. For others depression has plagued them
for years of their life or for all of their life, sometimes even since childhood. For
others I call it a masked depression because they don't feel depressed but they're always
sort of not physically well. Their back hurts, they don't feel well and what they may do
is self medicate with alcohol or drugs. One of the first things you can do especially
for the second one where you have a life long depression is get an evaluation for medication.
The other thing and this may sound strange is to force yourself even when you can't get
up out of bed to force yourself to get up, to take a shower, to do some exercise, to
listen to music, to dance in your house and if possible to volunteer in an area that is
important to you with children through organizations, to adopt a foster pet because you might not
be able to take care of a pet when you are this depressed. I know how hard this is. I
am not being frivolous but I am telling you that if you stay in bed it will not help and
it will not work. Get out and do it. Thank you. I'm Dr. Bernhard.