Reddit mentions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: 7 Ways to Freedom from Anxiety, Depression, and Intrusive Thoughts (Happiness is a trainable, attainable skill!)

This book has been suggested a few times so I finally got around to reading it. I think it has some good information in it. I'm only about halfway through it, but I like it so far.

Time Management for System Administrators

Other books would be any of the social books like "How to influence people", "7 healthy habits..." Etc.

I haven't read this one yet, but It has been suggested to me if you plan to go more into management/leadership Start with Why

Other books that have I have ear marked due to being mentioned:

• The Devops Handbook
  
• The Practice of System and Network Administration
  
• The Practice of Cloud System Administration
  
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - This one might have been a joke, but as someone who has dealt with depression and burnout on the job. I think this could be beneficial.
  
• How to win friends and influence people
  
• How to win friends and influence people in the Digital Age
  
  Also, do a search for "Books for IT Professionals" to find a lot of other suggestions.

No need to appologize! We are all, ah, "a mess." It's the human condition. :) Also these mental health issues doctors love to slap on us are just clouds of symptoms they parcel out for treatment purposes. They are not what makes us, and they certainly aren't as separate from each other as we might think. Well let us look at the things you can change:

• Exercise: You certainly need to move more. It will help your mental health and physical health. I also manage PTSD, depression, anxiety, and ADHD as well as hypothyroidism. Not working out makes everything ten times worse and makes me feel awful. It isn't a cure but it does help me center myself and can be a sort of active meditation. Without it, there is no outlet for my anxiety and my ADHD becomes so intense I cannot concentrate for the life of me. I have found getting a fitbit that reminds me to move every hour helps me get up and stretch during the work day. I have a desk job so I understand. If you are a college student, might your college have a rec center included with your tuition? I would look into it. If not, Planet Fitness is $10 a month, air conditioned, often open 24/7, and totally worth it. I go at night to avoid crowds and because my work schedule is pretty different than most. Even just walking for 30-45 minutes a day you will feel better.
  
  
• Diet: Carbs are fine, they are just calorie dense. A weight loss diet is based on calories in vs calories out, and your body doesn't care too much where they are from. Getting an app that helps you count calories is great. For example, I am 5'2" and without activity my baseline calorie need is about 1400-1500 calories. To lose weight, I have to eat at a deficit and eat about 1100-1200 calories a day. When I work out I can add another 100-150 calories or so. Your doctor can help calculate what deficit you should be eating at. If your thyroid is under treated, it will take a higher deficit. The closer you get to your target weight the harder it will be. I am bout 10 lbs from my target so it's exceptionally hard for me to get there right now >_>.
  
  
• Medication: this takes forever to get right. I am sorry to hear metaformin did this to you. I know a lot of women that it helped with their PCOS and when/if you ever want children it might help you overcome fertility issues and be worth the side effects. Certainly it is not for every day with you if it gives you digestive issues. Also, what is your current thyroid treatment getting your levels to? Are you sure you are in the right range for you?
  
  
• Mindfulness: Just throwing this out here, but there is scientific, practice based evidence that mindfulness meditation helps people suffering from depression, anxiety, and ADHD manage their symptoms. Doing guided meditations may seem frustrating at first, but if you stick with it it could help you. It is certainly a good self care practice. Simply taking time for you and your needs every day is well worth it.
  
  
• Therapy. A good course of CBT or DBT therapy administered by a professional can help you restructure your current thinking pattern into a more productive, less self defeating pattern. If you want to try a work book first, there are many on amazon. It is something you need to be consistent with, however, and decide you want to try. If you are reluctant at all to try therapy it will not work. I found myself in a bad place, and at a breaking point I made the decision to put my ego aside and get help. There is a stigma in this country/society that really should not exist. A lot of depression and anxiety can be managed better by therapy, but people would rather just turn to a pill. However, a pill does nothing to treat our self destructive thinking patterns and medicine is not advanced enough to really have the answers. Good treatment often requires you to do the work (but the drugs can help you while you do that work) and challenge yourself. A good therapist is worth their weight in gold.

i think discipline alone is a bad idea to add onto depression - you need to adresse the depressive thoughts in the first place, not just repress them so you can get work done. otherwise you risk burning yourself out. depression sucks the energy out of you - discipline will suck even more energy out of you, and you will be stuck in an endless loop of trying to be disciplined, failing because your depression takes over when you burn out and then trying again. you need to adress the depression head on. look into CBT self-help - this and this book have good reviews. by learning to restructure your negative thoughts, your behaviours will change. you will be able to control yourself more, and thus also study more, if that's what you want to. ultimately it takes work though.

Sounds like you may have a pretty severe case of depression. I notice someone else asked if you were seeing a therapist and you said you can't afford it. If you could figure out a way to do it I think it would really help. But if you can't then maybe you could get a book on "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" (CBT). This book can help you retrain your negative thought patterns. I participated in a group CBT and it really helped me a lot. Then maybe as you go through the book you could discuss some of the things you've learned here on r/Christianity. OR... you would be welcome to PM me with your thoughts and questions!