easing depressive episodes

This won't help everyone, but maybe it'll help someone. 

I have persistent depressive disorder, & have for nearly 20 years. 

When it gets overwhelming, I just sit with it. Maybe for a few hours, maybe for a few days. I require nothing of myself in that time. No chores except eating at least once a day, and showering at least every other day. I feed my animals on their normal schedule. I do nothing else. 

In that time, I acknowledge, silently or verbally, that I'm depressed, and I allow myself to be depressed. It probably looks like I'm wallowing, but I'm not. I'm just allowing it to exist in me. I accept it, and through that, I accept myself as a person with depression. 

I do that for a long as it takes. 

Eventually, my soul settles. It balances out. I'm not sure how else to describe it, but it's like the depression becomes integrated in my psyche, instead of weighing me down from outside, and that integration brings peace, which eases the effects of the depression. 

It's easier these days, now that my son is grown and doesn't require my care. When he was growing up my ability to do this was obviously limited and I could only do it within time constraints, but even an hour of this mental exercise (not sure what else to call it) helped a bit.