Depression is synonymous as a main symptom of PTSD, or PTSD depression it can often be referred. You have to make a conscious decision on whether you want to be / remain depressed, or get yourself clear of it, and stay clear as much as possible. Below outlines some factors that can make you / sustain depression, and also how to clear depression from your daily life.

Factors that will often depress you:

Drunkiness
Having no clear, concise plans for your day
Bad thoughts
Fighting
Anticipation of bad things
Bad dreams
Asking yourself silly questions
Crying
Not eating, or eating poorly
Tired, not sleeping, physically drained
Isolation
No exercise
Poor posture
No self care
Thinking about past negative events
Intense day with no rest

How to overcome and keep clear off depression:

Understand how and why it is happening
Make clear decisions and choices
Create control within yourself
Make goals within your days
Do the opposite of the above list (outlined below)
You cannot control every event, but you can control yourself
Remember, its not just you

Now to really drive the list into more focus, below I have the above problems, associated with the exact opposite for comparison how to help rectify each issue, with a little detail to each:

Drunkiness

Alcohol is a depressant, regardless how well you think it suppressses the problem, at the end of the day, it WILL make you worse whilst drinking. That is factual, not fictional. Dealing with alcohol and PTSD, is no different from an alcoholic getting themselves dry, in that you MUST avoid social functions, parties, gatherings, and anything that has alcohol until such a time that you can enjoy yourself without it, and actually know that, not think it. There is nothing wrong with a drink every now and then, no problems, but with PTSD it is a destructive mechanism. I know this from my own personal experience.

Having No Clear, Concise Plans for your Day

Schedule a calender of events for each day. Know what your doing the day before, as this also helps with other factors, such as recurring bad dreams. More on that below. Buy a diary, get a scribble calender for the fridge, something, anything, and schedule what you need to do. Saying this, in conjunction with other aspects of PTSD, try not to schedule timing, but more just a list of things you COULD do, or WANT to do. If you don't get everything done, then simply schedule those activities, event or jobs over to another day. This actually helps fill in some days when your lost for what to do.

Bad Thoughts & Recurring Dreams

Think about the happy times (everyone has them). If your struggling with bad thoughts and dreams, then you need to find a good for every bad. It doesn't matter when the bad was, there WAS something good also. For example: if a close relative died, then force yourself to stop thinking about the death part, and think about all the good things you have done with that person instead. Write a list if need be, and add to it each day as more good things you remember pop into your head. Read the list, refresh yourself when things can get very overwhelming. Think about these good things when your going to sleep, keeping the bad thoughts out. A recent study has shown that you can control what you dream about, simply by thinking about more influential aspects of your life as your laying there taking yourself to sleep.

Fighting

It has always been said, "its take more a person to walk away than to stay and fight", and its absolutely true. Saying this, if someone is attacking you, then self defence is the obvious means, but if someone is just annoying you, DON'T start it, just walk away. Often those with PTSD will start more fights than anything else, simply because someone looked at them the wrong way, or bumped into them, or other silly little thing that any normal person would simply ignore and not think about twice.

Anticipation

Everyone with PTSD suffers problems with this, in that they anticipate everything that COULD happen, though 99.99% of the time, doesn't, or probably never would. This generally stems from the alertness we suffer. Whilst being alert, it doesn't mean we need to over anticipate everything, so we get ourselves to the point of not even leaving the house. The world could explode, live with it. It is reality that we need to live in, not the fairly land we makeup within our heads.

Asking Yourself Silly Questions

Again, the sky is not falling, so you need to extend yourself from what is factual, to fictional, that you have built within your own imagination. Questions you may ask yourself could be: "What if...", "That happened last time...", etc etc. The "What If" is pretty common, which sometimes stops us from leaving the house at times. One could ask themselves:

"What if I drive to the shops and someone crashes into me, just like what happened to my brother, and he died?"

or

"What if I drive to the shops and someone mugs me, just like they did years before, which has given me PTSD?"

and some counter questions to these thoughts could simply be:

"Well, if I drive to the shop, I could meet someone new, make a new friend, buy a lotto ticket and win first division, get myself a coffee and cake" etc etc etc.

Crying

Crying is an emotional response, one most Men generally don't have at the best of times due to the masucline upbringing, though women tend to cry for venting purposes more than men. Crying about everything can be depressing, though crying about something that has happened could be cleansing. I believe this one is really something that needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis with a counsellor.

Poor Eating Habits

It is factual, that eating correctly makes the body function better. This cannot be disputed. If your eating takeaways, fattie foods and so forth, generally your going to put on weight, which in itself can then be more depressing. Exercise and good nutrition is a factual source of beating depression. You must fix this, as this tends to fix many other aspects also.

Tired, Intense Days, Sleep [font=&quot]Depravation[/font]

More often than not, those with PTSD become workaholics. The reason we do this, is because its another way to suppress the symptoms that trigger us. By working long hours and generally keeping very busy, we tend to wear ourselves out eventually, regardless how well we think were doing. You need to schedule a couple of things per day to relax, whether that be a visit to family for half an hour, or go to the gym for an hour workout, get on a bike and go for a ride, something along those lines... and something that you enjoy. You need to relax the mind, and the body. Saying that, relaxation does not exclude exercise, as exercise is actually a relaxant to some, and in other forms. Yoga is a good example of relaxation whilst exercising.

Isolation

Go to someone elses house, shops, group... something, but just get out of the house and around other people very often. I know too well, that we WILL isolate ourselves within the home, just to disconnect with those around us who don't understand, and generally in association with other symptoms of PTSD, ie. anxiety and so forth. Being by yourself, or even with the same people day in, day out, can become depressing, whether you know it or not, then sneak up on you when your guard is down.

Exercise and Posture

It is fact that exercise decreases the risk of depression, as it stimulates the bodies organs, blood flow, metabolism and much more, which are all affluent aspects of keeping the body and mind stimulated. Obesity leads to depression, so you eat more. These aspects are a mental attibutor which can be beaten by doing, not saying. Make it routine, part of your calender, to get up and go for a walk first thing in the morning, a pushbike ride, run, whatever your interest. With PTSD, you are actually better to exercise in the morning, regardless whether you prefer the afternoon for exercise, as it stimulates the mind and body before you begin daily activity. A 10 minute walk can mean the difference between being exhausted by the end of the day, or not. You can then do your more vigarous exercise at the end of the day, as you normally do... this ensure you are still stimulated by the end of the day to actually DO the exercise you like at that period. Posture is directly affected by laziness, which can be rectified through good eating and exercise, making the body feel better. In all other instances, just tell yourself to situp straight, stop slouching.

No self care

Men are the worst for this. Regardless whether you think your happy with letting yourself go, more often than not, in the back of your brain, your also thinking you'd like to be 10kg less, or fitter, more athletic to kick a footy with the kids, etc etc. Look after yourself, get fit, go spoil yourself once in a while at a beautician (women), or get your hair cut, have a shave, get some nice aftershave (and that doesn't include brute or old spice)... If your older, get someone younger than you, take them shopping and get yourself some new clothes, something you may not pickout, but is more fashionable to todays standards. You'll be surprised when you go out, have a coffee, and someone complements you on smelling nice, or dressed nicely (even as a male, without being a metrosexual or new age guy), it does give you a little confidence boost and helps keep depressive thoughts to a minimum.

Well, by no means complete, but these factors are a start to keep depression down, and out of your life for the most part. Depression is dangerous, that is a fact. This is not something you can afford to take lightly with PTSD in check 24/7.