This is a cliché-answer probably. But I found that music and singing help me more than anything. Concentrating on emproving my technique on the one hand and on the other hand going into these characters and exploring their feeling. Because then I become them. I'm not myself anymore. My despair and my pain is non-existent at that moment, because I feel whatever the character feels, my mind can't be busy with how bad or lost or agitated I feel.