topic Re: Help in Depression

Help

Lilly18 — Thu, 14 May 2026 23:09:08 GMT

Can I hear what you'd do if you were me. I feel like I have exhausted all options to treat my depression.

Has anyone ever got better from depression? I really need help i cant function.

Re: Help

airspace — Fri, 15 May 2026 02:30:26 GMT

Hi Lilly,
I go through bouts of depression. The thing is, I am a chirpy, fun person. I just know I suffer from the 'weight' most times and it dominates. My default seems stuck-in-my-head, paralysis, from a whirlwind of everything-yet-nothing.
I recently realised I have ADHD. I’ve yet to follow that up, but I expect that is playing a part. It has definitely affected my role in life… commitments, work, finances, relationships, etc. without me really knowing and all those poor choices, wrong roads, stupid mistakes, I guess, have made me ‘depressed’. I know I’m a good person but I feel trapped in a loser’s life. I’m also HSP - highly sensitive person - which means I see and experience the world around me far more emotionally and deeper than normal people. This can be a good thing. I see and feel the beauty in the world and appreciate the tiny things on a really deep level, but the flip side can mean I’m withdrawn, pensive, judging, avoiding and just suss about the nonsense we have to wade through each day. Most people brush this off or don’t even notice, but I’m programmed to be aware at all times, like an overworked computer.
I’m struggling with so much at the moment but then I have good people around me and even just the fact that I’m alive and healthy reminds me to be positive. Still, the current default seems to be ‘it’s too much to bear’ and I drift again into quiet, pensive paralysis. I know I’m more than this because I have a ton of memories that agree. Holidays, nights out, hooking up with people, etc. and then I start to drill down to more simple moments like a walk, exercise, a song, a movie, daylight, a view, a road trip, meeting a stranger, cooking. Disconnected flashes of lighter moments that flit in and out of my day. They bolster the ‘joy of life’. Not one definitive action. Just many disconnected moments refilling my tank.
For me, there’s no straight simple answer or solution. It’s a series of top-ups and I have to just know that on the bad days there’s nothing ‘wrong’, I’m just not topped up. Like a bucket with a hole in it. If I leave it too long, I sink into quiet gloom. Thoughts are dark, hopeless, paralysing. I guess darkness is easier to find than light when all is still around me. The world is obsessed with ‘crisis’, or it is so easy to be aware of the 1% of utter nonsense going on around us.
So, I force a moment. It’s easy to dwell and to label ourselves different, depressed, disconnected, but we shouldn’t martyr ourselves to it. I used to have this dumb need for it to define me. The surly, moody guy, but in truth, I hated being depressed. After medication didn’t work, I forced the changes myself. I forced walks, tasks, changes, etc. Changing the input. I can’t just be ‘light’ on command but I can break the spiral or the mood by taking action. Hitting the gym, even when I really don’t want to. Going for a walk, cooking, watching a movie, making plans. Even moving from one room to another. Good food, water, listening to the sound of the birds. Definitely putting social media and doomscrolling away. A huge no on that.
Seems like mundane stuff that seems pathetic to force, but it more often than not tops-me-up. The depression argues back, for sure. I have laid in bed this week for hours, paralysed, waiting, but that push to get up, get to the gym, or even just step outside, not only breaks the spell, it tops me up, and often really buoys me up. It’s far better to approach the day returning from a walk than lying in bed, and as much as I can’t see that while lying in the darkness, my head KNOWS that this is just inertia keeping me in this dungeon, and I have the key to get out of it.
Breaking the inertia is the key, for me. When I’m lying in the darkness wishing this isn’t who I am, how can I be anything BUT that person? If the person I want to be is light, happy, engaged I’ve got to move… get up, get out, change the mood and my real self will find me. People trying to cheer me up. No. That convinces me I’m miserable. I will get up, out, move, drink, step away from it for a moment to relax and the joy will come. The weight lessens, the tank tops up and those laughs flow freely again.
Good luck. I’m not a pro and this is just my own experience. We all deserve to be here and we’re all loved for being here. If you have different or specific anxieties, keep talking to someone. We can all relate and share the load together.

Re: Help

Daydreamer70 — Fri, 15 May 2026 05:43:43 GMT

Hi Lilly,

Thank you for writing in. I hear you and I understand you are tired. I have had people very close to me experinece deep depression and it is a horrible thing to go through. The good news is, they have been able to pull themselves out of it. One of my family members was severely depressed for a few years. With therapy and family support they have made huge improvements for their mental health. My advice to you is to seek some professional help, whether that is a counsellor, psychologist, your GP. They will be able to direct you in terms of the next steps to take for yourself. If you have not already, reach out to someone you trust. Holding everything in makes things feel so much heavier. A problem shared is a problem halved as cliche as it sounds it is so true.

These forums are always here for you too. In the process of figuring out your next steps, please know we are here to listen.

All the best and I hope things start to improve for you. It can be a long journey sometimes but continue to be patient and kind to yourself. You deserve to feel peace.

Daydreamer.

Re: Help

therising — Sat, 16 May 2026 07:49:47 GMT

Hi Lilly18

airspace touches on a number of things I was going to mention, covering mind, body and nature. While it's one challenge to shift mindset or master depressing inner dialogue, another challenge to face physical factors (such as with brain behaviour or chemistry that can depress us at times), it's a whole other thing to be able to deal with who we naturally are. If who we are is a natural born HSP, it's a gift that can definitely feel like a curse at times. If we retain this nature the whole of our life, it becomes about choosing between a lifetime of self understanding and self mastery or a lifetime of sufferance. From my own experience, I've found there is no choice. Like with airspace and what he has mentioned, I have to come to understand myself better. I have to learn how I tick in regard to what/who raises me or energises me and what/who brings me down or leaves me feeling completely flat and deeply depressed. I'm not all that good at doing 'completely flat and deeply depressed'. I don't think anyone is.

airspace speaks of the flip side of that 'sensitivity' coin, the dark side of the coin. While it's easy to feel the bright side, being able to feel the dark side constructively becomes key to flipping it back over again. Something that can be far from easy to do, btw. Personally, I've found the constructive aspect partly comes to down questioning 'What am I facing that needs to seriously change or at the very least be seriously addressed?'. Not always easy to get a feel for what it is exactly. Is it related to our body (biology/chemistry)? Is is related to our mind (beliefs/perception/inner dialogue/external dialogue from others)? Could it be a challenge to do with the development of our nature, the challenge to rise to meet it at a higher level as we graduate toward becoming more of our natural self? At times I find it can be combo. There is nothing quite like the perfect form of enlightenment to flip the coin. Not always easy to find, that's for sure. So hard to see in the dark (exactly what we're dealing with) until light is shed upon it. Then it can become a matter of 'Oh, my god, no wonder I've been depressed. It all makes complete sense now'. Until it does make sense, we can be incredibly hard on ourself. ❤️