I think i used to have bad anxiety but then it suddenly went away will it come back?

[ilurvesleep]

I haven't been on here before so I don't really know what to write, sorry in advance if i do something wrong.

here is a bit of my background: I have never been professionally diagnosed with anxiety or depression but for about six months of this year, from about the start of autumn, i started to feel really down all of the time. My memory started getting really bad and I kept on thinking that everyone was out to get me. I stopped trusting anyone, even my closest friend who is the kindest person in the world. I started having a really short temper and becoming very introverted, I was having suicidal thoughts even though I knew I would never do it. I was always tired during the day and couldn't get to sleep at night, I gained too much weight (to the point that I am now on the verge of obesity but I also quit the gym because it was too expensive so that probably contributed a lot to my weight) and finally I was never able to relax both mentally and physically.

so a few weeks ago I went to the first social outing I had been to since before the 6 months, it was my favorite band performing at a concert. That night I let it all out. I was jumping up and down for 5 hours straight, yelling my lungs out and forgetting all of my self conscience thoughts. I stayed up until 5 and then slept for around 16 hours. since then I have been so happy all of the time. I can't even imagine having felt depressed before. So I was wondering if I am going to fall back into this depressive state (which was so horrible) or am I better? or is that a stupid question because mood and things in the future is really hard to predict? 

one last question: for those six months no one ever said anything to me or asked me if anything was wrong. for the most part i understand that I was able to "wear another person's face" so most people thought i was just always on my period and nothing more but my grades dropped considerably during the time, to the extent that i was failing most subjects (mainly because i couldn't remember anything no matter how hard i tried so i gave up on trying). so my question, is there any part of teacher education which teaches them to recognize when students are depressed? and if  so are they encouraged to help the student or advise them to see a counselor? i only ask because I think it would have helped me if someone else had initiated a conversation. 

thanks 

page 

[AGrace]

Hi Page,

Welcome to the forums, and thank you for sharing your story with us. You pose some really good questions, so I hope that I can answer them all as best I can, no doubt others will contribute also.

I wanted to start by saying the mind is a pretty powerful tool, and often we can hit a low moment in life and then bounce back again. You are right it's difficult to predict whether you will fall again or not. I guess the important thing to consider is how you managed to bounce back again. So all the things you've said you've been doing attending concerts, socialising, concentrating at school, being around others, these all contribute to a positive state of mind. The odd thing about the mind is that it doesn't have the ability to determine what is real and what isn't, so for the most part that saying "fake it til you make it" holds some truth. I'd keep adding to some of the things you are doing, start exercising again (even if it's  just walks every day), look at eating healthy food choices, ensure you are getting adequate sleep, and make sure you are taking some time out and not overdoing it with your studies.

Regarding people being able to tell whether we're depressed, often people can't pick up on it unless we tell them. I think the learning here is that if you do feel down again speak up. Isolating just contributes to the problem, whereas having support and people who care for you can be advantageous. Are teachers trained to pick up on these things? I'd say not really. I would have thought that if you're grades were slipping then the teacher would speak to you about this, but again I think the power lies with the individual to approach the teacher or student counsellor. Again if there is a next time there's 2 really valuable resources for you to get support.

I hope this is helpful. In the ideal world others would initiate the conversation, but often this is not the case. Oh and none of your questions were silly, I think they are all really valid.

AGrace

[ilurvesleep]

"The odd thing about the mind is that it doesn't have the ability to determine what is real and what isn't, so for the most part that saying "fake it til you make it" holds some truth." - this is so scifi! mind tripping! and poetic, it's not only philosophical but it also rhymes, that's excellent!!!! 

also i was thinking about it and realized that if someone were to initiate a conversation i would probably lie because I am too proud to admit to weakness. Thanks for the advice. 

also just on a random note have you seen the perks of being a wallflower? isn't it the best movie ever?!?! (i'm like 2 years late but people still watch the godfather and that's a darn old movie)

also is it possible that someone is drugging my food with like oxytocin or something to make me so happy? (i don't really believe this but wouldn't that be exciting if people could just be high on happiness all of the time?)

ok now i'm procrastinating so goodbye but i hope that for what ever reason you have come to this site that your problems are solved. or you can always just buy oxytocin from ebay but i think it's really expensive and i'm not quite sure if it's legal. anyways good luck!