Am I depressed or just having that 'phase'?

[Kirby]

Since the end of last year I have been feeling very down on myself and sometimes feeling a sense of loneliness and mainly depression. I often wake  up in cold sweats and frequently battle to get to sleep unless I am extremely tired from work and what not. After the end of year exams last year I've been under a lot of stress and it has really been getting to me. I have had thoughts of suicide because I've just gotten to the point of thinking that everyone would just be better off not worrying about me and just going about their business. I haven't spoken to any friends or family because I feel like I'll be laughed at and or told that people have much bigger issues than I do. Please help me figure out what I need to do to get some help before my schooling plummets along with my social life. 

[Neil_1]

Hi Kirby  

Welcome to Beyond Blue and you should feel really proud of yourself for coming here and providing your post.  It can be a daunting thing, but you’ve done it and as a result it’s brilliant too that you’re reaching out for support.  You’ll definitely receive that here.  🙂  

Ok, so you say it’s since the end of last year, so am I right to assume that it hasn’t been very long and that you don’t think you had it earlier in your life??  

You’ve mentioned at the end that you need assistance with this otherwise your schooling may plummet as well as social life.  Please bear with me Kirby as I’m just trying to work out a few things, and this in turn will help the other people on this site … and we’ll be better informed to be able to assist you. 

So I’m taking it that you’re still in school – perhaps, Year 12??   I guessed that cause you’ve also mentioned that you work … so you perhaps have a casual job as well.  Which is brilliant … seeking out some independence and earning some money as well.  A massive positive there Kirby.  

Thoughts of taking your life are just horrendous and should never be passed over lightly … and with this in mind Kirby, you obviously have family and a network of friends (and a social life – because you said so 🙂 and just imagine for a sec, just how devastated all these people would be if something unimaginable was to happen to you.  Their lives would be changed and ruined forever – because doing something like that is forever, it’s final and there’s no other way out from it.  Whereas with depressive feelings, there’s always people who can help … places to go for help, there is support everywhere and this can be all accessed.  

Also Kirby never think that someone else’s issues are bigger than yours.  If you feel you’re suffering and are experiencing pain, loneliness and depression then that’s enough to warrant people to drop what they’re doing to come to your support.  

I think at this time it might be beneficial to you to type down what are your main stressors – and how badly they are affecting you?  You said that after last years exams you experienced a lot of stress and that it’s affected you badly.  Now you don’t need to list them here, but just type them down (just for you) and go through them individually and work out which is the most important – and whatever it is, just think, is it something so bad that it’s going to have a major effect on you as a person?  If you come up with a few of them like that, it might well be worth just going along to a GP to discuss this?   And if you don’t feel particularly comfortable about going to say your family GP, on this website they have a list of GP’s that you could do a search on … and hopefully you’ll find one or two in your local area.  The difference with these GP’s here is that they are all trained to deal with and help with mental health issues.  

For the moment Kirby, I think I’ll send this off and I do hope that you can get back to us.  

Kind regards  

Neil