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BeyondBlue Hello! Read this if you're not sure how to get started
  • replies: 0

Welcome This section of the Beyond Blue Forums is for talking about our experiences with depression. There are lots of chats about how it makes us feel, what it’s like to live with depression and what has worked to help in these times. Thank you for ... View more

Welcome This section of the Beyond Blue Forums is for talking about our experiences with depression. There are lots of chats about how it makes us feel, what it’s like to live with depression and what has worked to help in these times. Thank you for coming this far, we know it can be really hard to take these steps if depression is in your life - we see you and think this is a great step. To get the most out of this space we have a few tips: Get involved. The Forums work best for you when you get active and post where you can. Now, we know that can be really hard, especially when you are experiencing depression. So, if you can post something supportive to someone else here, that would be an incredible start. Speak from the heart. This community wants to know how YOU feel and what has worked for YOU. We trust that you have something unique to say and we can’t wait to hear it. Check in. Lots of the discussions in this section of the Forums have been going for years and they are some of the richest conversations we have. Keep checking in to get new ideas and offer your support. We know it can be tough to start, but when you are ready we want to hear your thoughts. If you need some time to get to know the community, that's okay! Have a look around and see where you want to get involved. Thank you for being here! Beyond Blue

Jeriava How do I talk to my doctor?
  • replies: 9

I’ve been struggling with my life for the past 7-8 years but I finally made an appointment with a doctor. I feel really scared though because I don’t ever go to the doctor for anything, and I havent seen this doctor for so many years that I’m really ... View more

I’ve been struggling with my life for the past 7-8 years but I finally made an appointment with a doctor. I feel really scared though because I don’t ever go to the doctor for anything, and I havent seen this doctor for so many years that I’m really scared that they’ll judge me or won’t believe anything I say. I’m really anti social so I feel like I won’t be able to say what I wanna say or I’ll say the wrong thing causing them to just dismiss me and move me along without helping. I’m just tired of feeling alone, depressed and just worthless but I’m really scared to talk to them.

AGrace SELF HELP TIPS FOR MANAGING DEPRESSION
  • replies: 132

Hi Everyone, Here are some ideas you might like to try for managing symptoms of depression. Of course everyone's different, so let us know what works for you, and please feel free to add to the list... Mindfulness – through breathing or engaging the ... View more

Hi Everyone, Here are some ideas you might like to try for managing symptoms of depression. Of course everyone's different, so let us know what works for you, and please feel free to add to the list... Mindfulness – through breathing or engaging the 5 senses Distress Tolerance – Accepting Emotions and Self Soothing Distraction – Put the thoughts/feelings aside and come back to them when you are ready to deal with them Positive Affirmations – Have some affirmations written down repeat them to yourself daily Sleep/Exercise/Diet – All 3 aspects of our lifestyle can impact the way we think/feel Increasing Pleasurable Activities – Engage in at least one pleasurable activity per day

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Cye I keep failing my wife and family
  • replies: 2

So the last couple years I think I've retreated into myself more and more and now I don't think I know how to get back. My memory is terrible, my sleeping is worse and this all ends up with me failing to be the husband and father my family deserves. ... View more

So the last couple years I think I've retreated into myself more and more and now I don't think I know how to get back. My memory is terrible, my sleeping is worse and this all ends up with me failing to be the husband and father my family deserves. I'm so tired of failing them at every turn, we're currently trying to apply for a mortgage and I need my business tax return done but I kept forgetting or putting it off because I was to tired, saying to myself I'll do it tomorrow, but then not do it because I forgot or some other more immediate problem presented itself. I've finally submitted all the forms but it's like 3 months after the we first talked to our broker and accountant. She is understandably mad.I don't know why I'm like this, everything I touch seems to turn bad because I just can't get on top of things and I don't know how to.I love my wife and daughter more then anything else in the world so why can't I just do the thing that will help them have an easier life? In short why am I such a waste of space? I'm honestly starting to feel like they would be better off if I wasn't in their life, surely they'd have an easier life if they didn't have such huge weight around their necks? We're going to see a couples counsellor hopefully next week so hopefully that will help but I just feel so tired, lost and lonely and all I feel is me retreating further into myself again

nwish-iejd Anxiety, depression, mood
  • replies: 2

I’m experiencing really high anxiety and moderate depression lately. I’ve always had anxiety since I was 10 so it’s been almost a decade of me dealing with it. Though I have never been diagnosed with either depression or anxiety I feel like I greatly... View more

I’m experiencing really high anxiety and moderate depression lately. I’ve always had anxiety since I was 10 so it’s been almost a decade of me dealing with it. Though I have never been diagnosed with either depression or anxiety I feel like I greatly have them. I have experiencing depression for the last 4 years that fluctuates in intensity. I don’t want to get mental health treatment because that’s really expensive and I simply don’t have the money for that. I feel hopeless and so lost in my life. I have no direction, no goals to look forward to, my anxiety is always on, my sleeping and eating habits are horrible from it. I hate my job that I work while I’m at uni, and I don’t even think my uni course is for me. But I don’t even know what to do with my life so I’m just doing it. On a deeper level I have past trauma that has not been addressed and I just feel alone even tho I have people around me who love me. I used to self harm a while ago but I don’t anymore but sometimes when my anxiety is really high I feel a lot of self hatred and feel the urge to do it. My mood is also just out of whack, I experience periods of feeling extremely high and then I have a massive crash, but I was just told that that’s just my mood swings from being a female with a period. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to deal with feeling this lost and helpless. I feel like I have no control over my life, I feel like I’ll never amount to anything. I feel like a burden, I feel like I self sabotage a lot, and I get irritable and angry quickly. I just feel like a mess and these feelings have been exacerbated this year particularly in the last few months

memory57 Morning Depression
  • replies: 3

I was diagnosed with depression 10 years ago. Some days are good others not so much. My depression is worse of a morning and I have been really struggling this last week. I have been trying to keep busy to stop me ruminating..

I was diagnosed with depression 10 years ago. Some days are good others not so much. My depression is worse of a morning and I have been really struggling this last week. I have been trying to keep busy to stop me ruminating..

42 lady Recovery not linear or predictable
  • replies: 4

Hi there, it's mental health day so why not seek support here. I have been off work since May due to depression, PTSD. I was in hospital for 7 weeks (had TMS). My employer not satisfied with my doctors responses to 'fitness for work' letter (had to d... View more

Hi there, it's mental health day so why not seek support here. I have been off work since May due to depression, PTSD. I was in hospital for 7 weeks (had TMS). My employer not satisfied with my doctors responses to 'fitness for work' letter (had to disclose my diagnosis) . I now have to go to an independent medical examination, to be evaluated by another psychiatrist (my Dr does not have a crystal ball to tell him when I can work again). I'm really dreading this. I want to resign but feel I need to see it through. Anyone been through this? I hope you are all being kind to yourselves today.

Mr K Overcoming apathy
  • replies: 4

So, the other day, out with some people for dinner and I'm sitting across the table from someone I know, but don't really know. So he comes out with what should be a great conversation starter "So, tell me what you like to do, what are you into?" and... View more

So, the other day, out with some people for dinner and I'm sitting across the table from someone I know, but don't really know. So he comes out with what should be a great conversation starter "So, tell me what you like to do, what are you into?" and BAM, I'm immediately utterly and horribly blank. I've realized that I have absolutely no idea what I like to do, I will tag along with others' plans but I just utterly lack the motivation to make any plans of my own. Things I used to enjoy seem too hard, or just not fun anymore. I can't think of things I would like to do, I can't even decide what I would like to watch on TV, and I literally can't watch TV without someone else watching with me otherwise I lose interest and start the whole "What am I going to do" stuff again. Desperately need some practical and achievable advice to get me out of this before I waste much more life. K.

Jetty75 Moving forward
  • replies: 2

G'day folks Well I've signed up to something and it's the first time I have actually expressed my feeling. Living the good life we were until my beautiful wife is diagnosed with cancer. Years pass , we beat it , it returns and takes her life in 2019 ... View more

G'day folks Well I've signed up to something and it's the first time I have actually expressed my feeling. Living the good life we were until my beautiful wife is diagnosed with cancer. Years pass , we beat it , it returns and takes her life in 2019 3 days after Xmas... from that morning my lights all turned off. Left with mortgage, etc and a beautiful then little 5 yr old daughter. I prayed a few times to be dug next to my wife. Life's hard right, it's just so hard . We had it all ... and it was taken , in the prime of our lives .. I mean how's a then 44 yr old bloke suppose to handle all this, let alone a little 5 yr old. Almost 3 yrs has past and I'm still stuck, I have a sole trader business that suits my life with school Drop off and pick up . But it isn't consistent so I started looking for work. But trying to find something to suit our life is impossible and that pays well so we can live ! Has anyone been through this ? I've just has the worse 2 weeks with zero income. Trying to build it up but my mind just goes blank and I almost give up. I use to have a saying ' I wouldn't wish this on anyone.'. But you know what I do wish it because I've had enough, why did it happen to us. Life was good we f-ing beat it once why would it come back . Why us !!! People keep saying I'm doing a great job with my child , but am I? I don't know if I am. I have no choice apparently but to wake each day and look after her. Why do I am times wish I wasn't here ?

BlueArt I have no idea what to do, I'm struggling
  • replies: 2

I'm 26 years old and really struggling. I've been dealing with depression and anxiety for a long time but lately, it feels like it is winning. I've had some rough things happen with my dad being diagnosed with cancer and losing someone close to the f... View more

I'm 26 years old and really struggling. I've been dealing with depression and anxiety for a long time but lately, it feels like it is winning. I've had some rough things happen with my dad being diagnosed with cancer and losing someone close to the family and I feel like I am falling apart. I'm really struggling at work with the level of work but the business is so small there is no one to ask for help or give tasks to. I feel like I just can't bring myself to do anything. I'm not doing the washing, I'm barely doing my job, I'm not cleaning, I'm not eating properly, and I'm just so exhausted and angry. I guess I just don't really know what to do. I'm very lonely and have been single for a long time. I have one close friend but she has severe social anxiety so we barely spend any time together. Does anyone have any advice? I feel like I am barely functioning anymore and no one to turn to.

Ponder An Autistic Complex & Chronic 50+ Case Dealing with Vulnerability
  • replies: 41

SHEDDING THE LABELS AND DELUSION: School & employment are long gone for me and not something I ever really fitted into. In fact, every aspect of society and all it's competitive ideals have only ever disabled & rejected my family & I. [systemic] A pr... View more

SHEDDING THE LABELS AND DELUSION: School & employment are long gone for me and not something I ever really fitted into. In fact, every aspect of society and all it's competitive ideals have only ever disabled & rejected my family & I. [systemic] A prison within in a prison. That said, I give no acknowledgment to the charges or authority yet find myself bound by the many who give tribute to said controls. It is on this level that much exploitation & suffering feeds back into that convey belt system driven by an economic standard that saps the soul. Be thankful? Know they place? Yet more controls? Or just one's reality that can never be fathomed by those who've never navagatid your depth of pain. Yes, definitely the latter. So it is, that advice rarely leads one to water unless discovered for self. Lest all else just revert to instructions, to repeaters, the above atriuters, leading to a dependency on behaviour modification algorithms based on the previously mentioned economic standard; that saps the soul. From point A to point B living in a complex system that designs complex labels for simple beings who see such things. Yet I am not my labels despite being treated as a disease. Vulnerable; YES. LIVING WITH VULNERABILITY: Isolation & exploitation constantly feeling and attracting negative states and traumatic incidents; involving self and others. Becoming a soft target on all levels, all phases and within all aspects of said prison/existence/living. Automated responses from multiple mental health diagnosis/s & or prescription/s less of an issue when contrasted to societal conditioning driven by fear based ideology with said soul sapping economic narratives that dictate the tellings, repeaters and advisers. Once the cosmetic gloss losses it's appeal, you grow older, become less valuable, less desirable. You become more of a target for those who see all of the above, disgruntled in their failings to achieve what the behavioural mods instruct.

Ausdog Never again
  • replies: 3

I said never again I won't need this site. Well apparently i do. But I feel strong enough to do what's required.

I said never again I won't need this site. Well apparently i do. But I feel strong enough to do what's required.

HopeDream Going through a difficult time
  • replies: 20

Lately, I've been feeling like nothing really matters, like there is no point to keep going. It might sound cliché but it's the best way I can express it. I'm constantly irritable and numb, and everything feels like an effort. I have trouble falling ... View more

Lately, I've been feeling like nothing really matters, like there is no point to keep going. It might sound cliché but it's the best way I can express it. I'm constantly irritable and numb, and everything feels like an effort. I have trouble falling asleep at night even though I'm tired. My interactions with others feel empty and I don't feel like myself. And the worst part is that I don't know who I can talk to about this, because I don't know who will understand. I can't talk to my parents about this, because they'll just tell me to get over myself, that other people have it worse. I don't know if my mum even cares about how I feel, because we barely talk and she acts like I'm a burden whenever I show my emotions. I can't talk to my dad about it because I've tried before and it only ended up in me feeling worse about my situation. And I don't feel like I can seek professional help because I don't even know what I'd say. I just know that I feel frustrated and angry all the time and I don't know why. It's like I have everything I could ever need, but it feels like I have nothing. I miss feeling loved. I miss being able to laugh, like genuinely laugh. I miss feeling things. I miss doing things because I enjoy them, not because they distract me from my thoughts. I miss sleeping peacefully. I miss feeling like a good person to be around. I miss seeing the world in colour. I miss being able to smile, like actually smile. I miss not feeling like a burden on others. And I just wish that one day, I'll be able to actually live, not just survive.

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