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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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Taylah_P Opening up...about body image
  • replies: 4

I have major body image issues, when I was a child I was bullied for being over weight, and for things such as hairy legs etc. My own mother use to bully me into trying to loose weight by saying things like you’ll become the size of a house and my si... View more

I have major body image issues, when I was a child I was bullied for being over weight, and for things such as hairy legs etc. My own mother use to bully me into trying to loose weight by saying things like you’ll become the size of a house and my siblings would call me a pig or fat. I hate my body because of my past and I don’t know what to do, I don’t like talking to others about it because everyone has plenty of other issues that are way more important, but sometimes I feel like no one care about how I feel but I’m just a burden eater. If I bring it up it’s just ignored, I listen to everyone else’s problems but I struggle to open up about mine. I hate it and sometimes it’s hard to stay positive, I wish people didn’t have to go through stuff like this it’s just crap. I see my own mothers Facebook covered in photos of my siblings but there lacks plenty photos of me and I’m ashamed of who I am, i don’t feel like I worth finding love or being happy.

April30 How do you deal with/let the pain out?
  • replies: 12

Hi, I don't really know what to do.. Currently I'm just feeling so stressed out, depressed and completely heartbroken. I wish I could just not feel anymore. I don't know how to deal with all the emotional pain inside me, I feel like I'm drowning it i... View more

Hi, I don't really know what to do.. Currently I'm just feeling so stressed out, depressed and completely heartbroken. I wish I could just not feel anymore. I don't know how to deal with all the emotional pain inside me, I feel like I'm drowning it it cause its all just building up and getting worse and worse cause I don't know how to let it out/go..So I just try avoid thinking and all I do is try and distract myself constantly. But it's a rubbish way to live.. And I've heard like that avoiding emotions/pain just makes them worse and that you need to like just acknowledge and 'sit' with them and deal with them. But how do you physically actually do that cause I have no idea how or what the even means. Cause sitting there acknowledging how heartbroken I feel doesn't help me..... Please if someone has some advice how to do this tell me haha..

Mez79 Nothing to look forward to.
  • replies: 3

Don't know where to turn, I just need to vent maybe more than anything or someone to hear me out. I just feel like I've got nothing left to look forward to. The main reasoning to this feeling is that I'm a 40yr old single woman never got to date anyo... View more

Don't know where to turn, I just need to vent maybe more than anything or someone to hear me out. I just feel like I've got nothing left to look forward to. The main reasoning to this feeling is that I'm a 40yr old single woman never got to date anyone, never had kids & now there's a prospect that I'll lose my uterus as well. I never really wanted a great deal, just someone to settle with and start a family and I can't even achieve that! It's not like anyone would want me at this age and broken. From when I was 18 I tried to do like so many suggested, changed jobs, kept studying, try and find a hobby.....23 years later and still the same status quo only worse possibly can't even have a kid. A couple of years back started accepting I'd be single for good so I joined a gym. It started off great made new friends started doing things with them, I even ended up being a zumba instructor it finally looked like I had something to look forward to. Now these past 8 months everything just seems to be crashing around me. Last year I practically had a meltdown, which resulted in me arguing with a co worker. My workload and stress levels got so high that I had to relinquish some of my responsibilities, which helped when starting back at the start of the year but somehow I feel like a failure. And while this was all happening my aging parents started to become me dependent of me. It was fine I guess I still had zumba and the gym. Then covid hit!! During then covid hit!!! No gym buddies no zumba:-( which was ok cause it was lockdown. During this time I chose to isolate for the sake of my parents while the others still kept doing activities together. As restrictions eased I went back to the gym owner and said I was happy to start zumba instructing again. I've been told he's not going to put it on just yet (I don't think he will ever cause there's another class in its place that I can't see being dropped). So there goes another sense of failure. In the meantime all the friends I've made seemed to have lost touch with me and don't involve me anymore. I try to offer lunch or walking dates but they always seem to have something else on. It just feels like I've got nothing else fun to do anymore. Why is it that the fun stuff is always the first to go in any situation. Sorry I know this is long & don't expect anyone to read it let alone reply. Just needed somwhere to write down 8 months worth of feelings:-(.

Alannah57 Bipolar symptoms confusion
  • replies: 2

Hi, I’ve been experiencing dramatic mood swings and anxious/bizarre behaviour for years alongside severe depression, and I’m seeing a psychiatrist soon.l I’m just looking to ask if anyone here has bipolar 2 disorder? Do you know if changed sleep and ... View more

Hi, I’ve been experiencing dramatic mood swings and anxious/bizarre behaviour for years alongside severe depression, and I’m seeing a psychiatrist soon.l I’m just looking to ask if anyone here has bipolar 2 disorder? Do you know if changed sleep and increased activity are prerequisites for the disorder? I’ve had some sleep changes in the past, with struggling to fall asleep. But, I don’t have hugely increased energy, and definitely can’t stay up all night. I think that I match a lot of symptoms of bipolar hypomania: I definitely get extremely restless and move from activity to activity without trying to concentrate/talk to myself out loud excessively; I reach out to people/post more in social media; I jump from feelings of interest and excitement to deep depression over the space of a few hours. I had a delusional period when I was 14. I even once woke up really early in the morning (3am!) and picked up litter in the streets a while back over a week, while talking to myself incessantly. Like, you can see why I’d feel like I may match some of the symptoms of hypomania? I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts, and I’m also wishing you all a lovely day I also wanted to add that my depression is all over the place: I’ll have days and weeks of classic depression; then I’ll have weeks of my moods shifting over hours from extreme lows to being giddy and excited. I never seem to be able to just feel neutral: I’m always mildly depressed, or struggling to concentrate and feeling excited.

ScarlettR Sleeping at irregular hours and dealing with very intense sadness
  • replies: 3

Hello all, Basically since early May, my sleep pattern has been out of whack. I am awake during the night till about 9am then sleep till about 5pm, and the cycle continues. I think this resulted from watching a scary movie late at night (which is not... View more

Hello all, Basically since early May, my sleep pattern has been out of whack. I am awake during the night till about 9am then sleep till about 5pm, and the cycle continues. I think this resulted from watching a scary movie late at night (which is not something I normally do as I don't like scary movies) and maybe the experience messed up my sleep pattern. Add to the fact I am on meds for paranoid schizophrenia and depression, and it's not a happy situation. It is now July and I am still having irregular sleeping. Recently, I tried to keep awake till about 5pm as the plan is to sleep to about 6am and that will restart my sleep pattern. Hasn't happened yet but I'm working on it. Recently as a result of bad sleeping cycles, I have been feeling very sad and teary for no reason. On the outside, I appear normal and well-adjusted but I guess my family/ home situation is unusual. I am a 32 year old single female who lives with my 70/71 year old parents and 30 year old autistic sister. I have no issues with mum, but my dad has been continually angry and irritable since 2013, for reasons I can't explain. Also my sister tends to be snappy (due to her condition) and she also likes to take it out on me, as if I'm to blame for her disability. I know it's unusual for an adult to live with her parents, but I have no other relatives or friends or support where I can secure my own place, and also because I am family-less and friendless, I don't want to risk living on my own and being mentally sick, so I decide to stay with family - which I think is a common arrangement these days among people. I think the cause of my sadness was in 2012, when my parents wanted to move into a city apartment, and because they don't allow pets, they rehomed our two cats. I was against it from the start, and insisted we stay living in a house so pets are allowed. But my parents were stubborn and had them rehomed anyway, saying "it's my problem" if I don't like it. Still, I think to this day, my parents secretly regret rehoming them, because it took out a significant part of the family. I am not suicidal or overwhelmingly hopeless, but I am just upset over my irregular sleep pattern and sadness. I just feel less than human and like I don't deserve to be happy or live a normal life (as enforced by my always-angry dad). I am considering taking anti-anxiety meds on top of my usual anti-psychotic meds and anti-depressants.

Jaime88 I'm so flat.
  • replies: 4

I've never felt so flat in my life, I have depression and anxiety, I've been through so much the last year it feels like it never ends, first August 2019 my brother went to jail which shocked us all, sexual assault, he now has over 60 charges when he... View more

I've never felt so flat in my life, I have depression and anxiety, I've been through so much the last year it feels like it never ends, first August 2019 my brother went to jail which shocked us all, sexual assault, he now has over 60 charges when he first went to jail I was made to do everything, organise solicitors, visits, make the calls to find out why he was in jail, I felt like I was his mother because my mum is an alcoholic and just drank and drank and made me do everything, I went into a deep depression and nearly lost myself and my family, then the house we were living at for 8 years we got evicted because the owner wanted to knock the house down, so of course I had to look for a house for myself and husband and our 4 children with absolutely no money to move because it was brought on us so sudden, we finally got a house after 2 months, then i thought things could only get better from here, wrong, I had a cancer scare and we thought I had endometrial cancer, I had all the symptoms had to have ultrasounds they all come back bad, then my pap smear come back HPV positive another scare, I had to get into the hospital within 2 weeks for a biopsy, a month goes by and still no appointment, so my doctor chases it up as to why it's taking so long, I finally got an appointment, had the biopsy and had to wait 9 days for the results , results come back within 3 days. Thank God it wasn't cancer , but now I have to have surgery ( Endometrial ablation). I booked in for that 2 weeks ago so now on the wait list, then I got a phone call from my child's school that my daughter had been self-harming, that knocked me for 6 then on Saturday 4th July, my nan passed away. It just feels like it's one thing after another and I'm not getting a break. I can't seem to show any emotion , can't laugh , can't cry. I'm just flat, I'm not sleeping properly even though I'm constantly tired. I don't want to leave my house and when I think of it, my heart just pounds out of my chest. Does anyone have any advice on how to move forward from all of this.

Bofeng I need some advice
  • replies: 7

Hello everyone. Because of Covid-19, I have been working from home for 4 months. The first 2 months were really good, but recently I feel less movitated than usual. I have been told that we change into work from home permanently， at least this year w... View more

Hello everyone. Because of Covid-19, I have been working from home for 4 months. The first 2 months were really good, but recently I feel less movitated than usual. I have been told that we change into work from home permanently， at least this year we will not go back to office. I live alone, I feel extremely lonely recently. I have some social activities on weekend, but on working days, it is really hard to face myself that much. I sleep on time, do exercise everyday, eat fresh vegetables and fruits every meal, learning a new language, writing in my first language and I am doing a great job, watch a lot of movies, and do reading regularly.But this work from home thing is too long, I feel suffocated more as time goes by. I do not what to do. How to get used to this mode? I feel vulnerable and lonely my friends.

hedobesadtho Talking to parents about depression
  • replies: 4

Hello, I've never posted here before and don't really know how to start but I'm a 20yo male and have been experiencing depressive symptoms for years. I've been to headspace a couple of times but it ended up falling through (psych quit), but finally w... View more

Hello, I've never posted here before and don't really know how to start but I'm a 20yo male and have been experiencing depressive symptoms for years. I've been to headspace a couple of times but it ended up falling through (psych quit), but finally went to a GP referred psychologist on Monday. I just feel really weak and stupid at this point, I have a couple of friends I've talked to about mental health but not in person due to the coronavirus lockdown. I want to tell my mum (live with mother and stepdad) that I think I'm depressed, but I have no clue how to go about it. I've always been quite successful academically, am in 3rd year uni, but for ages have had psych said I had a lot of depressive symptoms. Unfortunately I'm really good at hiding my emotions, and I love my mum but haven't really had any conversations relating to deep important stuff in recent years, so I have no idea how to start. I've also been abusing drugs which makes it a lot harder to talk to my parents as it's not something im proud of but I don't want my mum to be disappointed in me. I just don't want to feel like I'm alone even though I live in my house with my family, does anyone have any tips for how to talk to her about it? It's also hard because I have a little brother and wouldn't want to talk to her about it in front of him, and he's awake until about 8pm everyday. Thanks, I hope anyone who reads this has a great day : )

Arizona_Ranger38 Overwhelmed rn
  • replies: 2

So much happening in the past 5 weeks and I feel like multiple times I'm at my breaking point, so many things going on idk where to start and having an INFJ Personality is not making this easier as i am finding it either hard to express to people how... View more

So much happening in the past 5 weeks and I feel like multiple times I'm at my breaking point, so many things going on idk where to start and having an INFJ Personality is not making this easier as i am finding it either hard to express to people how i am feeling and when i can no one except one person can even begin to understand how im feeling or what im talking about. already Talked to Consoler a few times last few weeks and i have tried to follow "strategies" of dealing with all this Depression and stress but nothing is working for me.

fred2018 faking things
  • replies: 2

Whos taken the fake it to you make it approach with depression? I have probably had an episode since 2018, tried a treatment in hospital last December didn't work, found out it could be because my depression has bipolar elements and people like mysel... View more

Whos taken the fake it to you make it approach with depression? I have probably had an episode since 2018, tried a treatment in hospital last December didn't work, found out it could be because my depression has bipolar elements and people like myself don't respond aswell to it. So I am in a limbo sort of state, I sort of know that I am not right, but going the route of getting back into working , despite this, which I find kinda funny as I feel semi functional. I am lucky to have another treatment on the horizon if need be, and that proves to be helpful to many people. I have friends, family but things like making dinner sometimes seem like a bigger chore then they need to be (thats just one example at times like this). I took medication the other night to quell the irritability and I didn't crack it at my family when I felt I might, thank you medication. Anyways cheers