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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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Obey I think I have emotional numbness
  • replies: 3

Hi, i feel like all this year my emotions have disappeared and I am not my normal self. i am not sure if it is just COVID and not seeing my friends or anyone I love or if it is something that has been manifesting for a while. any help is appreciated

Hi, i feel like all this year my emotions have disappeared and I am not my normal self. i am not sure if it is just COVID and not seeing my friends or anyone I love or if it is something that has been manifesting for a while. any help is appreciated

debselicious What helped you through depression ?
  • replies: 1

Hi. Im a lifelong sufferer of depression, and to date have not found much outside of medication that has helped. I’m interested in activities and recreation that people find helpful for their depression. Any suggestions welcome :).

Hi. Im a lifelong sufferer of depression, and to date have not found much outside of medication that has helped. I’m interested in activities and recreation that people find helpful for their depression. Any suggestions welcome :).

WolvesHaveNoKings Realised tonight - there is no point in trying.
  • replies: 3

I don't really know what I'm even doing here. I don't think I have depression. Tonight a physical health issue has gotten worse after months of improving and it hit me that everything I have strived to improve over the past 10 years has gotten me abs... View more

I don't really know what I'm even doing here. I don't think I have depression. Tonight a physical health issue has gotten worse after months of improving and it hit me that everything I have strived to improve over the past 10 years has gotten me absolutely nowhere and has been completely pointless. I'm 30, I live alone in community housing, I clean schools at night, I have no kids or family. My mum died 7 years ago and my dad wants to spend all his time with his awful girlfriend. I'm poor with no good career prospects, I have a frustrating health issue and I see no point in trying to improve my life anymore. 10 years of failure is enough for me. What has hurt me so much tonight is that (Christian theme ahead) through all of these years I've tried to keep my spirits up by saying that at least I have God to love and talk to. Tonight I've realised I don't. I've been fooling myself, too afraid to admit I really do have nothing. God doesn't love me, he doesn't help, guide or encourage me. I don't feel his love or support. I doubt he even knows I exist. Maybe he doesn't exist himself. I've let go of the lie that was keeping me going. Now I see I have no real reason to live for any happiness. There is no point, there is no purpose, there is no reason. From now on I live only for the sake of the two cats beside me.

Unsureofdisplayname Is it ok to not want to participate in life any more?
  • replies: 3

Asking this question in a search engine bought me to this website. I dont think I am overly depressed at all and I dont mean this question in a suicidal way. What I mean by this is I dont wish to participate in society any more but I am quite happy t... View more

Asking this question in a search engine bought me to this website. I dont think I am overly depressed at all and I dont mean this question in a suicidal way. What I mean by this is I dont wish to participate in society any more but I am quite happy to not be around people, to not interact and I am comfortable in my own company. The issue I am debating with myself about is financials and fairness. To not participate in society means not having a job or career and having to rely on another person to support me. Which I have. I realise not everybody is in this position and I am worrying if this is going to bring bad karma to me? A little more about my reasons...I am not good around people. I give off a desperate aura begging to be loved. Or at least i used to. I got taken advantage of over and over throughout the years because I was weak and pathetic and forgiving. I'm not a likeable person. I suffer on and off with different levels of anxiety and depression and I cannot fake being normal. I've not managed to hold down any job for a long amount of time and often blank out under stress. I dont trust people. I seem to attract people like my abusive parent and although i understand the psychology of why, It changes nothing. I still attract them. I'm not close to any family member and past attempts have left me broken. I do have one person who isn't exactly supportive of my decision but allows me to do so. This is what I am struggling with. Relying on one person to take care of me when i am physically able to hold down a job and force myself to interact regardless of how painful and stressful any and every interaction is. Am I selfish choosing this? Will I receive bad karma for living this way? I dont feel like I have any more attempts in me to live a relatively normal life but I dread there might be a day where I am forced to either do that or ask the government to help me which I would loathe to do.

adamc Hello
  • replies: 100

Hello, I'm a 36-year old man and have suffered depression for many years. I was bullied constantly in high school and have always preferred to keep things to myself.

Hello, I'm a 36-year old man and have suffered depression for many years. I was bullied constantly in high school and have always preferred to keep things to myself.

Alaire Constantly crying over the smallest things
  • replies: 4

Hey there, I have a problem where I cry over small things I know aren't normal to cry about. For example, today my parents told me they would make time to teach me how to drive. They said that at around 1PM we would go out and have a little drive aro... View more

Hey there, I have a problem where I cry over small things I know aren't normal to cry about. For example, today my parents told me they would make time to teach me how to drive. They said that at around 1PM we would go out and have a little drive around. I expected them to cancel on me and they did which resulted in me crying and over thinking about all the times they've disappointed me when it comes to spending quality time with me. It's not just that though, there are other even stupider reasons I cry and when I DO cry it's literally heart wrenching sobs that I try to conceal when I'm in my room so no one hears me. I also have absolutely no motivation to do anything, I wont do anything unless someone is there with me because otherwise I just wont feel like doing it. I get very upset each time someone makes a mean comment (especially when I'm close with the person that makes said comments) and again sneak off to my room to *suprise* cry about it. I never talk about this to anyone because I know they won't take it seriously. I don't know what's wrong with me and I feel so confused and lost. This has been happening for at least 2 years but I haven't thought much about it until recently because it has become a daily thing now. I just want to feel like myself again. Thank you so much for any help, I appreciate it a lot.

Tyler_p Feel like a robot
  • replies: 2

Not too sure if this belongs in the depression forum, I’ll try and make the back story brief. For 19 years I never experienced anxiety or anything like that, but a year ago my ex left me and it shattered me and put me in an awful constantly anxious a... View more

Not too sure if this belongs in the depression forum, I’ll try and make the back story brief. For 19 years I never experienced anxiety or anything like that, but a year ago my ex left me and it shattered me and put me in an awful constantly anxious and suicidal state. Since then I have found a new girlfriend and she is wonderful, we tend to fight a bit but I really care for this girl and she is one of the few things that make me feel truly happy. Problem is i have found that the previous break up has caused anxiety and insecurity and easy sadness to linger around me. Throughout my time with my girlfriend, any sort of fight and my own overthinking would trigger all these, but I’ve been doing really well at working on them and toning them down and being more calm. 3 days ago my girlfriend and I had a big fight (the fault was on my end as I hurt her feelings) and it’s at the point where she is on the verge of leaving me. My problem is that I felt very neutral on the matter, as if I couldn’t comprehend I was about to be left. We tried talking and I was a complete robot, I couldn’t even try and show sad emotion or show that I cared for her. I know exactly how I feel about my gf and the situation and I know about all the emotions I have for her, but I can’t feel them at this point of time, I’m blocked from sadness, I don’t feel the screaming anxiety and pain I know I should feel. Before people say it, it’s not that I don’t care for this girl cause I truly do, but I can’t show for it at all right now. I can feel happiness right now, but it’s mostly just neutral, nothing really below that. Has anyone experienced this and have any idea on the matter and how I can fix it? As much as I don’t want to feel right now, I need to be able to show emotion again. I don’t want to just be a robot towards the one I love

HayLee_ Just wanted to let it out
  • replies: 3

I think a lot of what I am feeling now and the state I am in, has been caused due to work related stress. My department is the most undervalued out of all departments in the organisation yet the most knowledgeable and busiest. Even though I have been... View more

I think a lot of what I am feeling now and the state I am in, has been caused due to work related stress. My department is the most undervalued out of all departments in the organisation yet the most knowledgeable and busiest. Even though I have been told I am lucky to have a job during this tough time, I question myself if that indeed true when I find myself in current state- wanting to be alone and wanting to cut everybody that’s close to me off but in fact, I want them to help me in whatever way possible to make me feel better. Anyway I just wanted to let it all out here because I don’t know if I could even share these feelings to my closer circle of people. I cannot stand them saying everything is going to be okay when I don’t see any helpful suggestions, if any from them. I have appreciated their kind words and being caring but now, it only triggers me to feel... kind of upset. Maybe they don’t know how to help me other than just telling me they are there to help if I ever needed but that’s what I hate about.. My friends and my boyfriend keeps telling me to reach out if I need help but I don’t see the points. They haven’t been in my shoe so they cannot understand what I am going through and their positivity bothers me. I am being very bitter and passive aggressive and my gp didn’t take this seriously when I last visited her asking for advice early this week. Inside my head, there are too many thoughts just fighting each other. The noises in my head are so noisy to the point I am getting physically symptoms like severe earache and headache. People say is it just a job but I take my career very seriously and not being able to control things in the business to make necessary changes over time broke me. My colleague and I both cried out of anger and frustration and every little task can now trigger me to get worked up and cry in a second. I need help but dont know what could help me.

Tiger_Lilly Stuck
  • replies: 11

Hi, I have been suffering from depression and anxiety for the last 20 years. I have seen psychiatrists during this time and have been on medication on and off as well. I found the medication was okay but then I would gain weight which then just added... View more

Hi, I have been suffering from depression and anxiety for the last 20 years. I have seen psychiatrists during this time and have been on medication on and off as well. I found the medication was okay but then I would gain weight which then just added to my problem and made things worse so felt that while one thing may have been getting better, then I another problem would replace it being the weight gain. The last psychiatrist I saw was a few years ago and she retired and so that was that. I thought I would try to get better myself but for the last two years it is just getting worse and I just feel so alone now. I live by myself. I don't really have anyone to talk to, most of my friends over time have gotten married and were too busy and then I found that it was hard to keep close friends when single as I always felt left out and then eventually I found it hard to go out and then they finally disappeared. My family don't really get it, they say they do but they are never there when I need to talk, I find it hard to talk to them about it, my siblings do not really support me, I find that as they're lives are going good, they are too busy to notice that I am struggling so I keep it all to myself. I am just so lost and feel very isolated and just find the people around me are just not good people to talk to. They will either say that may be I should go on medication or get out more but it is so difficult to go out when you're alone and have no one to rely on for that. Sometimes I wish I could just go into another world and start over again which I know sounds weird but I just have lost faith and trust in people I don't even feel I can trust anyone to talk about this without them mentioning it to someone else. I just really feel so stuck.

Bluemotho419 Bipolar rollercoaster
  • replies: 4

Hi all I'm new here and not really sure how this goes or where to start but there's so much to get off my chest so here goes firstly I'm 27yo single mother was diagnosed with depression then later on bipolar and BPD last year after having a very publ... View more

Hi all I'm new here and not really sure how this goes or where to start but there's so much to get off my chest so here goes firstly I'm 27yo single mother was diagnosed with depression then later on bipolar and BPD last year after having a very public episode and being hospitalized I ended up moving back to my parents along with my kids to get ontop but I find it really gets me down im such a burden and such a failure to my parents and my kids and this rollercoaster just never stops I go when I was younger I did drugs since having my kids I just smoke heavily and gamble ohhhh I gamble so badly it's getting out of control round and round this rollercoaster everytime I work so hard to get ahead I always stuff it up and end up right back where U started I feel so alone and so depressed I just don't see a future and I eff everything up every chance I have I blow it and I hate myself so much for being this way I hate that I can't just get over it and do better I love my kids so much and there the only reason I'm still going but then at the same time I feel like I'm such an absent mother and a terrible roll modle sometimes I really feel like everyone would be better off without me I don't need any sympathy im just venting really wondering if there is anyone else like me because I feel like an alien

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