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Depression

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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.

Chris_B Are you looking to support someone else with depression? PLEASE READ before posting
  • replies: 1

This forum is for people seeking support for their own mental health issues. If you're posting on behalf of someone else with a mental health issue that you're concerned about, please have a look at this section of our forums: Supporting family and f... View more

This forum is for people seeking support for their own mental health issues. If you're posting on behalf of someone else with a mental health issue that you're concerned about, please have a look at this section of our forums: Supporting family and friends with a mental health condition It's full of threads from people who have family members and friends going through anxiety, depression or other related conditions. Have a read through the threads there, and feel free to take part in the discussions. Below are also some helpful beyondblue resources you might want to look through first as well: Supporting someone Have the conversation

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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QuinnH Please help - long term mental illness and run out of options.
  • replies: 7

Hi I've suffered from Depression, Anxiety & Complex PTSD for a long time. I've been in treatment for the past 4 years. I've taken multiple medications, engaged in a number of talk therapies, had a round of ETC, and continually tried to implement all ... View more

Hi I've suffered from Depression, Anxiety & Complex PTSD for a long time. I've been in treatment for the past 4 years. I've taken multiple medications, engaged in a number of talk therapies, had a round of ETC, and continually tried to implement all the strategies I've been given. I'm 29, eat healthily, exercise at least a few times a week, maintain a full time job, get involved in fundraisers and help at my church, try to socialise with others and invest in my friends and families lives and have an outward, grateful focus. But I'm still struggling every day. Some things have helped somewhat over time, but nothing has had a lasting effect and I'm feeling really desperate and exhausted. I can't focus or think clearly, forget things, feel overwhelmed by simple things and by intrusive thoughts that I find hard to ignore, get anxious and have panic attacks and feel so low and despairing and just wrong. I don't know what to do. I'm trying my best to stay for my family & friends, but something has to change. I wish I was strong enough to just live with these symptoms and thoughts, but I just don't think I am. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could try? Any ideas would be so appreciated.

Mollysah Taking a mental health day/week off work
  • replies: 2

Im a 28yo female with diagnosed bpd. I've been off "sick" for a week and a half now. Usually when I have these down periods I come back after one day feeling a bit better. Sometimes it takes much longer. It has gotten to the point where I'm wondering... View more

Im a 28yo female with diagnosed bpd. I've been off "sick" for a week and a half now. Usually when I have these down periods I come back after one day feeling a bit better. Sometimes it takes much longer. It has gotten to the point where I'm wondering if I will ever return to my permanent part time job in childcare or simply quit. Except it's never that simple, right? If I quit I lose my study (you need to have a work placement) and I'm only 6-12 months from completing my diploma. But the idea of 6 months, even one month mean nothing to me because I can't even get through today. What I'd like to find out is if anyone has successfully managed working while suffering from bpd, and if anyone can not work due to the illness- how did you get government assistance, and access mental health services? Thank you.

Aussiecobber Stay at home dad and life's hard
  • replies: 2

I don't know how to start or truly explain how I feel. I've been a stay at home father for my 2year old little girl and has been a great experience but for the last 2months I have been looking for work and having zero luck. I'm usually a pretty caref... View more

I don't know how to start or truly explain how I feel. I've been a stay at home father for my 2year old little girl and has been a great experience but for the last 2months I have been looking for work and having zero luck. I'm usually a pretty carefree person but I'm really starting to get down. I feel worthless and not wanted, all jobs I apply for are just constantly turning me down. I'm 36, have worked retail management for years, warehousing and other managment roles and do not understand why it is so hard.... I've been out of work looking after and raising my little girl for around 10months and can't help but feel this is having an impact. I'm struggling to make ends meet and really fear for the future and the future of my little one.... Anyone faced this before that might have some ideas on how to Cope?

mlc95 Unable to go to work
  • replies: 1

I can’t seem to crack the anxiety that comes with going to work and being responsible. A little background about me. I’m 23 and have had anxiety/social anxiety/ depression for eleven years, with it’s ups and downs. At the moment it’s very down. My gi... View more

I can’t seem to crack the anxiety that comes with going to work and being responsible. A little background about me. I’m 23 and have had anxiety/social anxiety/ depression for eleven years, with it’s ups and downs. At the moment it’s very down. My girlfriend of five years requires a constant income of money to pay for her student visa, and obviously needs my help, but I always let her down because I can’t bring myself to work. I’ve been on medication for a year now and I’ll still do anything to avoid the feeling that comes with going to work. I dread every single second leading up to going to work, and always end up feeling trapped and hopeless, usually resulting in tears or risking my position at work by calling in sick at the last minute, followed by a day of never ending guilt. I just can’t do it. I feel sick, tired, unable to put on a customer service mask for hours at a time. Sometimes I even hope something bad will happen to me before I have to go to work, like a car accident, or a sudden medical emergency. I’d rather be in the hospital, sick or injured, than go to work. I’m stuck in a place of letting my girlfriend down and being scared of my mental health deteriorating even further. I feel at peace when I know I don’t have to work, when I can deal with my depression in the comfort of my home, but working is really taking it out of me. I haven’t already worked since late July because of my workplace being renovated, but now that’s it’s recently opened back up, I’m due to come in again. If I’m honest, I don’t know if I can handle it in the state I’m in right now. I don’t know what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Asremoteasitgets Proper remote with a 1 year old
  • replies: 5

I live on a cattle station 500kms from the nearest town and have a 1 year old baby. As positive and easy going as I normally am, I find myself unhappy every day or struggling to cope with looking after a small child. I have no energy or motivation fo... View more

I live on a cattle station 500kms from the nearest town and have a 1 year old baby. As positive and easy going as I normally am, I find myself unhappy every day or struggling to cope with looking after a small child. I have no energy or motivation for anything. Now that i Am a mum all I am really able to do in terms of work is take phone calls, do bookwork and cook and clean. My partner is amazing and will turn himself inside out to help in any way he can, but has been having a hard time figuring out how to help me, his job is pretty full on on the cattle station and he is out a lot and I am alone with the baby a lot with nowhere to really go as we are so isolated. On top of this my cognitive ability and memory have seriously slipped in the past year to the point where I appear and feel like a proper dumb airhead while just recently I finished my honours in chemical engineering, am young and at the peak of my health. Does anybody have any ideas for strategies or activities that may help me get some motivation and energy happening again? Thanks in advance.

thatpersoncody No one helps
  • replies: 5

A couple of months ago, I started to feel really crap about depression. I felt alone, disgusting and unwanted. I decided to write a note to my friend explaining my situation. It took me about three days to write and have to guts to go up to him and g... View more

A couple of months ago, I started to feel really crap about depression. I felt alone, disgusting and unwanted. I decided to write a note to my friend explaining my situation. It took me about three days to write and have to guts to go up to him and give it to him. So we were hanging out outside. I approached him, took him to the side and told him to read it and come to me when he was finished. I walked off and regretted the decision right away. Once he was finished he came up to me and told that I was messed up and that I'm always happy so I can't have depression. He continued to deny that I was suffering and brushed it off his shoulder. Everytime I try to talk about it he just ignores it and avoids the subject. It took me another four months to attempt to tell someone else. Now I feel that I can't trust anyone and no one can help or comfort me. Does anyone have any advice or any sort of help for my situation?

o0o0o depressive episodes
  • replies: 1

Recently I have seen a psychologist to help we work on issues relating to adhd and anxiety. I've always had some level of depression but I haven't been comfortable enough to really discuss that with my psychologist yet. Recently I had an intense peri... View more

Recently I have seen a psychologist to help we work on issues relating to adhd and anxiety. I've always had some level of depression but I haven't been comfortable enough to really discuss that with my psychologist yet. Recently I had an intense period of depression which lasted 3-4 days where my mind was racing more than usual, i had some intense depressive thoughts and pretty much stayed in bed the entire time. I didn't really eat much and didn't shower during that time. Something similar happened a few months ago. But instead of staying in bed I was working fifo and there was a few times I burst into tears unprovoked. There was few times when I was working fifo where I felt that I had more energy than normal and was more productive. It was normally at the beginning of the day and I put it down to taking my adhd meds on an empty stomach or being on the wrong dose. Are these signs of BPD or bipolar, and how do I talk to my psychologist about them? I made an appointment to see my psychologist earlier than planned during my recent depressive episode, and I feel like that was the wrong thing to do and that he will think that I over-reacted or am attention seeking. I have never self harmed or attempted to take my own life, but I have had suicidal thoughts that I knew I wouldn't act on. I'm in my mid-20s.

Chrissy_B Quit Smoking after 25 years - Major Depression
  • replies: 1

I've been a mild depression sufferer most of my adult life. Back in early June, I quit smoking after 25 years of smoking. After a few odd weeks, my overall health and feeling of well-being was transformed - I felt amazing; for the first time in years... View more

I've been a mild depression sufferer most of my adult life. Back in early June, I quit smoking after 25 years of smoking. After a few odd weeks, my overall health and feeling of well-being was transformed - I felt amazing; for the first time in years I could breathe again, smell things, took simply pleasures in just sitting relaxing. The anxiety I now recognised as constantly hanging out for the next cigarrette was totally gone. I was so excited by how well I felt that I went to see my GP and suggested that going off the anti-depressants would be realistic for the first time in years, given more time. I'd also quit drinking alcohol on weekends and just felt a million bucks. I was still 'vaping' with nicotine through July, and then late July got rid of the nicotine altogether. THEN, it started. I yo-yo'd like crazy, going from overjoyed one day to miserable the next. I'd flip on a dime - I felt like my head was totally fogged up, then I'd take a walk to get lunch and an hour later feel amazing. This has been going on right through to now (Sept). I have been under stress at work, so it has been hard to interpret what has been happening, I was a bit confounded as to whether how I felt was stress related, nicotine withdrawal or both. Has anyone else who has quit smoking after being a smoker for a LONG time gone through this? I don't know if I'm coming or going. I want to return to the elation I felt when I first quit the cigarettes.. I was still vaping and all this back-sliding seemed to coincide with when I stopped with the nicotine/vaping altogether. I would have thought that nearly two months and I should be totally free of nictotine's grip !!!!

BeyondChris Drinking my feelings away - I can't cope
  • replies: 8

Hey all. It's my first post here so here we go... So this year has been rough in terms of my depression and anxiety. I've been through a lot of heart-ache, betrayal by one of my closest friends (turned out she was using and manipulating me for her ow... View more

Hey all. It's my first post here so here we go... So this year has been rough in terms of my depression and anxiety. I've been through a lot of heart-ache, betrayal by one of my closest friends (turned out she was using and manipulating me for her own purposes...she treated me like shit and like I was beneath her) and one of the relationships I got into with a guy - ended up with me experiencing something I thought would never happen to me... let's just say there was a slight lack of consent.. (it's too much to write it here, I can't say it sorry). So I have realised that I use alcohol to cope with my feelings and I don't know how to cope with healthier options. I drink to feel good.. at least for awhile. I find it so hard to process things, I dont know how. I recently took a hardcore drug to help me feel good and I never thought I would reach this point. How do you deal with your feelings? I've tried - exercise, I have some amazing friends and a good family.. I don't know what to do.

TRC92 feeling lost
  • replies: 1

HI I have had depression since my teenage years, trialing many different CBT and medications. i am 26 now and self manage my depression most of the time as i react with most medications. when i was 17 i was in a relationship with someone who i ended ... View more

HI I have had depression since my teenage years, trialing many different CBT and medications. i am 26 now and self manage my depression most of the time as i react with most medications. when i was 17 i was in a relationship with someone who i ended up getting married to. i had a not so good childhood and i seemed to have had followed that abuse with my partner. we were together for 6 years in which during that time i lost my identity. we split 3 years ago and during the time of it, it was very traumatic and emotionally abusive, to the point now where my short term memory is terrible compared to what is used to be and i forget the simplest things and sometimes even what i am doing when i am in the middle of a task. financially it has been horrible to but most of that has subsided. that is a brief over view of my history. last week i had a really bad episode, probably the worst i have had in a few months and i am struggling to get out. its like i am here but it doesnt feel that everything around me is real, and my mood changes dramatically with the smallest thing. i just feel so tired and i dont want to go back to a therapist or take medications as i dont find these helpful to me. i almost feel like the inside wants to just shut down. physically i feel ok but the rest of me doesnt. my spirit feels tired. any suggestions as to what people try to help themselves get better