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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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girl_interrupted Stuck
  • replies: 9

My life would appear to be fairly simple. Live alone, have two pets, work full time, study part time. Have the same ups and downs as most people. But I struggle daily with the mood swings, the feelings of hopelessness and despair, the self-loathing. ... View more

My life would appear to be fairly simple. Live alone, have two pets, work full time, study part time. Have the same ups and downs as most people. But I struggle daily with the mood swings, the feelings of hopelessness and despair, the self-loathing. I feel like the world around me has moved forward and I'm still sitting in this time warp wondering what the hell happened. I used to have close friends and a social life. But I ruined all that. Now all I look forward to is Netflix and study to keep my mind busy. Days off are the worst. I get so morbidly depressed and I have no motivation to do anything. It's a massive challenge just to get out of bed. I've become so bitter and hateful of everything. I hate seeing happy couples, knowing this will never be me. I have no one. I often wonder if it's just my personality and I should stop trying to fight it. Maybe I'm not meant to try and fit in. But my job requires it. Society demands it. I'm so socially withdrawn I am too scared to join a club and when I have tried in the past, I end up dropping out for fear of being judged. I hate people staring at me and judging me. I blush a lot, which is both humiliating and counter-productive, an ongoing cycle. I work in a very busy environment with lots of people. They all judge me and mock me. I have made no friends because of my anger outbursts and mood swings and my introverted personality. I just don't gel with people and am always lost for words and awkward. Despite making consistent efforts to improve, I can't change how people feel about me. I shouldn't care, but it's a team-based environment and I need positive feedback to progress thru my career. Being the outsider is neither productive nor helpful for anyone. Sometimes I think I should give everything up, start over. This is probably the most boring invalid post. That's who I am now. Boring. Invalid. Lifeless. Stuck.

Pennypopsicle Hello. New here. Really struggling with postnatal depression 😥
  • replies: 5

Hello. I am a mum to two beautiful children. prior to my second child i was a very calm loving parent.i had the most beautiful bond with my son who is now nearing 4. i didnt often yell. never swore infront of him (i rarely swore in general) and used ... View more

Hello. I am a mum to two beautiful children. prior to my second child i was a very calm loving parent.i had the most beautiful bond with my son who is now nearing 4. i didnt often yell. never swore infront of him (i rarely swore in general) and used to love spending quality time with him. i was very healthy and loved my regular gym sessions and running. then my hubby and i had the wonderful news we were expecting another child. once she was born it became so hard . she was such a difficult baby. not happy . cried all the time. full blown screaming cry. every night from 6pm-11pm she would non stop scream the house down until she was 4 months old. she would still then cry but i was able to actually settle her (breastfeeding) although it would still take her forever to go to sleep. she would not be without me either.she would not and still will not settle for anyone else or she screams to the point of choking. i can not leave her once shes asleep because she wakes up screaming at the top of her lungs. she is so attached to me which in one way is nice but i cannot catch a break day or night. it literally was not until 5 months old that during the day i could put her down ..on the floor, in a baby swing,rocker etc for just two minutes maximum before her cry would start and quickly escalate to screaming.now at 11 months although shes not as bad as she was she is still super dooper clingy with me. her cry now makes me anxious.i have become anxious. i cry all the time. yell at my kids. sometimes over nothing. sometimes full blown yelling which i should not do. theres times my son has done something so trivial and i take my stress and anger out on him by yelling and i hate myself for it. this is not me and i want to be myself again ive never been so negative in my life. my poor hubby cops it from me too and honestly i dont know why he stays with me. i want to be me again. i have gained 15-20kgs since having my daughter ontop of baby weight because we were housebound for the first 5 months (her dramatic cry would make me anxious when it shouldnt have) and now i still cant have an hour to myself to go to gym because no one can calm her down.not even her own dad.every night i have to retire to bed with her because she wont sleep without me right beside her. im drained.im getting worse.but i feel so anxious and scared to talk to a doctor about it.stupid i know!! i really need to because im not parenting like i used to. this mental thing is making me into a monster

V17 Black Dog.
  • replies: 9

Hi guys, I had a breakthrough moment just now that I'd like to share with you; sitting on my swing under the shade of my almond tree. You see, I've never really conformed to many things. Actually, it's more of a battle to try and conform - I see thin... View more

Hi guys, I had a breakthrough moment just now that I'd like to share with you; sitting on my swing under the shade of my almond tree. You see, I've never really conformed to many things. Actually, it's more of a battle to try and conform - I see things differently. I have never really fit or gelled with a majority of social circles (probably all of them, truth be told) - forever the outsider looking in: Why then, is it so difficult for me to follow the same pathway of thinking that most people do, especially now with the dark times I've had/am fighting to overcome? So I reflected on that question.. I came up with this.. Until recently, I had thought that there were only two types of mental illness that affected me; depression and anxiety. So when I have read posts expounding on and pin pointing mental illness; major depression, bipolar disorder, cyclothymic and dysthymic disorders, and BPD (borderline personality disorder), social anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) - it would trigger an emotive reaction. Acceptance has been a big issue with me from the onset. I couldn't get my head around the clinical terms. I understand the reasoning behind why they are used and I understand some people take comfort in that. I don't want to. So in light of this, I am re-discovering not only who I am, but WHY I am who I am. Essentially, I don't do what most people do, so I asked myself; why label myself with clinical names? I'm going to fight it anyways so I asked myself 3 questions: What way or thinking path can I take on board that will allow me to accept what I have? How can I cope with having it? and how can I overcome it? "Avoiding suicidal thoughts or intent", is a thread in here and Tony WK made reference to 'The Black Dog'; never heard of it before so I researched it. The penny dropped. At this point in my journey animals are my solace; they help me with being mindful; they help calm me - one of them is my dog. I made the correlation. Being labeled in clinical terms distress me - I can't afford to be stressed right now. I can identify with animals; the black dog, whilst a metaphor for what I suffer - is still an animal. So, black dog it is. Acceptance. This was big for me. When I now perceive the black dog lurking near me, trying to snap at my heels; I'm going to tell myself -it's just a dog. I refuse to give it the power to become something greater than what it is and I don't care what it takes; I'll make the bastard heel. V.

QueenOfSpades Erratic moods and compulsive thoughts
  • replies: 2

Hey guys. Does anyone else experience major mood swings, like sometimes so aggressive they have to be acted out in forms of breaking things and screaming, or completely breaking apart and crying uncontrollably, and then sometimes the thoughts and fee... View more

Hey guys. Does anyone else experience major mood swings, like sometimes so aggressive they have to be acted out in forms of breaking things and screaming, or completely breaking apart and crying uncontrollably, and then sometimes the thoughts and feelings alone are so overwhelming you just sit there and completely shut down staring blankly almost like you're stuck in a trance and all you can think and feel are these major emotions (negative ones) taking over your whole body and make you wonder why you exist and how you even do? I have suffered with depression and anxiety for what has been diagnosed, 7 years, though it surely backtracks further. I am medicated and see my doctor regularly though I can't stand counselling or talking therapies. I feel like I can't even explain it unless I'm writing it down, otherwise it's just mumbled words or sentences that don't make sense even to myself when they are spoken. and then some days are completely fine and you feel genuinely happy and confident in yourself who you are and what you have gone through along with what you want to achieve in life and work productively to do that until the next day when you may explode in a rage or fall in a crying heap just because you woke up in the morning or something completely tiny went not as planned I'm not sure what steps to take anymore, I just try to remain strong and I try to hold on to that happy carefree person I feel slip away at any given moment. It feels out of body, like I can see my own exists me and every behaviour from some upward point of view like it isn't even really me. Have my issues developed into something more? It's only been the last year or so that I have noticed these things and they increase and decrease dramatically and interfere with my life in almost every way possible. Work. Family. Relationship. Friendships. Everything seems to be affected. Someone please tell me they know what I'm talking about

Herpetology Depression has presence
  • replies: 2

Hi Guy/Gals, Since I was 16 (now 21) I have felt a constant sadness in the background, even though I could be happy and everything is fine. A presence that follows me around and eventually it makes my heart feel heavy, I feel tied, I can't look peopl... View more

Hi Guy/Gals, Since I was 16 (now 21) I have felt a constant sadness in the background, even though I could be happy and everything is fine. A presence that follows me around and eventually it makes my heart feel heavy, I feel tied, I can't look people in the eye anymore and I just want to be alone. I can't run from it, I can't remove it but I can temporarily forget about it, by separating sad and negative feelings from good feelings. But only for a while then like water blocked by an obstacle it finds its way around and I feel down. When I feel this way it can get quite intense and I get this sweet urge that the only way to get of this quick would be to end it all quickly and it would be all over. Is this normal? Should I not be worried about it, I tried using marijuana once when I felt down but this only made things worse with the whole "what goes up must come down" concept. I have thought about going to a GP about it but I don't want any kind of mental health problem on my medical history as it may effect me later on life, career wise. Any advice/thoughts would be wonderful on what I should do or what's going on. Thanks, Jack.

gibby3794 i dont know what to do or how much more i can take
  • replies: 4

I had severe depression for years and moving back up with my family helped heaps i was starting to get happy, and all of a sudden i had a relapse for no reason that i can pin, and since then i have finally got my own place and moved out of home and i... View more

I had severe depression for years and moving back up with my family helped heaps i was starting to get happy, and all of a sudden i had a relapse for no reason that i can pin, and since then i have finally got my own place and moved out of home and i love living out of home, but its a lot more expensive than i first thought, the bills are quickly piling up, im hating work more than ever, i had to sell my car due to not having money for rego, and since i have been driving my friends car (who lives with us in a house of 6 low income people) we are all like family and i love them all to death, and the other day the gearbox went in my friends car so now we have no transport in a house of 6, so every day things like getting to work, doing groceries, putting pay in the bank etc is now really difficult as we live in a town without public transport... im just not sure how much more i can take, or if i can even keep fighting currently.... im sorry for the ramble i just needed to get it off my chest and my mind is very scattered at the moment so it might not make sense

james1 Just...bored
  • replies: 5

Hello, me again. So I find myself at end of the 4th day after effectively being dumped (I invested a lot of emotions into that one, even though it was short lived!) and having been on my own little self-built emotional rollercoaster, I am intensely b... View more

Hello, me again. So I find myself at end of the 4th day after effectively being dumped (I invested a lot of emotions into that one, even though it was short lived!) and having been on my own little self-built emotional rollercoaster, I am intensely bored. My unhealthy way of coping with the nightmare of having my idyllic dreams crash is to build up a new idyllic dream with someone else, but while I have to wait to find someone else to perpetuate this silly cycle, I am sitting around on my arse. Okay, I'm being flippant about how I'm handling the whole dating thing, and am truthfully handling it with little more care than I'm portraying, but the point is when I'm not in a (possible) relationship, I am bored. It's not like I don't have hobbies - I read, write, draw, photograph, run, cycle, swim, play clarinet, hike, walk, listen to music, ice skate, play tennis, cook, even study - but I feel so overwhelmingly bored that I just can't be bothered. I don't even feel sad. I just have no desire to do these things, even though I know I like doing them and get a sense of achievement. It just doesn't feel like the effort is worth it. Still, I've learnt to recognise my downward spirals and in an effort to at least keep that at bay, I'm going to drag myself out for a run this afternoon and I'm posting here to make sure I actually do it. I went for a run a couple of days ago and that did nothing to stave off my boredom. It just made me bored and sore, haha. But more importantly: what do you guys do to fight boredom? James

Little_K I had it all together... Today I fell apart
  • replies: 6

I've had a rough year but so far I have manged to stay positive and get through each day. I am not sure what happened today, it was like a lightening bolt of emotion struck me. As I run with tears streaming down my face, I dropped to the grass and st... View more

I've had a rough year but so far I have manged to stay positive and get through each day. I am not sure what happened today, it was like a lightening bolt of emotion struck me. As I run with tears streaming down my face, I dropped to the grass and stared up at the Sky wishing I would just disappear or a giant hole would open up and swallow me. My heart hurts. Not sure why I am posting, guess I just want to know if this has happened to anyone else? Am I losing the plot? Thanks for reading

Trishna BPD And depression
  • replies: 14

Hi guys. I'm a parent of a daughter suffering from BPD, depression and anxiety. Currently on meds, the 4th with great early results but now downhill. Been such a long road as many of you would have experienced. We are in this together but as a parent... View more

Hi guys. I'm a parent of a daughter suffering from BPD, depression and anxiety. Currently on meds, the 4th with great early results but now downhill. Been such a long road as many of you would have experienced. We are in this together but as a parent I'm currently struggling with some issues. Theres a fine line between letting her find herself socially and still putting rules in place. She is turning 17 next week. Unfortunately my husband doesn't understand her mental issues, so I'm on my own with this . Just needing some advice...feeling like I'm walking on eggshells. I am new to this forum.

SoEmptyInside Venting to a Forum because its better than nothing.
  • replies: 10

Its one of those nights again, im sitting alone in bed in tears asking myself when was the last time I smiled or felt something other than this numbness and the truth is I honestly dont know but I know havent even laughed in years. I havent felt love... View more

Its one of those nights again, im sitting alone in bed in tears asking myself when was the last time I smiled or felt something other than this numbness and the truth is I honestly dont know but I know havent even laughed in years. I havent felt love or any sense of worth in what seems like forever. Im in a relationship that I feel more disconnected from now then I ever have in our 8 years together. We do nothing but move backwards, we are in the same place we were 8 years ago except all attempts of communication, intimacy and affection are gone. All i have is happiness in my dreams, in made up situations with strangers there for me where no one else is. I have a family that doesnt care to see me in years let alone say hi or happy birthday. They have all left me to live elsewhere without looking back just like those I use to call my friends. The ones I use to message all the time with promises of catching up And yet I dont receive so much as a reply. I never thought Id be the girl with not 1 single friend in the world. I dont understand how I ever got here because I would and have given anything and everything to those I love and even to strangers in the hope that they could one day be there for me. They never were. I thought that starting a new job would make this all go away and while I love my job, I am again immediately ignored and disregarded by those I try to befriend with a friendly smile or hello. What is it about me that makes me so unapproachable, so difficult to love or even so much as aknowledge.. The only thing that used to work was weed but I have quit that for a long time now in the hope that it would make me stronger, make the bad things go away.. months later it only ever gets worse but the reality is that no drug can fix the pain I've felt for over 15 years, bandaids never fox our hurting. Talking to a councillor doesn't work, even they dont seem to care to listen, nothing they've ever said has helped. No one will ever understand how the world disregards me. While things for me will never change, maybe venting lifes problems here will help me feel something even if its just for a moment. Wishing that i'll find something worth living for one day because I dont know how much longer wishing and hoping can go on.