Immediate support
Immediate support

Depression

Depression affects people in Australia every day. Share your own story and learn about other member’s experiences with depression.

Start a discussion

FAQ

Find answers to some of the more frequently asked questions on the Forums.

View the FAQ

Forums guidelines

Our guidelines keep the Forums a safe place for people to share and learn information.

View the guidelines
Categories
Start a discussion

Pinned discussions

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

All discussions

Start a discussion

SJ22 My struggling journey
  • replies: 3

hello everyone My name is SJ,I'm 28,I'm single and I'm an overseas trained physio.I come from the middle east and I'm new to this forum. I like to share my life story since I moved to Australia and how it affected my mental health with you guys. 3 ye... View more

hello everyone My name is SJ,I'm 28,I'm single and I'm an overseas trained physio.I come from the middle east and I'm new to this forum. I like to share my life story since I moved to Australia and how it affected my mental health with you guys. 3 years ago I moved to Australia where most people with medical/para-medical professional backgrounds(similar to mine) have to go through many many strict,costly,hard and at times painful filters to be able to work independently in Australia,and physiotherapy is not an exception.one of the worst feelings in life is moving to a country and not being able to work(not having your qualification acknowledged)although you are competent enough. anyways,I started work(supervised work under limited terms)shortly after I got a work visa(I was sponsored by my employer,which gave them a chance to abuse me even more)shortly after I arrived,I was then severely abused and neglected at work and I had to change my job twice in one year. not hard to imagine,the severe pressures of getting through my professional registration process,the many problems I faced at work,the cultural shock and difficulties of settling down in a new country(Australia was the first country after my hometown that I've lived in)as well as the huge sudden change of my life course: being alone and all on my own(back in my hometown,I had a huge network of close friends with whom I used to hang out all the time,whereas in Australia it's been very hard for me to make new like-minded friends,or have such deep and real connection with people as I used to have)knocked me down after 1.5 years of non-stop struggle with severe depression,up to a point where I had to be hospitalized for a while. my whole life was shattered and dark, without the slightest ray of hope for months after this incidence,I had come into this wonderful land in search of a brighter future like many people do,but I was defeated and broken in a way I'd never could have imagined.I experienced the hardest most painful moments of my life for few months,until I gradually started to recover and began to get back on my feet.my family was very supportive of me during this time,though my breakdown came as a shock to them as well. long story short,I successfully finished my registration process very recently and I'm very proud of myself. and I've come into terms with myself about my mental and emotional health status,somehow I had to convince myself that the the life I had before,is gone.

kombitop GRATITUDE
  • replies: 6

Hi all, 3 weeks ago today I was in an ambulance for the third time in 2 months as the result of my illness (es). Today at the forefront of my mind is something that helps me. A friend said long ago: "I'm not where I want to be; I'm a million miles fr... View more

Hi all, 3 weeks ago today I was in an ambulance for the third time in 2 months as the result of my illness (es). Today at the forefront of my mind is something that helps me. A friend said long ago: "I'm not where I want to be; I'm a million miles from where I thought I'd be, but I'm so grateful I'm not where I used to be".

mtxo Do i quit yet another job because of my depression/anxiety?
  • replies: 3

Hi guys, Basically i was out of work last year for 6 months. I was on welfare benefits struggling to find work and hating it. I was accepted for a HR trainee ship in November and thought i loved it.. until now. This role is for one person yet there a... View more

Hi guys, Basically i was out of work last year for 6 months. I was on welfare benefits struggling to find work and hating it. I was accepted for a HR trainee ship in November and thought i loved it.. until now. This role is for one person yet there are two of us sharing it, i constantly come into work and have nothing to do for most of the day. The girl i share this role with is not very good at it and i think that is why they thought they should hire someone else to help. The past two weeks have been a struggle, my anxiety is through the roof and i am having small panic attacks almost everyday. The kind where your chest tightens up, you cannot take a deep breath no matter how hard you try, and all you want to do is cry to let all the pain out. To be honest, HR is definitely not what i want to be doing. I am expected to be holding interviews at some point and the thought of that terrifies me. I was desperate to find work I was sick of being on welfare and i just wanted to work like a normal 22 year old. I know I jumped into this role without truly thinking about it and now i am basically stuck and unsure of what to do. I am scared to quit and go back onto benefits because I do not know what i will do with myself if i did but the anxiety is getting to the point where i am resenting everyone i work with and hating everyone and everything. What the hell do i do?

Guest_934 Newbie with a New Years Resolution to Reach Out & Get Better in 2017 - Need Help.
  • replies: 13

Hi I'm Ana, I'm embarrassed to say that I'm severely depressed. I've always prided myself on being strong and externally tough however inside I'm falling apart. My family tell me I should be happy: I'm 28 and I was promoted to a management position 1... View more

Hi I'm Ana, I'm embarrassed to say that I'm severely depressed. I've always prided myself on being strong and externally tough however inside I'm falling apart. My family tell me I should be happy: I'm 28 and I was promoted to a management position 10 months ago at work and I received an offer into a prestigious art degree. I've had to defer my study until 2018 for financial reasons but overall I should be happy but I'm not and I don't know why I feel this way and what to do? I've had depression all my life and it's been manageable with medication. I haven't seen a psychiatrist for over two years and might consider seeing one again. I don't know any good ones in Sydney so any recommendations would be good. Right now is not a good time for me to fall off the rails - however I feel like it's about to happen when all the pieces in my life are falling into place! I feel completely unmotivated. Getting out of bed is a struggle and dealing with my passive aggressive (turned slightly aggressive) supervisor everyday is starting to gnarl at my soul. I don't want to clean or contribute to my family life. I feel like a shell really. My spiral down began when I started to show my art publicly and it was televised a year ago (after many years of hiding it due to the bullying in high school for it) and I've been receiving a lot of attention for it and it's open doors for me - doors I would never had dreamt would be open. However I under estimated the affect it would have on friends and family and the jealousy involved. I've had to unfollow/delete/block friends and family who were very negative towards me and I still don't feel happy. I feel alone - friends don't want to hang out as often because they don't want to hear my stories or what I've been up to in the art world and family are acting indifferent. It's a terrible place to be and completely different from a year ago. The cyber bullying from strangers, friends and family has taken it's toll on me to the point where I rarely log on to see anything online except reply to my emails. I've lost faith in people and that upsets me. My situation sounds so silly and the sadness of it is that's true. I feel annoyed, angry, disappointed and frustrated and at times wished I had never pursued my love for art or made it public. I need help and I'm reaching out. Any advice, understanding or help would be appreciated. xAna

Daisy_Walker Depression started due to big tumour on uterus
  • replies: 3

Hello, I am new to the forum, I have had a bleeding and painful tumour on my uterus for the last four months. I am now on the public health system awaiting consultation then a hysterectomy. I feel i have underlying depression and my medical condition... View more

Hello, I am new to the forum, I have had a bleeding and painful tumour on my uterus for the last four months. I am now on the public health system awaiting consultation then a hysterectomy. I feel i have underlying depression and my medical condition, and have been feeling hopeless , sad and down for this whole time. I work full time , had been booked in privately for surgery and got knocked back by my health insurer. I am constantly worried at work about everything, and bleeding through my pants. I am on medication which is stemming the bleeding but the last couple of days it isnt really working. I just want this tumour out as I am unwell, trying to fulfill my duties as work, trying to maintain a marriage and friendships and family commitments. I am feeling down, sad and at times unable to cope. Any advice to get back to my happy self ?

james1 When you see through the fog...
  • replies: 3

Hello, Just looking to voice my thoughts and be heard. Sorry, I'm going to be talking in analogy. For a while in 2016, I was in a super bad place where everything was so foggy, I could only see the here and now, and only one option seemed available t... View more

Hello, Just looking to voice my thoughts and be heard. Sorry, I'm going to be talking in analogy. For a while in 2016, I was in a super bad place where everything was so foggy, I could only see the here and now, and only one option seemed available to me. The more I fought it, the more the fog seemed to close in. So I stopped fighting and let the fog slowly, painfully, thin until I could see just a little bit further. I now find myself being able to see a fair way ahead. I'm not just trapped in the now. It sounds hopeful. But all I see, stretching out, is a damn long path through the trees into more fog, way out ahead. It is hardly comforting, once the house falls around you and you're still alive, to look around and realise you have to clean up the mess and rebuild the house with nothing but your already broken hands. And if you do it badly, it'll just fall down all over again, as it has done before. James is tired.

Troyboy Need to get it out
  • replies: 8

Hi everyone. Ive suffered from depression and anxiety for the better part of 15 years now, I've been through good and bad patches, and seem to have found a way of how to deal with it and live with it for the most part, But I've been through some very... View more

Hi everyone. Ive suffered from depression and anxiety for the better part of 15 years now, I've been through good and bad patches, and seem to have found a way of how to deal with it and live with it for the most part, But I've been through some very bad times since 2008, that was the year my mother died, without me ever being fully made aware of how ill she was, my parents didn't want me to worry because they knew of my illness, they told everybody in my family that I was not to know, but as a result of not knowing what was going on, I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her as I live interstate, and when I was made aware of how sick she was, I rushed home to see her, but before I got there she became unconscious and passed away the next day, I don't seem to be able to get over that I wasn't told and should have been there more, my father then had a severe stroke less than 12 months later, resulting in him needing to go into care which we did not want to do, he was such an active man, up at dawn, not inside until dark, and now he was pretty much permanently inside, which I know he hated, he managed to stay with us for another six years before another stroke took him from us away in February last year, I have since found out that my sister, my one and only sibling who was his power-of-attorney during the last six years literally drained every cent he had, including selling his home to herself very cheaply, so when he passed away not only was he broke, he owed money, I tried to work out things with her before I finally had to go and seek legal advice, I've now been in a legal battle with her since March last year, and we actually have all the proof that she has miss appropriated funds, and done the wrong thing, but because of how the power of attorney works, I may not be able to get her to have to pay it back, I feel like this is going to be another thing I have let my parents down with, And I feel absolutely betrayed that my sister could do such a thing, my parents estate wasn't worth a fortune, but she made sure that I was going to get nothing from it, my solicitor has said that the cost of chasing what is left, would probably be outweighed by how much it would cost, and it is very close to the stage of where we might have to Give up, and in my view that means she's won and got away with it, So how do you live and get on with your life when someone has done something so blatantly wrong? and you may not be able to do a thing about it?

Shadow750 Some Days Are OK.......Others Well :(
  • replies: 3

Hi. I dont know if I have depression or what. I am due to return to work in 2 weeks and feel anxious. I've been on carers leave, looking after my 92 YO father who lives alone and am the only surviving family member. I lost mum in March 2016 and her b... View more

Hi. I dont know if I have depression or what. I am due to return to work in 2 weeks and feel anxious. I've been on carers leave, looking after my 92 YO father who lives alone and am the only surviving family member. I lost mum in March 2016 and her brother (my father figure) 3 weeks later. Anyway I find it really hard to talk to anybody about this as I'm likely to burst into tears. I think starting work again will be kind of OK but maybe there is some way I can ease into it....will be meeting with my boss next wee. I work for the NSW public service. I mean work might be a good distraction. But some days I feel such anger inside......I dont want to hurt anybody or myself by the way. But this anger/rage leads me to be impatient, sarcastic and probably a rotten person. Its really hard to write how I feel. I'm taking a small amount of medication daily just to get through the days. But I also try to walk most days, about 35 min and in that time I feel like I'm on a different plane... more relaxed and can see things clearer. I dont have many friends any more......my choice but I have all the time for my 2 young adult children. Late last year I saw my doc and was a blubbering mess, she then ordered me off work for 2 weeks saying I had anxiety and something else (I forgot). Summing up: I feel: Angry deep down Tearful deep down Insecure and confused I just dont know whats wrong with me. I spoke to a counsellor for a few sessions but didnt find that of any benefit.

NoOneHere My life feels like a train wreck in progress right now
  • replies: 2

First time reader, first time poster. A few years back my dad got was diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease. 12 months ago, I took 7 months off work to be his primary carer. He lost his mind. I lost my dad. 2 months ago, my mom was hospit... View more

First time reader, first time poster. A few years back my dad got was diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease. 12 months ago, I took 7 months off work to be his primary carer. He lost his mind. I lost my dad. 2 months ago, my mom was hospitalised. She's still there, but they don't know what's wrong. Cancer is the primary suspect, but unable to verify as the test to confirm could kill her. Prognosis, 30 to 60 days. I might lose her too - it's inevitable but difficult to accept. I have a partner - for several years now. The last 12 months have placed a lot of stress on the relationship, but we've had issues long before this. I want to end it, as I don't have the mental and emotional capacity to deal with a relationship right now. But I'm afraid to hurt her. The last partner I broke up with, threatened to end her life. She didn't, but had to go through counselling for a while. This was decades ago, but I still feel guilty and responsible for causing her pain. I grew up like most people thinking that we get what we deserve. Not true. We get what we get. Our idea of fair is insignificant to the course life decides to take. There's no right or wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair, there's only what is and what isn't. This isn't an opinion, it's an observation. All we can do is watch and hope the ups are more than the downs, and downs don't break us. I'm not depressed, I'm lost and conflicted. Knowing that a major life changing event is out of your control is like watching a car crash in slow motion. You can see what's about to happen but can't stop it. I would like to think everything happens for a "reason", they do, but not for our reasons. Interplay of cause and effect between millions upon millions of seemingly unrelated variables. It was never a crash, but a controlled and calculated event. My life feels like a train wreck in progress right now. Pieces flying through the air in slow motion, with more damage to come. All I can do is wait for it finish, pick up the pieces, and take the bus instead. First time reader, last time poster.

2L85iblSXm Is there any point seeking professional help?
  • replies: 24

There is no depression amongst remote uncontacted peoples, nor is there amongst wild animals. Put a lion in a cage at the zoo, though, and he'll exhibit signs of anxiety. Put a sow (pig) in a farrowing crate and she'll experience a level of depressio... View more

There is no depression amongst remote uncontacted peoples, nor is there amongst wild animals. Put a lion in a cage at the zoo, though, and he'll exhibit signs of anxiety. Put a sow (pig) in a farrowing crate and she'll experience a level of depression few here can imagine. That's what happens when you put an animal in an unnatural environment. We're animals too and civilization is not our natural environment. Our cage is bigger, but it's there for anyone who knows what to look for. I'm sick of it. No matter what I do, that cage will always be there. The masses will pretend it's not. I will remain miserable because freedom is dead. Forever. It's a morbid system that demands we toil our lives away just for the scraps it takes to maintain existence. It's not worth the effort. Never will be. I am unemployed. My unpopular perception of reality is causing tension between myself and my JobActive provider. The pressure is on now that I'm on stream C. I just know they're going to coerce me into using unethical means to apply for unethical jobs. That corrupt work for the dole scam is just around the corner too. I cannot, in good conscience, play into this system. It's an evil monster that needs to be starved to death. Things are so bad with my JA provider that I, on their advice, had to obtain a medical exemption to get away from them. It expires in a couple of weeks and I have no idea if I can bring myself to go back there. The doctor, unsurprisingly, was reluctant to give me a certificate over something so stupid. I'd feel uncomfortable returning so soon to tell him the details I left out of my story. Given that my goals are incompatible with the goals society has imposed on me, I don't see the point anyway. That there is the problem - society has imposed its own goals on me. Those goals are wrong for me. All the "treatment" options have those same goals. I'm done playing their game. It's all stick and no carrot. I don't want to be "normal". Most normal people are idiots, drones, pursuing a pointless cause. I want to be me, without the pressure to do society's bidding. What am I to do? Even if the problem was solvable, I simply don't have the time left. I don't even have it that bad. It's just that we all deserve better and I'm sick of pretending otherwise. PS. This forum has some serious accessibility issues.