Depression

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

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BeyondBlue Hello! Read this if you're not sure how to get started
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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?
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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

Guest_93735905 Feeling lost
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Since losing my dream job 3 months ago, I just feel completely lost. I cant describe it. They took so much from me, ripped my world out from beneath me...Im supposed to start a new job tomorrow . I don't even want it. I've been crying all day. I know... View more

Since losing my dream job 3 months ago, I just feel completely lost. I cant describe it. They took so much from me, ripped my world out from beneath me...Im supposed to start a new job tomorrow . I don't even want it. I've been crying all day. I know I wont go. So much was taken from me.

Iiw I feel like I’m drowning
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I’m that person. I am a teacher, heavily involved in my local community, a busy mum with a house always full of visitors. The kettle is always on and I really do love the many people that come in and out of our lives weekly. The problem is I feel lik... View more

I’m that person. I am a teacher, heavily involved in my local community, a busy mum with a house always full of visitors. The kettle is always on and I really do love the many people that come in and out of our lives weekly. The problem is I feel like I am drowning on the inside. This week, I have struggled through every moment of each day, just waiting until I could fall asleep and not feel anymore. This has gone on for a few months now. I don’t want to burden people. I don’t even know what to say if I were to say something. I am really just writing this to get it off my chest. Maybe someone has advice, or not…..but writing it and sending it into the ether might take some heaviness from my heart for a while and that would be good.

Sara112233 Feeling low
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I had a big fight with my husband.I am a new mom and my son is 21 days . I am feeling tired and exhausted.from the morning I felt suffocated because I am not allow to go out for 42 days and less sleep make me more anxious and tired .even when my husb... View more

I had a big fight with my husband.I am a new mom and my son is 21 days . I am feeling tired and exhausted.from the morning I felt suffocated because I am not allow to go out for 42 days and less sleep make me more anxious and tired .even when my husband was talking over the phone with his girl colleague I felt mone insecure and I started asking question but he started swearing which make me crying.

Guest_10490 Dealing with illness
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I'm 56 was a very hard worker then at 40 I suffered a massive heart attack driving home that ended me working career, forced retirement and I didn't handle it well , over the years since I now have type 2 diabetes have been in heart failure for about... View more

I'm 56 was a very hard worker then at 40 I suffered a massive heart attack driving home that ended me working career, forced retirement and I didn't handle it well , over the years since I now have type 2 diabetes have been in heart failure for about 5 yrs then last year had a small stroke that left me with memory loss , bad balance on bad days and depression that my gp but down to very low T that can't be treated because of cardiac history and I find myself with zero drive , most of the time I'm numb and just do what needs to be done,I don't have hobbies anymore I don't let people close anymore I barely talk to people except my inner circle and so far all the medical help I get is exercise and eat well now my wife of 17 yrs and me are having problems and it feels like the last straw I feel like I'm I lose a little of me every day and don't know how to be truly happy again...use to just go for a big motorcycle ride to clear my head or vent to my sister that I lost 3yrs ago and it's been nearly 6yrs since I lost my bike and never replaced it ...just feeling lost. ....

Peaches Depressed-feel like giving up on life.
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Im so overwhelmed . I got into a car accident last week, I've had some trouble at work and I'm just very depressed. I havent seen my psychologist in over 2 months becuase she keeps cancelling me. I feel more depressed than eyore on winne the pooh. View more

Im so overwhelmed . I got into a car accident last week, I've had some trouble at work and I'm just very depressed. I havent seen my psychologist in over 2 months becuase she keeps cancelling me. I feel more depressed than eyore on winne the pooh.

Guest_46729477 Feeling so hopeless and alone at Uni
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Hi, i hope whoever is reading is well. I just feel so alone in this. I'm a girl with ASD in my 2nd year of uni a million years away from home, which is hard enough. I dont really have luck socialising, I can make small talk with people but i havent b... View more

Hi, i hope whoever is reading is well. I just feel so alone in this. I'm a girl with ASD in my 2nd year of uni a million years away from home, which is hard enough. I dont really have luck socialising, I can make small talk with people but i havent been able to form a friendship naturally since high school. ive been in this sort of hole for years following a traumatic experience, i cant escape feeling depressed and like im doing it all wrong. It left me alone for a while and I lived half my life online, which just left me shut off from the world until only recently. Ive had just the one friend from back home during my time at uni, and I still haven't made any friends from campus yet. My course is small and everyone's already formed their groups. I have trouble attending class and being truly present, so talking to people is a whole other quest. My friend's family situation back home isnt so great, and shes told me she made the decision to leave the city and move home. I already feel so lonely, i cant imagine being here all alone. I really cant and I feel like giving up. I think ive rambled enough. sorry. I really just donr know what to do. theres so much more on my mind and it's all hard enough. I just need some advice i guess. im seeing a therapist next month to help out. but please, dont tell me to join a club!! the only thing in my area is sports and I physically cant do that, and anything else is too big of a commitment with work and study. thats it i guess. thank you so much for reading ♡ lots of love

xxryz19 constantly feeling invalid in my mental health
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i just want to know someone feels the same way and that it doesn't mean i'm truly not allowed to feel this way or talk about it idk. i constantly feel like everyone around me has worse things going on and every time stuff is getting worse for myself ... View more

i just want to know someone feels the same way and that it doesn't mean i'm truly not allowed to feel this way or talk about it idk. i constantly feel like everyone around me has worse things going on and every time stuff is getting worse for myself I'm not justified in it and I'm not depressed enough so I'm just speaking from a privileged point of view and pretending to feel this way while everyone else is ACTUALLY struggling. like i constantly feel like i'm faking being depressed or even faking stuff i've been diagnosed with since i was a child because i don't have certain traits of it or i don't cry enough and i don't harm myself enough ?? does this make any sense

Helpadad Narcissist and Alcohol
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Hi all,It's been a while since I have posted and things still haven't changed. I have stayed in a rollercoaster of a marriage with a wife who is abusive and narcissistic. She has an alcohol dependency which exacerbates her moods and the mental abuse ... View more

Hi all,It's been a while since I have posted and things still haven't changed. I have stayed in a rollercoaster of a marriage with a wife who is abusive and narcissistic. She has an alcohol dependency which exacerbates her moods and the mental abuse she delivers. Nothing I do is ever good enough and she tells the kids how bad I am as a father and how other dads are better. I stay so my kids don't lose their home which I know is wrong, but it is the reality I have surrendered myself to. My kids have endured their mother's manipulation and abuse for years, and know what she is like and do their best to not agitate her. They are not kids anymore and do stand up for themselves occasionally. To make matters worse my father has brain cancer and has created a bucket list of sorts where he is travelling overseas to see family and friends, not knowing how long he has. My sister is accompanying them incase he has a seizure. They have paid for me to fly to Singapore business class to spend a few days together just my mum, dad and sister. We used to go as a family when I was younger and it means a lot to them and me. This has triggered the abuse to increase ten fold. She tells the kids your dad doesn't love you, he is going away with his real family etc etc. she is trying to push me over the edge, and I do wonder if that is her end goal. I know the answer is to leave her, but I think I am beyond that. Just needed to vent.

snowcat Mental curiosity
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Hello Everyone, I have been feeling a certain way for a bit now. Sometimes or most times i will be a calm, peacful and sort of energetic person with everyone around me. I will feel happy and be someone that is really extroverted. But at times, i can ... View more

Hello Everyone, I have been feeling a certain way for a bit now. Sometimes or most times i will be a calm, peacful and sort of energetic person with everyone around me. I will feel happy and be someone that is really extroverted. But at times, i can feel really negative and angry, or just overwhelmingly tired when i havent done anything, resulting in me just not talking with anyone, or being highly unmotivated. I will just have times where i just dont want to talk to anyone. Just sit and watch something, which at times doesnt do much for me either. I just want to sit and do absolutely nothng at all. Just in silence and i dont know, ponder about things. But it seems doing that sort of feeds into the negativity. I work full time and full time study in the engineering fields, while having downtime by going to the gym everyday. I dont necessarily feel burnt out, but i am not sure if what i am feeling is being burnt out. Me turning into someone negative, and imagining all these angry scenarios in my head really messess up my day and makes me into someone that is sometimes unnaproachable. I really want to know and have an idea of what i might have so i can prepare myself and possibly get treatment.

Doors24 Dealing with end of life as I knew it. Massive changes in my life.
  • replies: 31

Hello, The last seven months have been nothing but massive upheaval and changes. I already suffered from anxiety and depression. These changes have made everything worse and I feel so isolated. I went through and currently am still experiencing a med... View more

Hello, The last seven months have been nothing but massive upheaval and changes. I already suffered from anxiety and depression. These changes have made everything worse and I feel so isolated. I went through and currently am still experiencing a medical trauma starting seven months ago. But life still went on whilst I was having to deal with that. I lost my amazing dog due to illness and old age whilst I was having treatment and there was nothing I could physically, mentally or emotionally do for her. I was too unwell to help her. She wasn’t alone. As a family dog. But 15 years and she is just gone and the house is so quiet. She was quite a large dog,so her presence is so noticeably absent in just space alone. And that was only two weeks ago. Then just two weeks later, my family member who has lived with me down my end of the house, moved out. We have spent our childhood together and almost 15 years of our adult lives co-habitating in this space together. Indirectly, we became part of each other’s daily routine by just sounds alone. Even if we didn’t speak directly to each other, we could hear each other living our lives in our rooms. I’d hear their alarms go off in the morning. I could hear them working from home during the day on phone calls and walking up and down the hallway to get coffees or something to eat. At night I could hear them laughing at the tv, taking a shower in the bathroom or even using the toilet spray in the toilet. (The walls are thin in this house). I have become so used to those daily sounds being in my life. I could go to sleep at night comforted by the sounds coming out of the room next door. I felt and have always felt safe living with this sibling being in the next room. And in the space of just 16 hours on the one day, they packed up all their belongings and emptied that room. That morning they lived here. By that night they no longer live here. And they aren’t coming back to live here again. They have called their new place their home verbally. And whilst I am genuinely happy for that sibling to have finally found their own space and independence. It is just another loss too quickly after the last. I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know how to see all these spaces empty or once belong to someone else, but now know that they don’t. It is so incredibly sad and overwhelming and I can’t process it fast enough and my depression is getting worse. I feel so isolated. I can’t talk about anything I am feeling with the family members left in this house. I have tried and tried. They are emotionally unavailable and are legitimately unable to have real connection type of conversations. The person I was connected to the most in this house,is the one who moved out. I just don’t know what to do. I have to walk past their empty door everytime I leave my own room. The silence is so prominent. The grief is so raw. I dream about my dog at night. My house used to be full of life and happiness and now it is full of unhappy people and no connection to one another. We can’t have a discussion together. We are all feeling like there is a dark shadow over our house and waiting for the next thing to happen. I am all alone. Being unwell, I can’t leave this space either. I just need someone to talk to or be heard or have a human connection with. I am not dealing with this well. Any changes are hard for me to process and just this year alone, there has been too many massive changes in short succession. Thank you for taking the time to read this or respond.Doors 24