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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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MrsM Where did the Happy me go?
  • replies: 3

I had my first child just over 2 years ago. At that time is when I think I first had depression (perhaps Post-Natal Depression). It took me some time after a scary emergency caesarean delivery to really feel like a mum. I was sent to ICU away from my... View more

I had my first child just over 2 years ago. At that time is when I think I first had depression (perhaps Post-Natal Depression). It took me some time after a scary emergency caesarean delivery to really feel like a mum. I was sent to ICU away from my child for the first night which went against everything I wanted for my first time of giving birth. After some time I was feeling good again. I returned to work 2 days a week when my child was 6 months old. I enjoyed my time at work as it gave good balance to my life (and also a social outlet for me). When my first child turned 1 we decided to try again for another baby as I had always wanted my children to be close in age. I fell pregnant very quickly and was very happy about it. At 4 weeks pregnant I needed to tell my boss at work that I was pregnant because I am a teacher and there were some infectious diseases going around the school that I needed to be kept away from now that I was pregnant. So this is kind of where everything fell apart. I was offered work which apparently 'fell through' so I became unemployed. I feel guilty even thinking this, but I feel like I lost this job because I was pregnant, and if I hadn't gotten pregnant I would still be working. It's like the whole pregnancy became negative in a way. I began to spiral. By this time my first child was becoming a terrible toddler and I was at home dealing with it day in and day out. I had noone to talk to about it. When I spoke to my husband about it he just said, "she'll grow out of it." So this didn't actually help me at all. My second child is now 5 months old and I feel like I have completely lost myself. I wake up each day to the same old screaming toddler and crying baby. I am still not working as it is difficult with a baby and a toddler when you are a casual teacher. I love my children dearly but I feel like such a failure. My toddler screams all day which keeps the baby up. I feel unmotivated to do anything because I go out and it's embarrassing with a screaming child. This is not how it was meant to be. I find it so difficult to sleep...I am lucky if I am able to switch off long enough to get an hours sleep. I cry almost everyday, I feel angry, sad and stressed out all at once, like I need to scream! I then feel guilty because I should be happy with what I have. I have a loving husband and 2 beautiful children yet I feel like I just want to give up. I sometimes think I wish I could just go to sleep and not wake up... I would never do anything silly to myself, but I need help in getting the old me back...where did she go??

ChloeJ88 Please Help.
  • replies: 3

Hi I am 25 year old mum of a 16 month old son I have been suffering with depression for quite some time now and I need some help. I am at my wits end I do not know what to do anymore I went and saw a doctor who prescribed me anti depressants and shru... View more

Hi I am 25 year old mum of a 16 month old son I have been suffering with depression for quite some time now and I need some help. I am at my wits end I do not know what to do anymore I went and saw a doctor who prescribed me anti depressants and shrugged it off as Post Natal depression I have had alot going on in the last few month with my partner being made redundant haveing to move interstate and lots of other things. I am finding it hard to function on a daily basis but I dont know where to turn i feel completley alone and think it would be better if I just was not here I feel embarrased to talk to anyone I just really need some advice I havnt dealt with this issue properly and its been ongoing for a very long time I am worried I will lose the plot shorlty I just need help I feel like I am screaming out to everyone around me but no one is hearing me.

dan_2 Financial/Depression issues...
  • replies: 2

Hey everyone, I'm Dan, I'm 16, and I'm just about to start year 11 exams, now onto the issue; About 5 months ago I started counseling at my local youth services due to my mother leaving me, my stepdad (now guardian), and my 2 little brothers (they ha... View more

Hey everyone, I'm Dan, I'm 16, and I'm just about to start year 11 exams, now onto the issue; About 5 months ago I started counseling at my local youth services due to my mother leaving me, my stepdad (now guardian), and my 2 little brothers (they have shared custody). After a few weeks, the counseling started to work, I felt like I could deal with stuff better. After a few more sessions, I started going to the doctor to get anti depressants due to my counselor thinking I was at risk of self harm/suicide, due to thoughts I had written down into a book.. After 2 months, I was abruptly taken off the meds Conveniently, last month my Grandma died, and my mother decided to text me things like "ur a **** up" and "go die", among other things. Now I've ceased communication with my mother, but lately I've been having really dangerous thoughts. I'm thinking too far ahead, just today I've been wondering how I'm going to support myself now. My stepdad/guardian barely has enough money to buy food, let alone school fees, uniform, equipment etc. and, he told me that there's no way I can claim any welfare money/youth allowance because I live with him. I don't want the dangerous thoughts to escalate any further.../:

Lobo weak and unmotivated
  • replies: 1

Hi, I have been suffering depression for almost 2 decades, i'm 35 and feeling low self worth. I lost my older sister and her husband in a car accident in 1993 and i was 14 Years old... throughout high school was not good, kept to myself. I've progres... View more

Hi, I have been suffering depression for almost 2 decades, i'm 35 and feeling low self worth. I lost my older sister and her husband in a car accident in 1993 and i was 14 Years old... throughout high school was not good, kept to myself. I've progressed in studying to advance myself in life, however just feel that I don't want to be here. I've worked very hard to try and be in a better place, have travelled and lived abroad, but still no happiness can help me in my situation. I have returned from living in Europe 2 years ago and since I've been back... have only worked 8 months and now have been unemployed for a year which has triggered a big portion of depression that has made me weak and unmotivated to do anything really.... My health has been on the decline... I keep to myself because I can't trust anyone.... feeling very isolated and socially afraid.... So i lock myself in my room and try to minimise my interaction with people. Since not working for a year... I'm suffering also from Anxiety, sleep apnea, insomnia, stressed and feeling that low. I don't have a family... I've been single for a decade as I don't trust people to be close as fear of people being dishonest and I can read people so easily because I find a conclusion in anything that is negative. So in that, I don't have much to lose. I rather a person who has a family and a job to continue living than me having nothing. I have thought about doing the inevitable, but because my health has had a rapid decline, I guess I'm slowly withering away. But that doesn't worry me. I'm here to write about my story as having someone that was so close to me gone and the only person I could trust, I have always wanted to know why I'm still here. I think everyday that I'm worthless, I wake up and I'm still here living, why? I don't know, I just hope to not wake up. I am speaking with a professional about my illness but still unmotivated to do anything. I used to exercise, read, take photography, travel etc, but now I feel that its all a waste of energy. Talking to someone is maybe ok to get out what I think about everyday and for what I have endured throughout my teens and 20s, but not only that I've grown up in a very violent abusive family where mum and dad punished me for things no child should experience. I'm not a violent person as because what I have went through as a child has made me understand that the growing attacks of people in public has made the offenders resort to this behaviour is most probably the resort of their upbringing, however in my case, I wouldn't harm others because of how bad I was violently abused as a child. I constantly think negative about everything.... I constantly wish bad things happen to me because I grew up being punished and I don't see the enjoyment of being alive. If I had mutant powers, its the ability to smell lies of others who speak to me. Could be a recruitment agent, strangers, some friends. Just have this feeling of able to read peoples body language to show they say something and contradict themselves, lie, gain something from me, use me, cheat etc. This isn't normal I know... maybe the only reason I am able to see through people is because I'm very honest and direct as I don't sugar coat anything, but possibly because the constant disappointment I go through with everyday tasks, fail job opportunities and people like some of my friends who want to help, say they don't have time for me shows that my strength in having faith in humanity is dead to me.

odb why am i feeling this way
  • replies: 1

Hi, my name is andy i'm a uni student, and not sure as to whether or not im feeling is actually depression. for this past year, i feel as if i'm not my "normal self" up till today, i've constantly played off the fact that i might have a serious probl... View more

Hi, my name is andy i'm a uni student, and not sure as to whether or not im feeling is actually depression. for this past year, i feel as if i'm not my "normal self" up till today, i've constantly played off the fact that i might have a serious problem, thinking that what ive been feeling is stupid and that i should just get on with life but most days, i wake up feeling tired and demotivated to really do anything. i often feel sad/miserable without even knowing why, and i feel as if i'm putting on an act to my friends and family to mask my true feelings, and i've never been that person who really wants to talk about my true feelings/emotions i used to be that kid who was down to hang out with friends regularly, but my social life has been non existent this year, apart from going to uni and work i also feel as if i can't concentrate on anything, mainly with studying, which shows in my poor grades at uni (after failing 3 of my 4 subjects in my first semester), i can never really get anything done or focus on study. whats more important is that i've had constant thoughts and feelings about suicide, i often feel like i dont deserve to live and that if i go, it'll be a better alternative than living. i've had times where ive thought about ending my life, but never really mustered up the courage to do it, as every time i think about how selfish it would be to do it, and how i would let my parents/friends down i've been relying on marijuana to help me feel a little bit better and get my mind off things, and i know it isn't that ideal solution, but it helps me on a short term basis it was only today that i looked online about the symptons/signs of depression , and what i read, mostly applies to me don't know what to do anymore

Jellyfish losing my mind.
  • replies: 2

I'm not really sure what's going on in my head or if I have depression. I've always had anxiety and I have a history of self harm and eating issues. I've recently found it's an effort to breathe, I'm constantly waiting out the day before I can get ba... View more

I'm not really sure what's going on in my head or if I have depression. I've always had anxiety and I have a history of self harm and eating issues. I've recently found it's an effort to breathe, I'm constantly waiting out the day before I can get back into bed, on a general day I'll try to be in bed asleep before 10pm and I wont wake up till mid day. I don't want to leave my room, let alone my house, I find myself avoiding most of my friends and family and when I do go out, I want to be some form of intoxicated so I can block everything out or I hate that I'm out of my comfort zone, aka my bed. I'm finding it difficult to hold onto a job and I'm failing most things at uni, which is all very unlike me. I just feel so alone all the time, like nobody really cares or if they do that they have their own issues to deal with and I don't want to burden them with my crappy, self loathing garbage. I just feel selfish being so low all the time but I don't want to smile anymore and pretend that I'm happy. I'm scared of the thought of depression but I'm also scared I'll never be happy again. I don't want to be here anymore and honestly I don't really have anything left. I don't know who to talk to and I'm sick of everything. I don't want to sleep my life away but I can't breathe without the pressure of the world forcing me to stay in my bed.

Beetle Terrified: Have to aknowledge I got depression & anxiety but need to start new job.
  • replies: 3

Hi I just got diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety and put on meds. I must have suffered this for years even decades before beingf diagnosed, but got my symptoms in check with alcohol,selfharm,heaps of work and just abusing my body. Now i fin... View more

Hi I just got diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety and put on meds. I must have suffered this for years even decades before beingf diagnosed, but got my symptoms in check with alcohol,selfharm,heaps of work and just abusing my body. Now i finish uni and got job offers. YEAH. its cool to get job offers.But im terrified. Problem: I know i got a problem but havent aknowledged that i have depression and anxiety. I cant get it into my head, I want to take the really cool job. But it requires moving house.Away from friends, my beach and my doc and psychologist. I dont know what to do. Should i stay and take the second cool job or push myself to go for the cool job? Im so confused. Im angry that I have depression and anxiety. I want just go and be determoied as i always been. But now being on meds and being diagnosed im terrified that if i move house and leave all the good people behind that i might crash. I feel i am two people: the brain ( wanting the cool job) and the body ( wanting to stay with friends) I know i can only make this decsion. But i struggle. I dont know what to do. Should i give my diagnoses so much power to take a second offer job? Or should i ignore them diagnoses and just go for it risking I crash ? Sorry for the rambling. My life is in a kind of mess at the mo. Thanks for listening. beetle

Grumblebee hopeless and exhausted
  • replies: 3

I was diagnosed with depression in 2010 just a few weeks before my wedding. Earlier that year I had moved interstate to regional NSW to be with my partner. I was full of excitement and hope for the life my new husband and I were starting together. 3 ... View more

I was diagnosed with depression in 2010 just a few weeks before my wedding. Earlier that year I had moved interstate to regional NSW to be with my partner. I was full of excitement and hope for the life my new husband and I were starting together. 3 years later and I feel like every decision I’ve made was the wrong one. I feel so isolated and lonely. The town we moved too turns out to not be very welcoming of strangers and despite trying very hard I still have no friends. I couldn’t get a job in my industry so have been working in retail out of necessity and hate every minute of it. We are in a lot of debt and can’t sell our house without doing major renovations and we simply don’t have the funds to do so; so moving back home is not an option. About two months ago I was thinking about committing suicide at work. I told my husband, saw my GP who upped my medication dose and have been waiting ever since to get an appointment with a psychologist and psychiatrist because no one seems to have their books open to new patients in my area. I’m exhausted and so unhappy. I feel like telling my friends back home to just write me off because I feel like the old me is gone and will never come back and the new me is a stupid, sad loser not worth having in their lives.

Aishwarya What are the reasons i should live?
  • replies: 2

im an indian girl living in australia , majority of the time i feel like my life would have been better at india , here i feel so alone as my parents district me from anything and everything. i can't even stay home alone for more than 10 mins , my pa... View more

im an indian girl living in australia , majority of the time i feel like my life would have been better at india , here i feel so alone as my parents district me from anything and everything. i can't even stay home alone for more than 10 mins , my parents go through everything i own , so I'm limited to keeping a diary or anything , i have no social life and am not aloud to do basically anything i want to do. i constantly feel low and just wanna end everything completely.i just feel so heavy each morning to wake up another day and live, i can't really be bothered anymore with anything anymore. i feel useless and stupid. i see no good future ahead and it would be better for me and the people around me if i ended things now wouldn't it?

Tummy40 Almost done. Struggling big time.
  • replies: 4

Hi. This is a first for me and it's not something I usually do. I normally just read other people's comments and compare them to myself and then try and take some comfort in the replies they get back. My story is that I work as a geologist and I've j... View more

Hi. This is a first for me and it's not something I usually do. I normally just read other people's comments and compare them to myself and then try and take some comfort in the replies they get back. My story is that I work as a geologist and I've just been let go again. The industry at the moment is so bad. I don't look like getting another job for a long time and I'm not even sure I want one. I am always working in remote locations and constantly alone. I am now 43 and I didn't mind doing it when I was a younger fella. I just feel like I am done. I've had enough. I made the wrong choice to get into this industry because it has taken me away from everybody that I love and it is also so volatile. People are so easily discarded. I know, you are probably thinking blah, blah, blah. i know I'm depressed. Have been taking medication for 10yrs. I've just started drinking heavily again since I got my notice from work. Got up this morning and drank half a bottle of bourbon then went to work. In a taxi, I wouldn't drive when I'm like this. I just can't focus on anything. I have no joy or fun in my soul like I use to. Nothing seems like it will help. I don't even think my meds help anymore. I really need help because I don't know if I will be around much longer if I don't get some. Please, anyone.