Depressed all my known life

zamir · ‎13-10-2015

Hi. I am 35 yrs old. Immigrant from Pakistan. since i was 10 years old i was bullied in school, by classmates, teachers and neighbours. As growing up in pakistan, people over do not know even the word "Bully". but bullying was not the only thing that contributed to my depression, i guess i inherited it, but bullying enhanced my already depressed nature. I never knew that depression is an illness, till i arrived to australia 10 years ago. Now knowing that Depression is an illness, made it a bit easy to face it. But in Australia the thing that refrained me of seeking psychologist or psychiatrist advice was the stigma attached to depression. I do not seek it, because anywhere you apply for job you come across with this question in the applying form, "Are you suffering from depression?". Now an immigrant from a third world country with a family to support you will never take this risk of seeking the advice and then not been able to work to support your family. As depressed person the last thing you would want, is your family suffer because of you. So i take it all on me. never sought any professional advice, and living with it. Thanks

geoff · ‎13-10-2015

dear Zamir, welcome to the forum in what seems to be an educated experience for you.

Bullying in Australia is certainly rife either in the family, school or workforce, but it's something which needs to be tackled head on, because it's such an enormous problem, and now it's been recognised that we have to try and stop it or reduce the effects it passes on, however to eliminate it completely seems to be impossible, but to educate people on how to cope with it is a priority.

The word depression was a stigma years ago, but now with the enormous help done by Beyond Blue it's been mentioned and educated that this illness can be cured, so now it's not considered as being taboo.

I understand that when you apply for a job there are many questions which you have to answer, but can I say that if you are applying for a position, then the chances of you currently having depression are minimal, it doesn't stop the fact that you may have had depression before, and if you do have depression then you won't be able to work at all.

This is just in general terms I say this, and doesn't take into effect that you need the money or whether you are verging on becoming depression.

None of this won't allow you to start seeing a psychologist after you have applied for the job. Geoff.

White_Rose · ‎13-10-2015

Dear Zamir

Hello and welcome to Beyond Blue and to Australia. I don't know what sort of jobs you are applying for, but it is not legal for a prospective employer to ask questions about your health status unless it directly impacts on the job. And even then the employer needs to be very careful how they ask and why. It is discriminatory. An employer can only ask about medical conditions that would prevent you carrying out the majority of the duties of the position.

OK, so what are you doing about your depression? Yes in the past there was a huge stigma attached to depression and still is in many people's minds. But this stigma is fading fast, especially for illnesses such as depression and anxiety. These illnesses are far more accepted these days.

I suggest you visit your GP and get a full diagnosis. If you do not have a GP scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Find a Professional. This will take you to a list of GPs which is searchable by postcode. Hopefully there will be a GP in your area.

When you go to the GP be quite open about your feelings and experiences as this will help the doctor with your diagnosis. He/she may suggest medication and possibly a referral to a psychologist or psychiatrist or another counsellor. You may be put on a mental health plan which entitles you to a limited number of free visits to a psychologist.

I understand your reasons for not asking for help and I applaud your care of your family. This is not necessarily the best way to protect them. If you become extremely unwell you will be unable to work which will leave your family in financial difficulties. Managing your own depression rarely works. I can tell you that from my own experience and many others will agree. You need some help to stay as healthy as possible and able to continue to support your family.

So please make an appointment to see your doctor and take it from there. Your doctor will be able to discuss the available options. Please write in again and tell us how you are going.

Mary

zamir · ‎13-10-2015

Thanks guys for your replies. I had/have different mental health conditions time to time. I will explain each of them time to time and you can comment, as your early comments were helpful. I was the only one in my whole village and family in Pakistan who got educated inspite of being from a very poor background. Now education bring with it some issues and the maxim "ignorance is blessing" fit true there. so in my city if anyone would get an illness or die of a disease, i will then ask for the cause of death, and probe that disease and when some one would explain how he/she died, i would feel the same illness in me. the symptoms would be 100% real. now when i look back it was because i was the only lucky who got educated and there was good chance of a bright future, so i was worried not to lose that bright future. And you wont believe that some of these diseases from whom people died in my area, i felt them for almost an year till it is replaced by another one... It was completely imaginary but so that can not be ignored either.