Depression and anxiety

[Joshalot]

Depression and anxiety was something that I never thought would touch me, until I saw my father fall into a terrible state of depression and anxiety. I seem to have his genes as I suffered depression and anxiety with all my 4 children. It was luckily picked up by the doctors at the hospital and I was given medication to help . But I had to do a lot of work myself to feel “ normal “. Exercise helped although it was extremely difficult to get my body to “ move”My family found it hard to understand as it was something that had not touched their lives before. But I’m out from under the cloud with the help of a great psychiatrist and psychologist and am now living a pretty good life. I have 4 grown up children who are doing really well and am very happy that I was able to get away from the “ black dog “ as Sir Winston Churchill named it.

[smallwolf]

Hey there.

Thank you for sharing your personal experience with depression and anxiety. It takes a lot of courage to open up about such a personal matter. I'm also glad that you were able to get the help that you needed to feel "normal" again.

It's unfortunate that mental health issues can run in families, but it's great that your doctors were able to identify and treat your symptoms. (Technically, it more a predisposition. I have both depression and anxiety, and it was only when I called mum a few year back, that I found out dad has/had it to.) I'm also glad to hear that you found exercise to be helpful. It's amazing what physical activity can do for our mental health!

I understand that it can be tough when our loved ones don't quite understand what we're going through, but I'm sure they're happy to see you living a happy and healthy life now. And speaking of happy, it's wonderful to hear that your children are doing well too!

Thank you for sharing your journey with us. I hope that your story can inspire others who may be going through something similar.

[HelloGail]

Joshalot

Four children now grown up sounds like a lot of hard work to me, I only had one and can't imagine how I would have coped. Good to read you are in a good space. I sense during those long years you may not have had much time for yourself and finally easing in to mature hood as I like to call it. I don't know how some parents do it especially the ones who work full time and  come home to a noisy loud crowd lol. Thank you for the inspiration. 

[Fern42]

Hi Joshalot,

Thank you for sharing your story with us on the forums. It's really nice to see progress stories like this that highlight the difficulties of family mental health struggles running in family yet being able to overcome these struggles with great courage and strength. I am so pleased that you had a supportive psychiatrist and psychologist too to help you through these difficult stages, I wish you all the best with your journey forward.