Finally taking care of my mental health

[Blackdogshelter]

Hey!

im new here. Had depression for 5 years, but only decided last week to seek professional help.

during the 5 years I thought I was getting better, but i actually wasn't. So here I am, and I'm glad to have found a place where I can get advice and be able to talk about my depression.

[white knight]

Hi BD, welcome

At 61yo with the knowledge I now have about my journey of my mental health you have now embarked on the same road.

Like everything in life thete are negatives and on this road you'll be hard pressed to find positives. With any positives you need to embrace them more than they deserve so it helps to balance the negatives.

Eg. Some positives

You are now aware of your limitations

You will get help with meds, therapy, peer group advice

Youll improve your extremes of your behaviour

You might embrace talents that some of those with mental illness have (van gogh, churchill, steven fry...the list is huge)

The negatives

Must get a correct diagnosis

Must try various meds and doses with can take time

Meds side effects

Regular therapy/psych sessions

Cost

relationship strain

Listed below is just a few of the thousands of threads hete worth reading. Use google

Topic: medication is a whirlpool- beyondblue

Topic: the balance of your life- beyondblue

Topic: they just wont understand why?- beyondblue

Topic: what life's like at the end of the tunnel- beyondblue

Topic: the best praise you'll ever get- beyondblue

Topic: depression and the timing of motivation- beyondblue

Post anytime.

TonyWK

[geoff]

hello Blackdogshelter, we certainly want to welcome you and thanks for posting your comment, it's not only important for you but also for us, because there are so many people out there that are too frightened to even mention how much they are struggling but they don't realise that all of us have been or still going through this terrible illness.
It's not only good for you to try and connect with us just as it is with your therapist/counsellor, both can try and help as much as we can. Geoff.

[Joyjoy28]

I have been struggling with depression a long time and have found some things that have been valuable to help me along the way. I am not a bad person, a failure or defective. I deserve to be happy and safe. It matters little what others think of you because when you are down you will assume they think badly of you. But try to love who you are, not who you think you think you should be? These things I once felt were not possible for me to achieve, as I had for such a long time had a negative view of myself. But slowly I started to try to like myself, not to be ashamed of who I was. And that it was ok to be vulnerable and ask for help when I really needed to. So depression is a long journey with many ups and downs but along the way we learn much and meet some wonderful people.

[chrissy1]

Hi there,

wow what a wealth of information,I wish I'd known all that. Fantastic! I'm too am 65yrs young, and have had this illness for 30yrs too long.

chrissy1