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Sophie_M How are you feeling about the social media restrictions in Australia for under 16s?
  • replies: 14

Hey everyone With the upcoming Australian social media restriction for under 16-year-olds coming up we want to know what this means for you and maybe even the young people in your life. This conversation is a place for all of us to share how we are f... View more

Hey everyone With the upcoming Australian social media restriction for under 16-year-olds coming up we want to know what this means for you and maybe even the young people in your life. This conversation is a place for all of us to share how we are feeling and what we think the challenges and benefits might be for you or the wonderful young people in our community. Have you thought about how to stay connected with friends you’ve met online? Are you focused mostly on the positives, or the negatives? What do your parents think, and what could they do to support you? Importantly the Beyond Blue Forums are not impacted by these restrictions, we're here for anyone under 16. In short, from December 10 Social Media companies will need to ensure that only people over 16 actively engage with their platforms. There is a lot of information out there which can make it tricky to know what to expect on when it comes into effect. To learn more we think these are a helpful place to start eSafety commissioner + Headspace FAQs. We know this change will impact some more than others, QLife provide anonymous and free LGBTIQ+ support and 13YARN are here for all Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people. We want to hear your thoughts on how this might impact the mental health of under 16s in both a positive and negative way. The Beyond Blue Forums are a place for constructive and helpful conversation and the regular moderation rules apply which means we look forward to a kind and understanding discussion. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings Sophie M

BeyondBlue New to this Forum? Please read this first!
  • replies: 0

Hey there! Welcome to the Young People section of the Beyond Blue Forums. The purpose of this section is to provide members aged 25 and under a space to discuss life issues, tricky situations and the difficult emotions and feelings that come with tho... View more

Hey there! Welcome to the Young People section of the Beyond Blue Forums. The purpose of this section is to provide members aged 25 and under a space to discuss life issues, tricky situations and the difficult emotions and feelings that come with those. If you are aged over 25, please be mindful that this is a space for younger people to connect and provide support for each other. These forums are moderated, so your posts may not appear straight away. Information on moderation on the Forums can be found here. Being familiar with our Community Guidelines can help ensure that your posts appear online as quickly as possible. If we have concerns about your wellbeing, one of our friendly moderators will check in with you privately to make sure you get the support you need. If you need more immediate support, we recommend reaching out to the following: Beyond Blue Support Service – any time, chat online to a counsellor or call 1300 22 4636 Headspace – between 9am and 1am (AEST), chat online to a mental health clinician or call 1800 650 890 Kids Helpline – any time, chat online to a counsellor or call 1800 55 1800 Thank you for being here. We’re glad you’ve found us here and hope this can be a supportive space for you Beyond Blue

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_Luna_ All Medicare-covered psychologist sessions used? What do I do?
  • replies: 5

I'm 19 years old, and I started seeing a new psychologist in around March this year (I moved cities because I've started uni), and I've already used up the 10 Medicare covered sessions. I have pretty severe/chronic mental illnesses and I NEED to cont... View more

I'm 19 years old, and I started seeing a new psychologist in around March this year (I moved cities because I've started uni), and I've already used up the 10 Medicare covered sessions. I have pretty severe/chronic mental illnesses and I NEED to continue to see my psychologist. The only problem is that I can't afford to pay for sessions now because I've used up all the Medicare covered ones And I can't leave my psychologist for a new one because I've finally become comfortable and trusting of her. I feel that this psychologist truly understands me and we've started to really make progress. I also don't handle change well, and it takes me a long time to trust people (because of my social anxiety and ptsd). I don't know what to do.... I need to keep seeing her but I can't afford it. Does anyone have any advice??

JMS_Art Get angry over nothing everyday
  • replies: 3

(This may be upsetting to someone going through emotional issues. Just giving a warning.) Hey guys, I'm 21 and I've been struggling with emotional issues for around 3 years now. It started when I got assaulted and dragged down a street when I was 18.... View more

(This may be upsetting to someone going through emotional issues. Just giving a warning.) Hey guys, I'm 21 and I've been struggling with emotional issues for around 3 years now. It started when I got assaulted and dragged down a street when I was 18. A friend took a solar light from this mans garden and waved it like a light saber and we thought it was funny but I admit it was stupid. The dude just ran out screaming. He grabbed me and bashed me on the street while my "friends" pissed off. Ever since then long term trust in anyone has been impossible. I've cut ties with everyone I new from school and if I happen to make new friends its only a matter of time before I start distrusting them as well. This often results in me feeling betrayed over nothing and me ending up alone avoiding people. I have never been in a relationship because of this exact reason. I see peoples worst qualities so clearly after a just a week of knowing them and then start getting angry at them. This has resulted in me turning once friends into sworn enemies. I've gotten death threats which doesn't mix well with an already emotionally unstable person. All I want is ONE genuine friend and someone to potentially start a family with one day but as life moves on that wish starts looking like a fantasy that wont happen. I've seen a psychologist but don't feel like it works at all. I despise drugs and any kind of mind or emotion altering medication. Being artificially numb isn't appealing to me but I fear if I refuse medication the only other option might be to go to a mental ward. I feel like no one truly wants to help so they just throw anti-depressants at you till you don't know your surroundings anymore. I might be wrong but that's how I feel. Apologies for the long anecdote I usually like to keep it short but this is a long time of built up emotion in text form. Thanks, please send me wisdom and advice.

swtpotato Introduction - struggling with depression and isolation at uni
  • replies: 18

Hello everyone --just wanted to introduce myself I am 22, studying at uni in 3rd year. I took last semester off to try and recover from chronic fatigue and depression after having a bit of a breakdown the year before (you know...just a bit). For the ... View more

Hello everyone --just wanted to introduce myself I am 22, studying at uni in 3rd year. I took last semester off to try and recover from chronic fatigue and depression after having a bit of a breakdown the year before (you know...just a bit). For the first half of the year I was just waiting to start my life again, but now I am here I have gotten more depressed and anxious and feel isolated from my friends. I started medication 4 weeks ago and went up 2 weeks ago. Since I increased my dose I have been cycling from intense anxiety - apathy - crying spells - fatigue - nervous energy. My social anxiety is also starting to come back. Before I started I was really apathetic and lethargic with lots of physical symptoms but less anxiety. From what I have read in a few forums this is quite normal and it tends to start working from 8-12 weeks. The last few days have been really difficult, and I don't really know what to do. I have lost some close friends since I came here and don't have many people to turn to, and when I do I feel really guilty about it. I have a good doctor and psychologist but don't see them as much as I'd like to. I am doing 3 subjects even though it really is too much but I need to so I can get centrelink and other benefits. Despite all that I would rather be here attempting to live my life than be back home -- hoping I will be able to get through the next few weeks! I think I will try and post on here quite a bit as it would be really helpful to chat with people who have been through similar things.

littlegoat my anxiety/depression has affected me and my relationships and i don't know what to do anymore
  • replies: 4

Hi there, i'm sorry if i'm being overdramatic but i just really needed to get some help/advice. Recently, it's come to my attention that my negativity/stressed nature has affected so many parts of my life. I once thought and was seen as a very optimi... View more

Hi there, i'm sorry if i'm being overdramatic but i just really needed to get some help/advice. Recently, it's come to my attention that my negativity/stressed nature has affected so many parts of my life. I once thought and was seen as a very optimistic person and some people (those i'm not close too) still think that way. I don't know what happened to myself in the past few years but i became very stressed about literally everything, especially my studies as my hsc was approaching. i think one of the triggers might have been that i did not know what i wanted to do in the future. I wanted to get the highest atar i could to broaden my options for uni courses. So i was always tense and stressed out about studying while also wanting to balance out my social life as well.i had a boyfriend at the time who was very supportive and rather the opposite of me. He didn't really understand stress but tried to be understanding and calm me down when i was stressing out. the issue was that i was fixated on the idea of achieving a high atar and my parents were against dating so i didn't tell them about him and he knew. my aim was to get a high atar for them to understand that the relationship i had didn't impact my studies. And i stand by that today because he was supportive of me and i loved him for that. He waited for me and knew we couldn't properly date because the view of my parents. After hsc and atar results, my parents now knew about him but they were still against it, believing i am too young. But we continued to be together. I was still stressing a lot. He was still there for me still but about 5 months ago, he seemed very cold and distant to me. I mentioned how i was feeling about it to him several times and he'd say he's sorry then seem normal again but then back to being distant a few days after. That made me feel guilty, maybe i wasn't giving him enough attention, we weren't going out much so i tried harder, seeing him more often before uni but it wasn't helping and my stress levels were just getting too much to handle because i overthink so much. My closest friends were worried about me because i was so stressed cause my feelings weren't reciprocated and he wasn't treating me like a girlfriend anymore. Feeling so hurt, i knew i needed to break up with him although i still liked him very much till this day. (i went over the character limit, sorry)

Lachy3130 My self-fulfilling prophecy
  • replies: 2

I have been more or less unemployed my entire short life. I have only had roughly 5 months which was in 2013, and about 2 months worth of work days last year. I enjoy working, that's no lie, however I can not see the point in looking for any. I am in... View more

I have been more or less unemployed my entire short life. I have only had roughly 5 months which was in 2013, and about 2 months worth of work days last year. I enjoy working, that's no lie, however I can not see the point in looking for any. I am in a cycle that I can clearly see but it has no way out of it. I will first find myself without money to feed or transport myself with, so I will hype myself up to find work. When I put a lying smile on my face and tell those who turn me away that I would love to work for them, that I am keen to start whenever they are ready, that I am happy to do whatever job no matter how small, I go into them trying to believe that I can get the job. Then I either get a generic email saying that I am not eligible for the job, that someone more worthy has taking it. If I hear from them at all that is. So whatever small amount of self worth I have is snuffed out, so I give up on looking for work. That is until I find myself broke with little food and fuel until my next payment and I look again. This has happened so many times that I truly think that I will never work again in my life. I know that this means that thinking this just means that it will keep happening again and again. At times I just want to tell those who interview that I know that they think I'm hopeless. That I won't get the job. That I'm wasting their time, along with everyone else who's going for the job. While I sometimes think about removing myself from this cycle, I won't. It would hurt the people I love far too much So I'll lie again about looking for work, that I care about my studies, that I want to smile and laugh. It's what's expected of me.

sunbear74 I'm not really sure what is going on. I'm drowning.
  • replies: 7

I'm not sure if this qualifies for the seriousness of this website but I'm running out of people to talk to. I've hit a point in my life where I feel like I'm drowning or being smothered and I can't breathe. I've tried telling my parents, but my feel... View more

I'm not sure if this qualifies for the seriousness of this website but I'm running out of people to talk to. I've hit a point in my life where I feel like I'm drowning or being smothered and I can't breathe. I've tried telling my parents, but my feelings are shrugged off as stress at uni. But in all honesty it feels like so much more than that. I'm the girl who people come to for advice and support, I try to be strong and happy for others so that they don't have to be. The minute I get home though I collapse. I don't feel like doing anything but lie in bed. I don't go out with my friends anymore because I don't want them to see me like this. My dad keeps constantly getting mad at me for things I do, and refuses to see things from my perspective when I try to explain. We go for days without talking sometimes and he thinks I'm trying to control his life and doesn't see how upset it makes me. The little aspects of my life are starting to crack and I try to compensate by distracting others with a facade of a bright and bubbly personality. I want to try and feel better before my life shatters completely. I've tried just about everything, excersise, healthy eating, meditation and above all the hardest thing for me to do was tell my parents. None of that worked and I'm here as a last resort. I know I don't have any serious problems but all the little things going wrong in my life are starting to add up, and soon I'm not going to be able to bear it anymore. Please offer some advice as to what you think I should do going forward, and how I can get back on track.

beyond_happy I don't want to leave but..
  • replies: 5

Im currently a high school student, who has in the past suffered from severe depression. I no longer associate myself with the negative thoughts that I previously did but I tend to struggle a lot with issues and I just came here today in hope for adv... View more

Im currently a high school student, who has in the past suffered from severe depression. I no longer associate myself with the negative thoughts that I previously did but I tend to struggle a lot with issues and I just came here today in hope for advice. My friends, the people I've spent my whole high school experience with, are continuously ignoring me, not inviting me anywhere, talking behind my back and pushing me out. I keep blaming myself for this but i know that i have done nothing wrong. I haven't confronted any issues with them because knowing them, so well, they will not have a mature conversation with me. I know this will potentially be the end of our friendships, leaving me with no body. I know many people will tell me to leave the group, find new friends but i have booked several holidays with them which causes an issue. I know this doesn't seem like much but I have never really felt this alone. Please help.

JustNotMeantToBe Hello I have decided to post here.
  • replies: 1

Hello I have decided to post here because I really dont have anyone else to talk to in Australia. Ever since high school Alot if not most of my friends have moved onto uni in another city and haven't bothered to talk to me since. Im in the same town ... View more

Hello I have decided to post here because I really dont have anyone else to talk to in Australia. Ever since high school Alot if not most of my friends have moved onto uni in another city and haven't bothered to talk to me since. Im in the same town doing a second year apprenticeship in plumbing with a very abusive boss. My boss Im pretty sure is a drug addict and will come to work to just abuse me 90% of the time. Yesterday I accidental cross threaded a brass nut and he went on a thirty minute rant about how im useless and he wishes he picked another apprentice to work with him because "he would rather of hired a dog to keep him company than me". Yes he actually said that. I really don't know what else to do Im just not seeing the point in anything. Life is really boring to me and Im too socially awkward to make new friends outside of the people I already work with. There just really isn't any point to any of this.

Kamh I don't know how I feel anymore.
  • replies: 6

I'm sorry if this is all over the place, it's my first time posting in these forums. I just recently got diagnosed with depression after struggling with severe anxiety for a few years. Everything has kinda changed the last few weeks though. I can't r... View more

I'm sorry if this is all over the place, it's my first time posting in these forums. I just recently got diagnosed with depression after struggling with severe anxiety for a few years. Everything has kinda changed the last few weeks though. I can't really feel anything but anxious. I feel numb, and I have no idea how I am. I really hate it, it's scary. My sister said that feeling numb means you are getting better? Is that true? I feel like I'm going to explode, kind of like I have all of this pentup emotion that can't come out. Is this a symptom of anxiety/depression? My mum thinks I don't need counselling anymore because she thinks I'm getting better, but I really don't feel like I'm better. I just feel different. But not in a good way. I still feel like I'm drowning in sadness, but it's not the type of sadness that makes you cry (though I feel like I'm going to, but I can't cry). I'm sorry if I'm not describing it very well. Please tell me if you know what's wrong, or have any idea how to help. thanks so much!

Liza_O12 I think I'm in denial about being depressed and my friends dont care.
  • replies: 19

I struggle to get out of bed every day, I feel sad almost ALL the time and I have Lots of symptoms of a depressed person but I am very good at hiding it. I get to school and I'm a bubbly, funny and happy person who's kind to everyone. That's why I'm ... View more

I struggle to get out of bed every day, I feel sad almost ALL the time and I have Lots of symptoms of a depressed person but I am very good at hiding it. I get to school and I'm a bubbly, funny and happy person who's kind to everyone. That's why I'm still debating whether or not I'm depressed, because I can 'snap out of it' so easily. It's still there, in the back of my mind, but I can push it away. i don't think it's healthy to hide it the whole time. Recently I had an argument with my friends at school which somehow ended up in me telling them that I have been struggling with feelings of anxiety and depression, which I had never told anyone. It resulted in them saying 'they wish they knew so they could help' but since then, no one has talked to me about it. I'm not even sure they're my real friends anymore. That's why I miss so many days of school, because I don't think I fit in. sorry if my writing is all over the place, I'm just trying to write how I feel and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Basically, high school sucks and feeling anxious and depressed sucks even more. Writing on this forum is a big step for me, because for a long time I've been debating whether or not how I'm feeling is hormones or something more.