Hello Chicken18, can I offer a warm welcome to the site?
I am really sorry to hear of your relapse, unfortunately, this can be possible no matter how strong you have got yourself into, by different experiences or circumstances that you had not expected would ever happen.
When you’ve been able to maintain your mental health for a period of time, it’s scary and frustrating to deal with a setback.
Use this relapse as a way to learn more, which is very important for maintaining your strength, however, it's not easy to know what has to be done to get you back on track, except to go back to counselling.
The strategies you had learned previously may not be appropriate for these new situations, although they will still be good in other situations, but you may need to make some changes and remember that it will eventually pass.
My relapses last couple of weeks so when I do have one, it's disappointing because you would think that I was strong enough to avoid another one, no one is able to do this, especially if you have had depression before.
I know you want your friends, but can I suggest you go back to your doctor and get the counselling you had before.
This is not failing at all, it's a different time and different situations you have to face, it's always sad when and if anybody does have a relapse, but I take it as a learning curve that depression puts us on.
Hope to hear back from you.
Geoff.
