I'm posting this during one of my low points, when the force of my depression feels like a second pull of gravity bringing me to the ground in despair and hopelessness. I've been depressed since February 20th. I used to be a happy person, only feeling sad occasionally and being able to cope with it effectively. Now it just feels awful all the time with periodic episodes of happiness. I've been seeing a therapist and everything, and I was on medication, but I stopped taking it a few weeks ago after I realized it completely destroyed my sixual drive and just generally made me feel numb all the time.

I don't really know where else to go right now because my family doesn't need this and I don't want to bother my friends. Can anyone relate?

I'm in one of these states right now (as everyone on these forums knows and doubts). My mind is a sea of confusion, and I'm not sure what to do with my life or even how much my life is worth. Thinking about it, I realized that the first thing I need to do is get a job, so that my self-esteem boosts and I get away from my family in one stroke. So I'm trying to get hired somewhere.

It comes and it goes. I'd say get back on the meds; it's not like depression is good for your six drive.

Go back to your doctor. Explain you encountered side effects to the medication. Tell him or her that you stopped taking it. Chances are good that you and your doctor can find medication that will help without the side effects you had. Stopping medication abruptly can cause other issues.

Really, a gaming forum isn't the best place for medical advice.

I'm depressed all the time... I'm in a situation where my mother depends on me to help pay the bills ( I moved back home a few years ago after things in my own life started going badly )

I'm working as a temp in a [censored] factory... afraid all the time to speak my mind or get into a confrontation because it'll most likely end with my unemployment and my mother losing the family home.. we're hanging on by the skin of our teeth... [censored] keeps [censored]in up and I'm barely able to afford it...

I feel as if I've abandond my principals over the last four or five years and a sort of self loathing has developed.

I've felt pretty low at other points in my life but never for an extended period like this.

The actual full scope of my depression is much larger ( i had what could be considered a nervous break down abot 4 years ago ) but my mind cant really cohearantly wrangle it all together so I'll just hit the post tab.

Oh, I can definitely relate. As weird/stupid as it sounds, one thing that helps me cope is to just realise that everyone (well, most everyone) has their burdens to bear, whatever it may be. Ours just happens to be depression.

As unpopular as this stance seems to be, you can get out of this EASILY and ON YOUR OWN. I was depressed for 7-8 long years, and things just kept getting worse and worse. Everything always went wrong for me, and it just seemed like I was never meant to be happy. Every time I let my hopes get up and believed "hey, this is actually going to work out!", I would soon find out just how wrong I was and it would send me to an all-new low.

Funny enough, it was precisely one of these all-new lows that actually brought me out of this cycle. When things got to their absolute, all-time worst, it was kind of like that "tipping" thing in Inception where you are woken up from the dream. I simply decided that enough was enough, I was no longer going to let myself live in the depths of despair, spending all my time boo-hooing and thinking "oh, poor me, look how bad my life is. It will never get better". That was all it took: simply deciding that I wasn't going to let things get to me and bring me down anymore.

That night, I stumbled upon a movie called "The Secret: Law of Attraction". It was so uplifting, and it only strengthened my resolve. Give the movie a watch if you haven't already, it is DEFINITELY worth your time. Basically, it opened my eyes to the immense strength of the mind and our thoughts. You have so much more control than you think you do.

And now, no matter what happens, how bad thing get, or how terrible my run of luck may be, I simply tell myself "It's ok. Everything is ok. You can get through this, it's not the end of the world. Just stay happy". And you know what? It works. As long as I tell myself "It's ok, just stay happy", I actually STAY HAPPY.

Just tell yourself to smile and keep going, and if you TRULY want to, you will do exactly that. It's all about frame of mind and willpower. Things are never as bad as you make them out to be in your mind, and you're never as hopeless as you think. Life is a beautiful thing, as long as you let it be, and as long as you want it to be. At the end of the day, it is all up to you.

And people were wondering why there's a link to a mental health website. My advice is to click on that as strangers on the Internet probably aren't too qualified to be giving this kind of advice

I'm sorry to hear man.

I can only imagine how you may feel and what you are going through. In the end I don't know whats in your head and I know that it is a very difficult situation.

Best advice I can give is to see multiple doctors/specialists if you can.

I wish you the best.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=om+chant&oq=om+chant&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.104.786.0.916.8.6.0.2.2.0.80.403.6.6.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.CW-ZEE3a-5w sometimes helps me think.

I suppose I got what people would describe as depression years ago after I had an emotional break down from excessive anger issues. what I experienced was a complete in ability to feel or express emotions. Rather than fight it I embraced despair and used it as a source of fuel to drive my existentialism.

Every one has their own solution you are better of finding your own rather than asking other people how they got out of their private and unique emotional traps.

interaction and carrying on even when you are the one being laughed at

in short you gotta be tough to be dumb

and definitely force acceptance and values on others rather than seek approval

be emphatic about others so that it is easier to disregard when the resistance of their needs become too great for you to offer

learn from others so that you dont repeat their patterns

lastly there aint no such thing nothing ever ends

You really need to see your doctor and explain the problem with the side-effects: maybe they'll switch you to something else. The category of antidepressants called SSRIs is notorious for the specific problem you mention so perhaps they'll try one from a different group. You need some sort of treatment though, once you get into this sort of malaise, it's often very hard to just pull oneself out of it without some form of help.

Do something you've wanted to do, but haven't for one reason or another. Even if it's scary, just do it.

I get the bout of depression every now and then, to stave it off I make videos I mostly show off toys/collectibles that I collect and give a my two cents about them and for fillers I make animations (not the best in the world but hey) and this usually boost my self-esteem by quite a bit when my work shows on how hard I've worked on them.

I felt depressed a few months ago because I was pondering the concept of the death and what it would be like, and I lost all of my enthusiasm to do anything, but I got out of it by just finding a hobby and spending time around other people to keep my mind busy and prevent it from entertaining those depressing thoughts, eventually I got it out of my system and just forgot about it, and now I don't start feeling depressed even when I do try to think about it. In fact going through that depressive state seems to have made me a happier person overall, hopefully the same will happen to you. Once again: Find a hobby or something to keep yourself busy, something that make's you feel useful to other people, but of course, I don't what the cause of YOUR depression is, so I don't know if it will help in your case. And I was just going through a short state of sadness, I wasn't officially diagnosed with depression like you seem to be considering you mentioned taking medication, so I doubt I can truly relate.

I can relate but don't really want to share here. All I can say to this is have you asked to try different meds? If the meds you were given were only dampening your emotions instead of making them better, then you should try something new. Also what type of therapy are you going through? Different methods work better for different people, as with drugs. If you don't feel like its helping, seek out something else. There are many different drugs that combat depression, so my only advice is that you keep looking and trying until you find the right one.. Which I know will sound tedious.
OTOH you might find that no drugs work for you... That your depression just started on February 20th, unless you're of a certain age (?) it seems a bit odd, and perhaps therapy will be the thing that helps you... Particularly if there was a trigger to this depression? If this is the case then I would expect that drugs would not help you as greatly as therapy would.
Also.. You should tell your friends and family. Nothing will make you more low than cutting yourself off from them too. They can help you more than anyone on here could ever be able to.

I hope this helps, and I hope you find your way to getting better

I'll just echo the others that you may want to try another med, and, depending on how you're feeling about it, perhaps even trying a different therapist might be something to try. Just like with meds, finding the right therapist for you, may take time. Have you tried/thought about group therapy? A support network (outside of family, I mean)?

Anyway, I can definitely relate, particularly to the "not wanting to bother friends (over and over...)" aspect and I wish you luck in finding a solution that works for you.

Best post I ever read.

*nods*

This is the best solution when it comes to this imho. No offense OP, but speaking about myself, i'm not qualified in ANY regard to talk about matters of the mind and psychology.

Do what Talaran said. Sometimes you need to try a few medications before you find one that works for you.

And watching happy films and thinking happy thoughts will not help anyone with severe depression.

Yeah. They can sometimes just end up being annoying. Less severe depression can be ameliorated by making lifestyle changes (though what needs to be changed is often easier to identify with the benefit of hindsight, irritatingly) but once it's really set in, additional help is usually required, unfortunately.

No. If anything else, it'll just reaffirm their belief that there's something wrong with them. "Everyone else is happy, but I'm not. I'm clearly the freak."

Sometimes, you need help from meds and support groups to get you through.

This.

I have PTSD and depression, the best help you can get yourself is from a professional.

I lack certain corticosteroids and hormones and this is my physioloigcal reason for the depression. Being a victim of sixual and domestic violence also did not help. Depression has nothing to do with willpower, or the lack thereof. It has everything to do with brain chemistry and the endocrine hormones our bodies produce. The meds, when properly tailored to your unique physiological issues, will help.

To be blunt, I was so severely traumatized and depressed that I checked my schedule against that of my two advlt kids, lined up eight vials of insulin, in the refrigorator, laid out a fresh needle, then went to therapy. At therapy, I informed my counselor that I needed to be hospitalized because I was so severly depressed that when I left from there, that I was going to inject myself with every single vial. My kids would not be home, and not suspect. I would then take a bath and die. I was dispassionate, cold, calculating, and I meant [censored] business.

No amount of happy movies, willpower, money, or Pollyannasunshine [censored] was going to correct my issue.

I was immediately taken to a hospital and admitted, per my instructions, that I not be released until I was stable.

I spent about two weeks in the hospital, got my endocrine, nervous, and psychological needs taken care of.

Make an appointment today. If you are so depressed and have no recourse but to post on a gaming forum, you need help. People here cannot give it to you. Only health professionals can. You are worth it. Admitting you need help does not make you weak. It makes you honest, and honest, open communication is not what you are giving your doctor, yourself, and your loved ones. Dont shortchange yourself.

You have to stay active and focused on goals. That's the only experiential advice I can give, the rest must come from a doc. Don't give up on meds. You want to have a low six drive or be bloody miserable all the time?

All this pointing out to see professional help is all well in good, but another thing someone depressed should hear is success stories. Proof from others experiences that things can change for the better.

One thing therapists cannot do, is instill you with inspiration. Only those who have been around the block and have come out on top have a chance of doing this to another.

Last year I encountered the worst bout of depression yet, and I was definitely on the brink. I had no will to go to a doctor on my own, and I told my mom, I would go see one under the condition that she goes with me.

I was then placed on Lexapro. It was a great med, aside from the side effect of killing my six drive completely. It kept all the bad thoughts at bay, and gave my mind much needed room and time to heal itself. I was on it for a month.

I feel ya OP.

I just suffered a severe bout of depression this spring. Though I feel suicide is the cowards way out, I was still contemplating it. I'm middle aged, alone, and made many stupid mistakes/choices in my years. I cried regularly for weeks saying to myself "you're a worthless [censored] up".

I then had to look at it from a different point of view. Can I change my past? Nope. Do I have to be alone? Nope. Am I going to get any younger? Nope. I then decided all I can do is move forward, making better choices and not to beat myself up over things I can not change.

As to medication, I, for myself am not a fan of "bug pills". I've been down that road and found them all to make me "buggy". I do believe they are good for some people, but others, it makes things worse. This is something you and your doctor need to figure out for yourself.

I'd just like to say, things usually get better on their own. Try not to beat yourself up. It's OK to be depressed as long as you realize it and don't do anything drastic. I realized I had to much time on my hands and it was part of the problem, I'd think to much. Since then, I make things for myself to do. I'll put on some good tunes and clean my apartment, do dishes, go for a bike ride, invite my neighbour over for dinner, something, anything not to stew in negative thoughts.

I wish you the best and hope you find your "happy place" very soon! Just know that you are not alone. We all have our bad days/times.