Depression

I think making sure you are communicating with others often and engaging in the world is half the battle.

best of luck, I can relate.

Literally been battling it my whole life. Caused a serious pill addiction for a while. Tried killing myself at least twice (honestly think I succeeded the once, but was sent back, but that's a story for some other time). Meds never worked and always either made me sick physically or made the negative thoughts worse.

In all honesty, it will never go away completely and NO ONE will ever understand unless they live with it themselves. That said, it can and does get better. Sometimes it gets better, then worse, then better again, and so on. Point is, it's not always soon and gloom. The real trick is not to try and solve it quick and easy. That doesn't work. Instead, try for healthy distractions to get you through a little bit at a time. Maybe a week or a day or just an hour. Alcohol and drugs are probably not a great idea. I mean, alcohol is literally a depressant and almost always only makes things worse and drugs can and often do lead to health problems which mostly just make you feel worse. So, find something simple to get you through a little bit ata time. Sounds typical, but music, movies, tv shows, games, and books help me. Sometimes one doesn't work as well as it did for a while, but usually at least one of those will help provide me with an escape for a bit.

It's probably a good idea to seek some sort of therapy. It can be hard to find a type and therapist that works for you, but when you do, it will probably help at least a little. I've never personally found psychotherapy helpful, but have honestly found cognitive behavioural therapy beneficial (really never thought I'd say those words a few years ago).

Most importantly, remember that feeling depressed is okay sometimes and doesn't have to last forever. If you allow yourself to wallow in it and let negative thoughts and actions fester it will get worse and worse. But, if you take some steps to better those feelings or even just temper them until they pass, it will get better. The key is really just finding those small mpments of joy among the chaos of a troubled mind and focus on those good/enjoyable things instead of the ones that cause pain and struggle

Honestly man, I been going through a lot of it lately. And I have had some vicious past battles. But I always like talking and helping other people and finding comfort in talking to others. Hit me up and PM me if you ever wanna talk. I always like talking and meeting new people. But, other things man going on long walks really helped me. Working out, or focusing on progressive side goal. Like, working on attribute to yourself you wanna chance. Physically/Mentally. Becoming enamored at new side hobby.

~*Young $ Money*~ is right in the sense that EVERYONE goes through at least a bout with depression. But that short term depression is more likely related to either a major mistake you made, grief for someone you're super close to passing...hell, not to turn this political but this is just a factual statement that after the 2016 Presidential election in America and the subsequent fallout, the American Psychological and Psychiatric Association put out their yearly stats the February after everything was over and therapy sessions for fried, depression, and anxiety climbed something like 250% because of it. The short term depression is still depression, but it's stress based if you're able to overcome it after a while.

In my case, I've been on a variety of anti anxiety, anti Compulsion, and SSRI medications for about 13 years now and I'm still depressed, sometimes manic, and compulsive but before I started the meds I was at a 19/10 all the time. It takes meds months to start working, but you do notice a difference. When you're CHRONICALLY depressed, your brain is stuck in a chemical imbalance your neurotransmitters are firing off your dopamine at regular or high intervals, but your seretonin is either transmitting very minuscule amounts, or you're flat out not producing any at all in your brain. Too much serotonin makes you manic. Too little causes depression. SSRIs and MAOIs can fix that in most people after a while, but every case may vary. They FORCE your brain to make it, and help the neurotransmitters find ways to get the serotonin to wherever it needs to go without getting stuck and dying. The brain stem.

If this feeling keeps up for a few more weeks, get an appointment with a shrink or a CBG therapist and they'll have a test for you to do, some are "Have you been depressed for mote than a wrrk'kimd of questions but the rest are your cognitive abilities like Rorschach tests. They don't care what you see, no answer is wrong. But the answers you give help them get an understanding as to the severity and it may conclude with a CT scan so they can see what parts of your brain are giving off more heat than others, and what parts are either totally dormant blue, or almost grey if the neurotransmitters carrying the dopamine excess has dumped the excess off in a lobe it isn't supposed to go to.

That said, may be a doctor, but not in the medical field. I can only tell you what I've been told. And while person by person basis is obviously drastically different, a lot of the tests and stuff I mentioned are universal,

I wish you the best of luck on your journey, regardless which path that you're forced to tread. My PMs are always open. I can't give medical advice, but I've been battling depression and OCD for over a dozen years so I can at least commiserate even if you just want to talk about basic things that are going on and not just what doctors may tell you if this does keep up.

Everyone really gave some heartfelt advice.

Personally, I've found the key is to openly discuss your thoughts with someone you trust. Speaking your thoughts aloud can be quite freeing even you don't think the person understands you.
Also, find joy through your hobbies. I've gotten lost in plenty of tv shows and old wrestling matches. I also went through a phase in the early 2000's of having quite the figure fed. That really allowed me to escape in a good way.
My last piece of advice is make sure you get plenty of exercise. Exercise can really get your mind and body in the right place. Light therapy might also be of benefit with the season changing.

I wish you well.
-David

To drop my thoughts on this, I agree with others that have said everyone seems to experience some form of depression at points in their life. Having said that, I think it is at different levels for different individuals. From late 2017 till around mid 2020 I battled with depression, so I understand the struggle you are feeling. My saving grace was getting out there, speaking to others and surrounding myself with positive, upbeat people who kept me from slipping.

Any negativity around you can really bring you down - a relationship, job, stress you are carrying, that negativity can come in many different forms. That, for me, was what I believed sparked my depressive episodes and feelings for those few years.

Having said all that, I just want to let you know that you aren’t alone and there are others here who you can always drop a line to. Feel free to message me to talk anytime, I’m always down to chat about anything and help if I can 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

I was diagnosed with major depression (though I think it's really bipolarity I've been dealing with) at the age of 13. I'm now 32. School was tough. I ended up dropping out of high school when I was 2-3 months away from graduation. Never went back to finish until I was 26.

I was never great at taking meds. I just don't. I'm also terrible at talking about it. I have mostly been burying it down and white knuckling it for almost a decade and it's been going decent. Life is good, I have a house, will be getting married soon. The issue for me is that my baseline is incredibly low. I'm rarely ever excited or devastated. Just a dial tone. Rarely anything moves the needle.

My advice would be to try to find a balance in your life where you can fill your plate with what you know you can handle, but all the time. Keeping busy helps me a lot. When I have downtime I work on custom figures because it's time consuming and makes me happy. Yard work is good, as well as taking the lead on the cooking and cleaning. Also, take sick days for your mental health when you need too.

One thing I have to say, is this forum always came together for those in troubled times. This is a perfect example of support and affirmation that you are not alone and that is in fact very relatable to feel how you're feeling.

Life is difficult, but we make it through with good support like this. I too have had challenges like some others, and I can understand the mood swings, the highs and lows, that struggle for the smallest things, or the feeling of being misunderstood and there isn't help out there. The first positive sign is that you shared it with us, you shared with a group of people who have similar feelings and that's a great first step. It takes time to change some of these feelings without the use of medication but it takes incremental steps to progress. I took some time to talk to someone, and it wasn't even that he could offer me advice that was revolutionary but talking it out, telling someone how I felt was such a cathartic feeling. I finally started to feel less trapped. I hope you can talk to someone who will listen and let you clean your system.

Keep thinking of that idea of feeling good. Fill it with healthy distractions if you can, changing diet, changing routine, little changes to set a new norm without overwhelming the system. Keep your eye on the big picture.


Be proud of the fact that you reached out took steps in the right direction.

It's a battle we all probably deal with depression in a different way.
Also it could be due to the winter weather and it's always dark out. Maybe see if you can start using vitamin d regularly and maybe exercise has been shown to help to.