Dealing with depression

First topic message reminder :

Evening all,

Ok from the top. I've been coming on here for a while now and as I am hiding behind an alias think it is easier to get things off my chest here than elsewhere.

I've been suffering from depression most of my life but only identified it a few years back. It's a really difficult thing to make sense of at times. Sometimes most of my life is going fairly well but I can still feel depressed. It's hard to understand why I feel like it and have often felt guilty for feeling this way i.e. 'there are people worse off etc etc'. But in recent times I've learnt that thats not the point. If something is a problem for me then it is a problem. I shouldn't just be comparing with others and think 'well they have things much worse so I'm just being a dick for getting down'.

At times I've felt as low as I can. I don't sleep much and thats when you get things completely out of perspective and have panic attacks and such. Sometimes you can feel that the whole world is against you. It's led to me having problems at work, I've lost two girlfriends as a result of it, drifted from some friends and more. I'm on anti depressant for the second time, but they don't seem to be helping as much as previously.

Last year my mother took bad and needed resucitating 5 times and eventually was fit with a pacemaker. Mentally she has never completely recovered and get wound up very easily. This has led to a major strain on myself and my father (my brother too but he lives a little further away and has his own partner and kids so does get some relief at times). I hide my problems from my parents as it would make things worse for them and they would worry. I told my brother recently but it went exactly as I thought. He blamed himself from when we were kids even though he's always been a great brother. Then just thinks I need to pull myself together. He doesn't really get it that it's nothing anyone has done just a chemical imbalance in my head. My ex is his partners sister so that doesn't help. She has met someone else but still gets in touch every now and again and gets quite flirty. I just want my friend back. We broke up due to the families problems with us.

Most of the people I have told this about have eventually let me down, generally my fault. But it just stops me from trusting people in the future as I know they wont always be there when I need them. Sounding needy now!! I really don't think I am most of the time!

Anyways there is a lot more and I realise this is fairly rambled so that is all for now.

thanks for your time.

My wife has had these sorts of problems in the last year or so.  It stemed from a phobia/anxiety and is classed as depression of some sort I guess.  Even with dealing with it along side her for a year or so I still don't fully understand it.  I can see why some people struggle with it if they've never experienced it 1st or 2nd hand.
Anyway, she didn't seem to respond to anti depressents at first but she kept going back until she was on the right pills at the right levels, along with CBT and hypnotherapy until she got it to a manageable state.  May sound silly but we started doing puzzles together around that time too and keeping her mind occupied seemed to help.  Also things like forcing herself out of bed and doing exercise first thing in the morning helped a lot.
She is doing really well now, but I find myself constantly looking for signs of it creeping back in.  
Its incredibly scary to see someone you love and have known for a long time suddenly crippled with fear and depression seeminly out of no where.  I know it was probably a lot scarier for her too.
I'm puzzled as to why its such a big problem nowdays.  Is it our way of life?  Or has it always been this way and we are just more aware of it as it is slowly becoming less of a stigma?

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:ONETWO has been kicked off and I'm still here...

Fancy that ??

At least we can all see WHY he's been kicked off, still haven't got an explanation for my 48 hour ban last week

Froch's Mrs alias is a billionnaire from Ireland....

Is my guess !!

I understand MIG the paranoia !!..........

When I was growing up.....My sister moved back into the family home with her kids when she was suffering from alcoholism.......We weren't a rich family and treatment cost money nearly bankrupted my folks . The rows were endless with Mum and they would become physical......

Bless her when she was sober she'd be buying things for her kids ...She was going to re educate....This time she was going to do it, she knew what was at stake !!!.......and then three weeks later you'd see her slurring and staggering and your heart would drop !!!..........My Mother would go mad...........Physical rows...One of us boys would split it up.........

In the end we found her a place to live but Mum/Dad kept her kids..........I'd go round to see her... she'd tell me this time she'd do it......She was a great artist...She'd paint us pictures I've still got a couple !!......She was going to get her kids back..She was sorry and very guilty !!.........

Went round a few days later ......Found her on the floor dead..........

All these years later I can still see it clear as day.....

In a way it made me realise I wanted to get out.....

But we still argue now..........You should have done more....You weren't around.....

Addiction deaths and suicides very rarely lead to closure........

She was very charismatic and larger than life which made it worse.........

DAVE667 wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Feel like the only one on here who's not had a stress problem..

Knew it was common but I've been shocked how many on here have suffered.

Me too. Had occasions where I've felt a bit down but never ever considered myself depressed.

Like most topics on here, I've nothing of value to add, but to those who do have issues with depression, you have my respect and support ( as worthless as those things may be). Keep fighting fellas!!!!

Very kind

Hampo, Spencer, Dolphin, Derby all suffering from depression........

Seems an awful lot of off topic posters...

I'll have to write better articles..

Another Floyd article may do more harm that good TRUSS....a Bradley Pryce article however may just be the thing that makes everything better (shut up, you're not a doctor, you don't know)

DAVE667 wrote:Another Floyd article may do more harm that good TRUSS....a Bradley Pryce article however may just be the thing that makes everything better (shut up, you're not a doctor, you don't know)

Yes but I've never written a floyd article for the OFF topic section...

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Hampo, Spencer, Dolphin, Derby all suffering from depression........

Seems an awful lot of off topic posters...

I'll have to write better articles..

Very good that Truss, just had to explain it to the missus

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:Another Floyd article may do more harm that good TRUSS....a Bradley Pryce article however may just be the thing that makes everything better (shut up, you're not a doctor, you don't know)

Yes but I've never written a floyd article for the OFF topic section...

As most articles eventually lead to Floyd bashing/fluffing, one could argue that you've written any number of articles about him that have been off-topic.