h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Jump in and swim thats what my teacher said when learning to swim, thankfully my best friend was there to stand on.

Jumping in is what i'm doing now, the only way to get involved with people.
standing on a friend is what has got me through bthe last 8 months.

If you were to ask me last summer i would have said that i'd been depressed since the beginining of 2002.....
After the biggest crunch in September, months in hospital and serious medication i returned to work in April 03
During this time, i was made to realise that depression is not a constant. Was made to reflect on life and found periods of depression which were masked by activity or just worked through. Depresdsion rearly stands alone, anxiety and stress often accompany as do periods of over activity.
I was made to revalue my life, my relationships my stregnths and weeknesses, yes you can be negative honestity is important.

Peculiar Aunt, dont be flattened by your counsellor can a teenager by happy, be exited, be frightened why is one singular emotion less appropriate to an age group than another the same can be said for love.

Yes depression is available to all regardless of age, sex, race, creed or eco/social standing. Like death it nows no arbitory limitations or boundaries (whoops that my sound realy melancolic sorry)

What you have done is realise you have a serious issue in your life, faced up to it. It (or its symptoms) may not magicaly vanish but by identifying those situations and times when they are strongest and learning and its not always easy, to identify them is the start of a sometimes long road to recovery.

I know I'm back in work my depression is not visable on the surface the anxiety is controlled (most of the time)

Something which does help, is to increase the physical activity in your daily routine, the creation of endorphins in the brain overcomes aspects of depression.
Stress however is another set of circumstnces.....

Have i realy just said all that, didnt mean to hog the post.
But for those of you whove been there and back you'll know how important and good it is to eventually let it all out.

Jak

It's reasuring to hear I'm not alone. a lot of whats writen here reflects how I felt/feel.
I dont know what started my depression,I dont know if there was a trigger. I used to think I knew but I'm not so sure now. I just remember this awfull rage against the world and everyone in it. Nobody would listen and nobody understood and I felt so alone, that it wasn't worth doing anything.
I used to (and still do) 'blank' just turn of all emotions there's nothing there not the ability to smile or cry. That another one, all cryed out, no tears left, no emotion left, just emptyness.
Looking back I must have felt like this from an early age, it took me until I was 18 to get help, but situations dictated that I only saw the councilor once. So I muddled on and my partner bravely muddled with me.
When I was 26 I asked for help again, I was prescribed prozac and I found a world out there. It was like a weight being lifted, I could sit down to a meal and not burst out crying in the middle of it. I could start and finish a conversation with my partner and not switch moods in a split second and not talk for the rest of the day. I have been lucky that the first medication prescribed worked, I've been taking it for 9 years. I look on it as a supplement, and my 'illness' as a deficiancy.
I still have odd bad days and the drug takes the edge off a lot of things, it's like looking at life through a 'bad thing filter' if that makes sence, so I still feel kind of, oh I dont know how to describe it, but if I forget my pills for a few days the world turns all sharp and sad and little silly thing look huge and stay on my mind for ages. Prozac seems to teflon coat my mind so the bad stuff doesnt stick so much, yea I like that description!
My partner has since developed depression and is battling with it now, but I find it hard to support him which is SO selfish of me. And now my brother in law has been so stressed he's left his wife and children and is being very irrational and even threatened ending it all. He doesnt know he's suffering from depression, and he wont listen to those who care, so what do you do? You cant drag a grown man to the doctors.
Sorry to go on so long but it's good to share with people who understand