I've had depression for a few years now, but my parents don't want to admit it, so I have never had it treated? Do you think if I just stick it out, it will finally go away on it's own?
"I cannot change the past, but my future is my chance to prove I can change."
"Sometimes our deepest wounds, are the ones we inflict on ourselves."
“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”
Ive been wondering this myself also. Ive been suffering from depression for along time. Probs at least 5/6 years to be honest.
Ive also found, that in the last two years its got incredibly worse. I dont know if it can go away on its own, but i think the best thing you can do is get help. Personally, i dont believe depression will go away on its own. At the end of the day, depression is an illness, so we need to treat it so we can get better. If you leave it, chances are you will only get worse.
Get help darling, its the best thing you can do.
Much love
x x x
[If you think you can win, then you can win. Faith is necessary to victory]
Interesting question. I'm told I've been depressed since I was 4. Before that's dismissed out of hand, it's worth noting that I remember feeling pretty much exactly as I do now, at 17, and it's every bit as bad.
It wavers for me. Thing is, like every mental health thing I have going on, I learn to cope over time. I was genuinely shocked at 16 being told that those times from Primary 2 (aged 5) onwards when I can't breathe or move for fear are panic attacks, That organising things in the way I do, and the significance of the numbers 3 and 5 across the board of my behaviour isn't normal, it's OCD, and that feeling as I did aged 4 is depression.
I was shocked because it was part of my routine. You can learn to deal with things well. I've only attempted suicide once, and that's when Schizophrenia started up. Thing is, you can function, but you can't live when depression's there. It's impossible. I think back to the question you find on all the questionnaires for people thinking they may have depression "Do you find you have less/no enjoyment from activities you used to enjoy?" It's so true. It affects things you never even thought about.
That's why it can be a daunting prospect to get help. There are things you don't want to find out. There are things you'll find out and feel awful for. But as you find them out, you can work through them, and make it easier on yourself. It's hard to assess it on your own thoroughly-having someone professional to look it over with you is good, and if you put in some of the leg-work yourself it'll be much easier.
In the long run, help's never a bad thing. You can find it's easier for you. And at the end of the day, why cope when you can live? (Yeah, it's dripping with cliche, but whatever :P)
Take care,
Simon.
Constituting a personality disordered threat to society since 1989.
I suppose it depends how sever the depression it is and what type of depression it is.
In some cases I think that it can i.e. eventually moving on from the death of a loved one, getting a good job so you can turn your life around etc etc.
How ever in my experience my depression gets worse unchecked.
My opinion (and just my opinion, im not a medical proffessional) is that your depression won't just "go away", you have been depressed a long time.
Try and see your gp about it? or have a talk with your parents, or write them a letter explaining how you feel?
My parents would never admit I [or they, for that matter, also] was depressed when I was a child and teen. So it took until I was 30 and took courage in my own hands and started treatment.
So, I would say its better to get at least some kind of support now, rather than wait and see, and if it doesn't, it just gets embedded deeper and harder to treat.
As others have said, it depends on the type of depression, including its root causes. If what is causing you to be depressed remains, and the thought and feeling patterns associated with it also stay, then it won't go away on its own at all.
It seems significant that your parents don't want to admit to your feelings. That may be part of the reason you are depressed in the first place.
So its even more important that you get some kind of help for what you are going through. Is there a school counsellor that you could approach first, maybe?
I've been wondering this too. Because for about half a year, I've been feeling like I might possibly have depression. There were...what, 9/10 out of 12 criteria that I fit? And I thought about getting help, and told my friend about it. Since I told her, and school's ended, I've been feeling better, usually, I suppose, better than I was, though if it's what other people would call better I don't know. And now I'm not sure I should even go to the doctor, it's gotten better, and I don't know why, maybe because I talked about it, maybe because most of my triggers are gone now that school's out. Can it just...go into remission like that? Should I still go see someone about it, should I wait to see if it gets worse again, or should I just be happy [pft, or about as happy as i can get] that I'm not feeling that way anymore? I don't know.
I suppose it is possible for depression to lift without medical intervention... but just on it's own it' unlikely because the root of the problem has never been dealt with, be it chemical or dealing with an experience.
I guess there is stuff you can do to deal with it... I remember a psychologist recommending I get a book called "Mind Over Mood" I think when they thought I was going to have to wait months to be seen, maybe see if you can get a hold of that?
THings is when you're depressed it's hard to help yourself cos you've no motivation or energy.
There is plenty of help out there so I suggest you ask, it's hard initially, but worth it
if you mean treatment as in medication, then it is perfectly possible.
if you mean treatment as in therapy or counselling, then from my experience, unlikely.
best thing to do is go to the doctor and talk to someone who can help, it isn't scary, just make it clear how you feel and they will find you the best way forward.
some parents often think depression in young people is 'teenage blues' sometimes it is, but in a lot of cases it isn't. if you have felt depressed on a long term basis then it is important to speak to a specialist.
i suffered from constant depression for a few years. i even think it made it way to be considered major depression. granted the booze didn't help. thought it did though. i thought long and hard about therapy, but could not afford it. it has gone away, but only by working on myself. i still get down, i get lonely and feel sorry for myself. but it never gets to suicide or hurting myself anymore.
so like others have said, it really depends on why you are depressed. i was because of circumstances. but if you have one of those imbalances in your head, then meds are probably the only way to go. i know people that have gotten help that way and are very happy now.
take care
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I don't think it goes away without at least talking to someone.
I've been depressed since I was about 8 or 9, and I've come to realise that talking to people is the only way it can feel better. Yet I still don't talk.
It's a vicious circle, if you need to talk message me x
Possibly it is not the depression that should be considered to need treatment but the causes of it? If you have coped up until now, that would suggest you can cope, and I use the term losely, or perhaps more accurate function to a reasonable level without medical intervention. Thats not unusual as the vast majority of people with depression diagnosed or otherwise are able to function to some extent ie. have a job or go 2 college, get out of bed and that sort of the thing. But the psychological causes of depression are the things that are likely to need to change to lift the depression which is where treatment may be useful. The thing is you have been depressed for a long time. Do yo still want to feel that way 10 years down the line? If this is not the case getting some treatment now would seem sensible.
I would be inclined 2 say that some kind of therapy in yr situation would be advisable b4 starting ADs but they may decide an AD is useful 2 lift ur mood so that they can begin 2 work productively with you.
Taking the other side of things and please dont let this put you off, the term "stickyness of psychodiagnostic labels" comes to mind. That is the argument that once you have been labelled with an illness, esp a mental illness, then that label can stick with you 4 the rest of yr life. For example because I have a formal diagnosis of depression, every job app I do, my uni app nxt yr, travel insurance forms- every where I go my label follows me with all the judgements that come attached to it. And it does have its drawbacks- try applying 2b a doctor when occupational health find out u carve up ur arms as happened 2 me last yr. So I can understand y some people would b relunctant 2 get help. But 2b honest, ur health should b first and foremost above all those things I mentioned above and to me it was a case of either struggling along 4 another goodness knws how many yrs or doing somethg abou this now so I can hopefully go on2 something betta in the future. If u think its time u need help, then go 4 it.
I would think it all depends on how you define 'treatment'.
In my experience, it's not only medical treatment that can 'cure' depression - and the term 'cure' should be used loosely and with care. You can learn to live with depression, you can learn to tolerate it. But if there is nothing that has changed your attitude towards the situation then it's unlikely that any lasting change will happen.
For example: medication will alter your chemical state of mind, often improving the situation. But pills don't force you to view your world in a different way. Therapy can be a good basis for understanding just what you are up against - a good system of support.. but I always found that when that support wasn't there the symptoms came back, because I hadn't learned to deal with it in my own way.
What I'm trying to say is, depression can be 'treated' without 'being in treatment' so to speak... instead of taking medication you can change your diet, take natural remedies, seek out the things that give you a natural rush of endorphines (excersise, music, dance, whatever) and in place of seeing a therapist, you can set up your own network of support (RYL, for example), talk to friends or family members.. tutors, teachers etc etc. They don't have to be a trained professional to be able to help you.
I just think that the answers are all out there, in the world... and not specifically in a doctors office.
So if your parents, like mine, are in denial about the fact that you have an illness, there are still things you can do about it without seeking treatment. And you might get as close to a 'cure' as any doctor would.
hey, i'm new here and i have a question of my own, sort of similar to yours.
only about one month ago, i started having these overwhelming feelings of sadness, for three days in a row, then it would get a little better, then it would come back. and this lasted for about one month. in the last two weeks i've been feeling a lot better about myself, and it sort of felt like it went away, but then it came back. i don't know if this is good or bad. (yes i do). but normal or bad?
i can just describe it as really intense feelings of loneliness and feeling so disconnected from everyone else. and like i've lost my whole personality all at once, and i feel stupid about that. so i can't talk to people even though that's why i feel lonely.
but i talk to my mom about it (a lot). so i think she's getting annoyed with talking about it, b/c we've analyzed every factor of my feelings.
and yet, talking to her about it doesn't seem to help anymore. i feel like i need to do something, and i don'ttt knowww whatttt. or how. ldkjd. and i don't hate myself, but it feels like i can't control the way i feel. it feels like i made a lot of wrong choices in terms of what i like to do and how i spend my time in the sense that i sort of isolated myself. (grunge/punk/beat books/hip fashion were all i did/liked, and i feel like it's all shallow now. and like i can't relate to other people in a normal way). and now i can't get out of that b/c i don't know how. how to just change my attitude and personality after establishing it for two years at highschool? and i feel like i was wrong, about everything i liked. even though i have friends who like all the same stuff. i was just wondering, if talking about it doesn't help anymore, and yet the feelings won't go away... and yet i don't feel hopeless or like i can't function...is it a sign that it's getting better. or that it won't just go away?
I've been told by my own doctors that it's unlikely for my depression to go away on its own. I think a lot of it can also do with the severity, though. I have Major Depressive Disorder and I've had the depression for around 14 years. I've been on and off of anti-depressants and when I went off them for a while my depression came back full-blown, so I've been on them again for almost a year now. As for one day getting off the meds - I certainly hope so, but I think a big part of that is going to depend on me getting back into therapy so that I can also learn to better cope and manage my feelings and such.
Of course dr's will make you believe that you can't overcome depression and that you're doomed for life because that's their source of income.
Here are my own experiences, tho: I fell into a deep depression because I let my whole life going out of control in April 2006. I moved back in with my parents and that was quite a depressing enviroment, too. So I changed the enviroment and started reading all these self help sites and it really did help me, but you have to be willing to put in the effort. Now I know I'm probably bipolar and there is a risk of me falling back into deep depression but I know how it feels now and I know that it can and will pass, that I need to force myself into doing stuff even tho I don't want to, sometimes and that I will ask my parents, loved ones and friends for help, there's no shame in that.
I figured all this out on my own. I'm the type of person who does that. What I found very helpful for me was writing out all my thoughts. I just don't trust strangers enough to go see a therapist and talk to someone who gets paid to listen and besides I find it a violation of my soul, I'm a very private person.
Well that was my $0.02...don't know if it helps any...
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I think depression can be treated without medical help, but it needs some other kind of help.. either alot of support from family and friends or a change of lifestyle. Like a change of job, more excercise, the right diet, sort out money problems.. that kind of thing.
It depends what caused the depression in my opinion.
But I believe with alot of soul searching, support, changes made and a positive attitude you can recover from depression with no medical help.
Remember you cant do everything on your own tho, sometimes we need a little help, whether its from a doctor or our friends.
Take care x
I got depression after my nan died and it took two years untill i thought i was 'cured' by just ignoring it, but i still have 'side affects', like one moment im really happy, sometime hyperactive and then the next im really, really sad and crying, not eating, not socalising ect, so i think its best to get help if you can. If you 16 or over you should be able to get help without your parents knowing.
