[Mylifeisdepressing]

I am a teenager, I am depressed and I need to talk to someone because I want to start therapy or medication. But I don't really talk to my parents about much and don't know how to approach them about this. Can anyone give me some ideas? Or I might talk to a school guidance counselor, how would she be able to help me? Would it be confidential? If i told her I have had suicidal thoughts would she have to tell my parents? Please help, my depression is making my life very painful.

[crazylife]

Just be honest. If you want to talk to your parents that's great maybe just try to catch one of them or both when there chilled out and not doing much and just say can i talk to you or something like that then explain but having a guidance counselor would be good to turn to if they don't understand the way you hope. Plus the guidance counselor can refer you for counselling easier. Medication is usually your GP. I don't believe the guidance counselor will have to tell your parents your having suicidal thoughts but that's a thin line and varies. They will probably will advise you to talk to them. Can your parents not come to the guidance Councillor with you? Or is that something you don't really want? In the end do what is best for you.

[Miss Laura]

Hey Mylifeisdepressing and welcome to the forum

I am unsure about confidentiality etc as our systems are different in Scotland. However there should be phone numbers you can call which are confidential if you are feeling suicidal etc.

I would encourage you to talk to your Guidance Counsellor though. If you find it hard to talk to your parents. Then maybe your Guidance Counsellor will be able to help you. There will be a duty of care and this means your Guidance Counsellor has a duty of care to inform your parents or other authorities if you are in danger of hurting yourself or other people etc. But I encourage you to talk to people. You need support at the moment ok!

[Mylifeisdepressing]

Thanks I think I will talk to my guidance counselor about it soon.

[(JD)]

It's very adult of you to be reaching out for help, and yes, I would begin with your guidance counselor. Share what you just shared with us, and include your concerns about not wanting to live this way. Try not to talk about suicide as she/he may have guidelines they have to follow as to response to that. I think she'll understand how bad you feel without having to threaten (they take any mention as a threat I think, over react and all that )

Being afraid to reach out means you are assuming (I think) blame for how bad you're feeling. Well, that doesn't really make sense does it? I mean, if you were causing your bad feelings, you'd just change them to good right? So you do need help with this.

What can a guidance counselor do? She can help you figure out what is causing your depression, and whether working on it with talk (psychotherapy) only is enough or that maybe you do need to take some medication for a while (usually 6 months of talk therapy and 6 months of medication end up with the same good results...go figure). She can help you learn to look at life from a different angle, and learn to prevent taking things personally that aren't yours to worry about. Stuff like that. These are all skills that should be taught in the classroom, as everyone needs them.

You don't really want to die, you don't want your life to end (totally) but I believe you do want and need your life to change from the way it is. Reaching out, no matter how scary it feels, is the first, good step.

[Mylifeisdepressing]

Thank you, that answer really helped me. We go back to school tomorrow and so I think I will go talk to my guidance counselor. Thanks

[depressedalaskan]

I am glad that you came here. I to agree with the others about talking to your counselor. If you can not make it through her door come back here and talk to us. We can all say we understand you. If the counselor does not work out can you talk to anyone else?? Please take care of yourself.