My mom doesn't believe I'm really depressed

My mom thinks that since I can get out of bed in the morning, that there's no way I'm severely depressed. She has always been telling me I'm fine and if I bring up how I'm feeling or if I go to her when I'm crying, she tells me she knows what its like and gets all mad at me for telling her I'm not doing great. She won't even take me to see my psychiatrist. Help!!!

Hey there hopelovely.. Im no professional but, I know exactly how you feel, I've been depressed for quite a while now and my mother is completely in denial, I tried talking to her and its going a bit better, Sit down with your mom and try to tell her exactly how you feel, it might wake her up. I know how you're feeling and its a lonely place. Goodluck (: Hopefully she wil see the light soon and get you some help..

Hi Hopelovely,
I do not know your age but when I was about 15 or 16 which was about 35 years ago I told my mother the same thing and she came back with oh you are fine just like your Mom has with you. I then told myself I have to figure it out on my own and I learned to mask everything. That is something you never want to do is mask your feelings. I suggest you go to a school counselor and let them know how you are feeling. For your Mom it could be denial it be the stigma or something else. Please seek some professional help of some kind and possibly you could start treating this depression if that is what they believe you may have right away. You do not want to go down the road many of us here have already traveled. I wish you the best you came on here so I know you have the courage to seek the help.

Your mom is in serious denial. I hope things get better for you.

i am so sorry.

i'm in my 30s and my parents just couldn't wrap their heads around my depression at all. they still can't.

as hard as this maybe, try to manage the best you can until you can go to a pdoc and a therapist yourself. your school counselor is a good starting place.

i didn't have these places when i was a teen (internet was so new) and so i internalized my parents non-response and i masked my emotions and i went for a very long time without getting help once i was old enough. it took a breakdown and hospitalization for me to recognize that i wasn't alone and that there were options (i also had an older friend who has some maternal meaning for me tell me that she too dealt with what i did and she would help me get help).

you're not alone. there is help. you may just have to wait a few years to get it if your mom can't grasp depression. advocating for yourself is difficult and it has taken me a lot to get to a place where i can, but the one place i still can't is with my own mother. she just doesn't get it

this!

I second going to a school counselor. My dad is like your mom, unable to acknowledge pain in others unless it's "bad enough" according to his criteria. And if he thinks he's felt anything similar to it, then it isn't bad enough. However, this is just plain old denial. Just because your mom doesn't believe it's bad, doesn't mean you don't have a problem. You deserve help for it.
I also agree about not masking your feelings, hiding them, etc -- I've done that my entire life and it has caused major problems for me that I'm still dealing with now in my late 30s. Reach out to your school counselor, hopefully they'll have some ideas about how to get help even if your mom isn't on board!

I have had similar problem in talking to parents about my illness and them ignoring not believing or understanding. But it can also be problem with professionals, counsellors/therapists can also have negative judgments and say unhelpful things. I've met counsellors who have not believed depression or bipolar illness.

If there is some way you could get her to talk to your pdoc that might really help. Sometimes if they hear it from a non biased third party professional it makes a big difference. Getting her to have that conversation would be the hard part.

It doesn't mean parent will change their perspective and behaviour towards you if talk to professional. The professionals have to be also good listeners, understanding, caring, considerate, taking your feelings and circs seriously and do their best to help.