[uncle_chip]

Literally just joined this group, and kinda doing the rude thing by barging in with my own questions instead of easing myself into the forum community first. Sorry.

I've had depression for most of my life, and lately when things would get really bad I would search the internet for someone who shared my feelings/ offered support. I've noticed that the majority of resources available for depression assume that I am a teenager ("it will get better") or that I am female.

I am neither teen-aged nor female, and that just makes me feel more alone. If you want to make someone feel less depressed, don't make assumptions like that.

Ending this on a somewhat more positive note: After 30 years, I finally realized that I may not enjoy life, but I'm not going to kill myself (for practical reasons, not principled reasons).

On the other hand I can no longer live with myself either, so I need to try much harder to find a way to manage this. We've tried switching meds, and I may have finally found a therapist I can work with/get results with. I'm at 4 months since coming to that conclusion, and there might be a glimmer of hope far off in the distance.

Also, I'm tired of pretending to be a normal functioning person, so I'm more open about my mental health with people I know. Trying to end the social stigma by just ignoring it. Honestly I don't know how successful that tactic is.

[gayleggg]

I'm glad you are here. I hope you find this to be a helpful place. We have all ages, gender and nationalities.

[Altered Moment]

Welcome to PC.

You can for sure find many people here of all ages and genders who totally understand, don't judge and are supportive. We are not alone.

Sometimes not pretending and not caring what people think works out for me and sometimes not. I am more selective about it now. Appropriate time and place and person.

[dandylin]

Pretending to be normal is how I live in this world. Welcome aboard. I hope you find the support and friendship that you need here.

[vital]

Originally Posted by uncle_chip

Literally just joined this group, and kinda doing the rude thing by barging in with my own questions instead of easing myself into the forum community first. Sorry.

I've had depression for most of my life, and lately when things would get really bad I would search the internet for someone who shared my feelings/ offered support. I've noticed that the majority of resources available for depression assume that I am a teenager ("it will get better") or that I am female.

I am neither teen-aged nor female, and that just makes me feel more alone. If you want to make someone feel less depressed, don't make assumptions like that.

Ending this on a somewhat more positive note: After 30 years, I finally realized that I may not enjoy life, but I'm not going to kill myself (for practical reasons, not principled reasons).

On the other hand I can no longer live with myself either, so I need to try much harder to find a way to manage this. We've tried switching meds, and I may have finally found a therapist I can work with/get results with. I'm at 4 months since coming to that conclusion, and there might be a glimmer of hope far off in the distance.

Also, I'm tired of pretending to be a normal functioning person, so I'm more open about my mental health with people I know. Trying to end the social stigma by just ignoring it. Honestly I don't know how successful that tactic is.

Hi Uncle Chip,

I am a non-female non-teenager also. Congratulations on your decision to actively try to improve your situation! You may get some ideas of what to do from what I personally think is the best plan for dealing with depression:

1. There are a surprisingly large number of common purely medical/nutritional issues that can cause depression such as Vitamin B12 or D deficiency, hypothyroidism, heavy metal toxicity, infection, gluten allergy, Omega 3 fat deficiency... There is a partial list in post #45 of this thread and a video from Mark Hyman about this.

http://forums.psychcentral.com/depre...escaped-5.html

I think it is always best to check these out first. If you have any of these issues, antidepressants and therapy is not going to fix the problem. For inspiration about what this can do, see this post from the "depression success stories" section

http://forums.psychcentral.com/depre...r-give-up.html

2. Antidepressants mostly don't work,

Why Antidepressants Don?t Work for Treating Depression - Dr. Mark Hyman

are toxic, have adverse short and long term side effects and can make you dependent on them and can be hard to withdraw from. Because of that, I think that it is better for almost everyone to start by trying all of the safe, non-drug ways to make depression better, especially the ones that are great for your health anyway. This would include improving your diet, exercise, possibly meditation, light therapy, various kinds of talk therapy and others. For example, I suggest that you try "SNAP CLUB" in the first link above - this is easy to try and completely resolved my own depression. You can see description of successes in the "depression success stories" section.

3. If ALL of the above fails, decide what to do next with a professional.

- vital

[puzzclar]

You've come to the right place, welcome. On thing that does work is consistent daily exercise, 10 minutes is a start but it is the most underutilized therapy out there. Which is also a reminder to myself of how important it is in daily life. Also along with that is a healthy lifestyle, which is different for every person.

[Anxious Minds]

Let's get the reality out there. No one is coming to save you and you may never truly beat depression. I think a lot of the frustration we have with depression is this hopeful feeling that we will find somebody who will save us or find a way to never feel depression again.

I think accepting those two things is an important first step. When you realize those two things, you begin to realize that the only person who can help you is you. And there's no one thing you're going to do that's going to fix it. But you don't have to let it dominate your life either. You really have to teach yourself a new way of living. This involves changing your eating habits, thinking patterns, etc.

It's a long journey but I think you are in the right headspace for it. You're becoming more open about it and learning to disregard the stigma behind it. That's huge.

[Fuzzybear]