What is wrong with me?

I'm new to psych central and hope I myself can benefit from this and help someone else along the way. Anyways, I'm a 19 year old girl who really needs help. I've been dealing with depression since my sophomore year of high school. Along side my depression I've experienced anxiety. Well, after years of struggling I've thought that I would be in a much better place now. I've gone through 5 therapist since I was diagnosed and I don't know where to go. It seems like every therapist I go to work out for a couple months and then I just give up. I'm at the point where I can't hold a job and pretty much bombed my freshman year of college. Not to mention I'm always avoiding my friends because of my depression. I don't know what to do with my life anymore. Therapy and medication just seem to not be cutting it anymore. All I want is to be a normal teenager enjoying her life.

ive been dealing with depression since i was 9 yrs old.now im 20 but my problems havent mostly gone away. i know how you feel. at 11 i went through a 6-year downwards spiral.so dnt feel alone cuz i used too

Thank you,

it feels good to have someone feel the same way.

Depression is a nasty illness, and I'm sorry you are suffering so much. I was pretty miserable at that age also (I'm 42 now). I have been through a lot of therapy and tried different meds and eventually improvement came. It was slow.... and I still struggle at times but not like I did. I guess the one thing I would ask is why you have changed therapists each time. I hope you will not give up, and that you are able to begin feeling better!

((((Musthavehope))))
I too started experiencing depression and severe anxiety starting around my sophomore year and struggled for many many years.
I wonder...has your family been there for you? Do they participate in T with you?
The reason why I ask is that I learned that this is a family issue and in order for things to really get better everyone must participate. I guess what I am trying to say is it not just you! You are suffering for a reason and your family must be there to support you.

Please continue to post and share when you feel comfortable. You are not alone. Hopefully we can take little steps to help you figure things out a bit so you can start feeling better and moving forward!

teenage is a testing time and the uncertainity does nothing for people prone to depression.
Try short spells of focused study, follow it up with exercise like jogging and start deep breathing and meditation. It takes time but will help. Take up a routine job not a stressful one, even if it pays less. Eat well- stay off the junk and sugar- that will ease the lack of focus.

Hi ~ I've dealt with depression since I was a small child. I've also been in therapy off and on most of my adult life.

Are you sure you gave therapy a fair chance? You said you went thru 5 therapists, but you're only 19 yrs old. You must remember that we didn't get "this way" overnight and we're not going to get better overnight either. It DOES take a good while to even SEE or FEEL any appreciable difference. So perhaps giving therapy a little more time is in order??? I think I'd give it another try, and stay with it longer. It could take up to a year to make any "breakthru" of any kind and maybe longer than that.

If the medication didn't work, then you either weren't on it long enough, or they didn't try the right kind. It takes at LEAST 6 weeks for it to become effective -- that's true of just about ALL antidepressants. So maybe you can give that another try too??

I wish you the very best. Take care and God bless. Hugs, Lee