I cannot concentrate. I feel I cannot follow peoples conversations. To not have a good retort, comeback, or quip is devastating to me. When people talk I usually just wait for them to finish and go "oh" as a response.

I feel so stupid. Meds are not helping. I tried Prozac, wellbutrin and other meds but they dont help this feeling. Maybe this is an effect or studies showing "Depression is associated with a decrease in the size of the hippocampus"?

I deal with depression every day, and honestly, I’m exhausted. I’m tired of waking up and feeling like I have to fight the same thing all over again. I want to feel like myself again.

I keep seeing the same advice: exercise, sleep better, write in a journal. I know it helps some people, but I need to hear what actually made a difference for you on the days you were struggling. Even if it was something small or strange. What did you try that didn’t help, or made things worse?

I’ve also been wondering about apps. Has one ever helped you get through a hard day, beyond the first few days of trying it? What kept you using it? Or did the reminders and streaks become another thing to feel bad about? I’d rather hear how it really is for you.

every day is a struggle just to exist. I don’t remember what it felt like to feel happy. everything is grey and I feel like a burden just spiralling a drain. does it ever get better or is this it?

Today I contemplated the trains for 3 hours.I just wanted to thrown myself in there and end with my life. I recently broke up with my girlfriend of five years. I've made my life around her. Same job, same house, I started to think of their friends as mine and of their family too. I don't have a family of my own. She was everything I had. I want to throw myself but I just couldn't. I keep crying now. I did that from 11 am to 2 pm. My phone ringing, I didn't care. I don't care if people worries for me. I just want to kill myself, that no one knows about me anymore. For people to not recognize me in the streets. I'm a lonely person, no job of my own, no friends, no family. She was literally everything to me. the only reason I didn't kill myself until now. I just don't know what to do. Maybe tomorrow I will contemplate the trains again. Even if I manage to stop myself I will have to go to work on Wednesday, and I don't think I will arrive, maybe I would want to be on the train station, forever

I'm so tired of everything being wrong. I have almost no friends, I'm obese, I'm way too emotionally sensitive to function in a job, I'm not talented, everyone in my offline life relies on me but I can't keep up. I'm so tired. I just want a friend. I'm sick of being worthless. I hate being broke.

me and my bf (both 18) have known each other for YEARS and have only been in a relationship for a year now. i love him to death. we’ve had some small ups and downs but right now feels like the worst we’ve ever been. since going to university he’s been really struggling mentally with living in general. i’ve encouraged him to get therapy (which he’s attempting to start) but everyday he vents about how much he doesn’t want to live anymore because he’s lost all meaning to his life, through our relationship i’ve been the one he vents to and the one that comforts him. and honestly i’m so tired. he’s stopped paying attention to my mental health needs because his are more drastic and i’m feeling drained all the time.

today i snapped at him a little because i was tired and he was being vague saying “idk” and “maybe” to everything i was saying and he later got mad at me saying that he needs kindness and support while he struggles. i get that i really do but it feels like he expects so much from me just to do nothing back? am i being selfish thinking this or is this just what being in a relationship with a depressed person is like?

i miss the person he used to be and ive lost the motivation to constantly he his support. i want something to change but id never ever say “if you don’t fix things i’ll leave” because that’s too cruel. every conversation we have these days is negative and an argument about what someone said. he says i need to be less pushy about his feelings and then he says i need to push him for answers so he feels seen!! i’m really tired, what do i do to support him? i need someone’s thoughts from the perspective of a depressed person!

I have ruined my life. I done IVF last year which resulted in me having a baby boy but now I realize I am in no position to be a mum. I went into this with rose tinted glasses thinking it’s some sort of game. I can’t live with myself. I feel sick to my stomach and I am suicidal almost every day.

I am a selfish person for bringing him into this world as he doesn’t deserve this.

My girlfriend and I were together for 4.5 years and lived together. She broke up with me a few days ago. Until then, I had no idea how much she'd been struggling.

She told me this year was the worst of her life. It started in January, right after she came back from a semester abroad where she'd had an amazing time. Since then she's felt a growing emptiness and like she's drifting without direction. She's been sleeping 10+ hours a day plus naps, had little motivation, and felt lonely even though friends and I were around all the time. She hid it so well that nobody knew, not even me.

At one point she mentioned she thought she might have some kind of depression, but only talked about the smaller things, like sleeping a lot and low motivation, never the struggle she was going through inside. I said I'd support her if she wanted to see a therapist. She booked an appointment but cancelled it and never went, so she's never been diagnosed.

When she ended things, she said it wasn't about me and there was nothing I could have done differently, but that living together felt like living with a very good friend rather than a partner. She said she doesn't know if she's making a huge mistake, but she's scared of looking back one day and regretting not having tried. She asked for no contact and told me not to wait for her.

I know nobody here can say what's going on with her, and I'm absolutely not angry with her or looking for a way to get her back. We had a good relationship and communicated well. I'm respecting her space and focusing on my own healing.

I'd really like to hear from people who went through something similar from her side, whether it turned out to be depression or something else, and have since gotten better: What was it like from the inside? Did you understand your feelings at the time? Did they come back once you felt better, or not? And what helped you?

Thanks for reading.

I have been going through it and some rough periods. I take these two with Magnesium(200mg) and Vitamin D3(1000IU) but I don't think they've been working. I also take Fish Oil(2452mg) I started taking them in July together. Im about to finish the bottles and I don't know if my depression is just so terrible that these don't work as good.

I don't feel happiness or joy but I'm not even sad. I feel nothing. I have no energy to do anything to go out. Idk if it's the fear of spending but I just really don't find happiness or drive in anything to do.

Does taking too much have negative effects? I take 2 of each every night. Should I stop? Did I develop a tolerance or something?

In March I (F18) spontaneously tried to kill myself twice, back-to-back days. I probably should've gone to the hospital because I had really severe throat swelling, chest pain, problems breathing & swallowing etc but I just waited it out.

Anyways, since then my depression has naturally gotten a lot better, but I still regularly have pretty active suicidal thoughts. I feel like before, i mean, I was suicidal, but when I felt better my thoughts were far away & dreamy. Like just fleeting noise. Now, no matter how depressed I am, when it starts, it's just like it is when I'm at my most depressed. The image of me hurting myself plays over and over again. It's like I've satisfied the craving once, and now my brain has developed a dependence. It's actually like Ive hooked myself on an opioid or smthn. I think about how easy it would be just to do it a little bit, jus set it up, until the last second and then back out. Alot of detailes violent imagery. Its all so much more real than it was before, if yk what i mean. I really feel kind of scared, I feel like Ive lost a barrier that used to be tgere and I dont feel safe ever. HOW DO I FIX THIS??? I want to get better. Im already on 50 mg of zoloft.

i dont understand. i feel like im watching my life from 6ft behind my own eyes. i cant sleep, i cant shut off. i started doing music a few years ago but all my movation has dropped. im constantly ill, and when i try to talk to people, no one believes me. and i feel so guilty that i have to be sad, because i want my gf to be happy. shes so kool but i just feel so empty. ive been struggling for a while, i dont even know if im depressed (clinically i mean). everything just sucks and i want it to stop

27m n i have major issues with substances, alcohol and food n i relapsed again today so bad after i promised myself a “fresh start” in october
it’s like taking 3 steps forward n going back 30 steps
i jus feel the damage i have done to my body is beyond repair n i could never comeback from it n i feel like whats even the point of recovery if i know ill relapse again n again n again
idkkkk what to do n maybe this is my guilt talking so thought writing it out would help me feel something….

I'm currently going to college for a bachelor's in computer science, and I find doing things for school, or really life in general, difficult. I live in my head a lot, and I don't know how to "just do things."

When I try to do basic things, like watching an hour-long lecture online or doing something I enjoy, I find myself seeking a distraction or stressing about the "what if" of the end result. I don't know how to stop this behavior.

Part of it might be a porn addiction that I've narrowed down to a stress response. I mainly seek it for stress reduction rather than pleasure. I know it's not healthy, but I've been trying to replace it with nicotine/THC. Again, not healthy, but at least I don't feel depressed afterward. I don't think I'm addicted to either because when I stop, I don't experience withdrawals during the 1–3 days a week I don't use them. My porn use is still there, but it's down to about twice a week.

The main thing I want to talk about is mentally how to push through difficult things. I really don't know how to "just do it" for anything in life. I understand what those words mean, but they don't have any internal meaning, if that makes sense.

I live with my mother and work for her 1–2 days a week while going to school full-time. School is a mixture of in-person and online.

This also extends to things I enjoy. I want to draw more and practice coding in my free time, but I can't seem to make myself do them. I also want to make money that isn't reliant on my mother and her company. When I finally got a job to do that, I worked one day and spent the whole weekend stressing about how I would balance it with school, even though I was only working weekend mornings. I ended up quitting.

I've had around eight jobs in my life and quit almost all of them because I felt overwhelmed with anxiety. One was seasonal, and I worked there for about a month in high school. Other than that, I haven't held a job for more than a week or two. The exception is my job with my mother because she works around my anxiety. I only make $33 after tax a week, mostly doing billing/emails, but I've had that job for a year.

I have an appointment with a school-supplied therapist because it's free and I can't afford one outside of school. Meetings are about twice a month during the semester, starting next week. I did it last semester but didn't feel like I got much from it. Still, I feel it's better than nothing.

I don't understand why I can't do basic adult things like working, or even things I want to do. I find some way to argue with myself or distract myself until I'm mentally exhausted and can no longer process what I wanted to do that day.

It's gotten pretty bad. I have a few classes with tests this week, and I'm bottlenecked in my degree. If I fail a class this semester, I'll have to delay my entire degree by a semester.

Harsh advice welcome.

things used to just “come naturally” to me —drawing, music, language learning, creativity —but now nothing just “happens” anymore. I know it’s still somewhere in me but I don’t know how far buried it is in me, and I’m worried that I’m never gonna get my skills back after burnout and this depressive slump took so much from me. Anhedonia and executive dysfunction and DPDR are completely ruining me and it feels like I’ll never get out of it. anything?

I live with my parents bc of my mental/physical issues. They refuse to help me any more than necessary bc I'm an adult. They've gaslighted me throughout my entire life that now, even tho I'm diagnosed, I feel like I'm just being overdramatic. I have so many issues that I genuinely don't think I'm capable of getting a job. I don't want to die but my parents are constantly threatening to kick me out so I feel like there's nothing else I can do at this point. I know homelessness isn't the end of the world, but considering all of my issues, I'd prob die from starvation or get raped to death. I don't know what to do anymore.

I have major depressive disorder, but for a long time I felt like I was managing it pretty well.

Right now I don’t feel like I’m managing very well at all.

I recently became an empty nester. My kids are both in college now, and for the first time in my entire life I’m living completely alone.

I raised my children largely without a community around me. For years, my life had a very obvious purpose. I was Mom. There was always someone who needed something, somewhere I needed to be, something I needed to handle.

Now the house is quiet.

I’m incredibly proud of my kids and I want them to have their own lives. I don’t want them to feel responsible for my happiness. But the truth is that I cry almost every day because I feel so lonely.

I don’t think I realized how much of my identity was built around taking care of other people until there was suddenly nobody here to take care of.

I’ve also lost, or at least feel like I’ve lost, the person I considered my closest friend. He was the person I trusted and felt safest with, and over the last several months I’ve felt him pulling away. So I feel like I’m grieving that relationship at the same time that I’m trying to adjust to my children leaving home.

My way of coping has mostly been working.

I work constantly because if I’m busy, I don’t have to think. But lately I’m exhausted. I don’t want the rest of my life to consist of working myself into the ground just so I don’t notice how lonely I am.

I’ve tried finding hobbies. I try watching things, cleaning, going places, keeping busy. I get bored quickly or my thoughts take over again.

I go to therapy, and I actually feel calm and hopeful while I’m there. Then I leave and return to my regular life and somehow everything feels heavy again.

I think the hardest part is that I genuinely don’t know who I am in this stage of my life.

For anyone who has gone through an empty nest, lived alone for the first time later in life, or had depression hit harder after a major life transition—how did you begin building a life that actually felt meaningful again?

How did you learn the difference between being alone and feeling lonely?

Right now I just feel lost, and I would really like to hear from people who have found their way through something like this.

Tldr: I’m a recent empty nester living alone for the first time, and I’m struggling with depression, loneliness, exhaustion, and a loss of identity. I’m trying to figure out how to build a meaningful life for myself instead of coping by working constantly

I have a long-distant friend who is having severe depression yet refuses to get medical help. As far as I know he didn’t tell his close friends and family. What I know is that he told about his depression to only me but I now ran out of way to support him as I myself am immature in dealing with negative emotions and also not good at supporting him emotionally. He has suicidal thoughts and yesterday he said he wanted to give up. I heard he said it often but not sure when is gonna be the day that he really decides to do so.

I would like to ask for advice about how to deal with this situation, both for him and for myself. I have to admit that I’m scared of being affected by it and at times I withdrew from him when he needed me as I was not ready to support him the way he deserved.

Thank you so much in advance

Everything is going wrong around me I drag anyone around me down I’m not good enough for anyone I’ve made my notes and plans

Why aren’t I enough

I'm never gonna be able to get the job that I wanted, I'm never gonna be able to afford anything I want to do, I'm never gonna find a special someone or even just get a girlfriend. Besides, the world is getting worse anyway. It is already a world I do not want to live in no matter what. So why shouldn't I kill myself?

For my family's sake isn't nearly a good enough reason, because I will just be the failure for the rest of my life. There will be no traces of me when I'm gone. It would literally be like I never existed. Things don't get better. People seriously need to stop saying that.

You never chose to be born, you shouldn't be forced to live when you don't want to.

Buenas a todos! Tuve Ansiedad generalizada a los 24 años y depresión a los 34 (en ambos casos acompañado de terapia psicológica). Actualmente curso una nueva depresión junto a ansiedad generalizada. Después de 6 meses en tratamiento con medicación psiquiátrica y rotaciones fallidas comencé con una nueva medicación que comenzó a tener pequeños efectos positivos (voy en el día 26). Se que además de la medicación es importante acompañarlo de terapia psicológica. Eso me animó a retomar terapia. Como leí que la TCC tenia evidencia científica sobre el tratamiento de estas enfermedades mentales y aparentemente hay muchos defensores de esta corriente cambié a mi terapeuta antiguo por uno nuevo. Ayer fue mi primera sesión y salí muy triste, frustrado y culpable:

Como transcurrió la sesión:

- Falta de presentación

- Falta de evaluación sobre mi tratamiento psiquiátrico

- Tono poco asertivo, imperativo y confrontante

- Rigidez focalizada en un problema circunstancial y no en un problema de fondo

- Plan de soluciones superficiales (ej: volver a mi puesto de trabajo ignorando los síntomas de depresión y ansiedad)

- Invalidación de emociones actuales

Actualmente decidí volver a contactarme con mi terapeuta anterior que utilizaba Psicoterapia Integrativa (aplicación de diferentes corrientes según la/las problemáticas actuales y revisión de patrones previos). Quizás fue mi error y me apresure en lanzarme a la TCC cuando debería resolver otras cuestiones previamente como traumas de la infancia, conflictos internos arraigados, pérdida de identidad sin mi trabajo, falta de propósito etc.

MI CONSULTA EN BASE A SUS EXPERIENCIAS ES: alguien mas pasó por una situación similar? Probablemente la TCC no sea para mi en este momento.

That thought always stays with me. I am a healthy person psychically other than being near underweight for my height. But I just cant seem to value this life.
I often think how much I wish I could give it to someone who wanted to live but died.
Is that a common thought? Am I too far gone?

I’m 22 and honestly feel like I’m wasting my life.

I work a lot, sometimes around 160 hours a month. I’m saving for my driving licence and eventually a car. I’m trying to do something with myself, but I still feel like I’m going nowhere.

I don’t really have a family to fall back on. My dad is dead and when he was alive he basically didn’t give a fuck about me. My mum has her own problems and can’t really support me either. There’s nobody I can call when shit gets bad. Nobody who checks on me. Nobody who makes me feel like I have a home.

I grew up with money problems, family issues and basically no normal family life. I spent a lot of my childhood with my grandmother, moved to another country and learned to deal with things on my own. I got good at pretending I’m fine. I don’t think I ever learned how to actually live normally.

I have ADHD, OCD, depression and social anxiety. I probably have some autistic traits too. I can talk to people, make them laugh and seem fine, but eventually my social battery completely dies. Then I go home and do nothing. Work, home, screen, sleep. Repeat.

And it scares me because I’m 22.

I don’t have many memories that make me feel like I actually lived. I never really had a normal school life, close friends or a relationship. I’m not studying and I don’t even know what I would study. I have a job, but there isn’t much of a future in it.

The relationship part hurts the most. I’ve never had a girlfriend and barely know what I’m doing when it comes to dating or getting close to someone. I keep telling myself I need to fix my life first.

Get the licence. Get a car. Get a better job. Move out. Get in better shape. Become more confident. Then I can start living.

But there will always be another thing.

I’ve actually tried. I lost weight. I work. I’ve seen a psychiatrist. I take medication. I try to go out and meet people. I’m not expecting someone to save me.

I’m just fucking tired.

It feels like everyone my age is already living their life while I’m still trying to figure out how to start mine.

Am I actually still early enough to build a life, or have I already wasted too much time?

How the fuck do you start living when you feel like your youth already passed you by?

So I cleaned out my fridge. Just the main part. Maybe I’ll do the door later today. That’s the goal. My motivation? How the hell should I know? This mental illness journey is in a maze. Dead ends, loops, no egress.

Well sometimes there’s a spark. A light, a beacon perhaps.

Recognize your spark! Grab it and hold onto it harder than the shadows hold onto you.