Depression and Anxiety Thread

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Mostly despair and dread, followed by a surge of urgency. Brief moments of high energy, feeling like I can fix everything, find a solution, that converting my anxiety into action is doable. However, the energy dissipates quickly if I’m met with any kind of negative occurrence. I’m back to dread and doom, until I get the next spike of energy.

Not that my sympathy will be of any comfort or use, but you have it anyway. What you've stated fairly accurately describes that last 15 years of my life too, so... <sad face>

A recent medically required bout of sobriety gained me a slightly different perspective. One of anger, anger that - at this point - I've wasted at least half of my likely adult life expectancy to feeling like that.

For me, part of tackling that has been to make a to-do list, everyday, of stuff I want to do for my own self that day - it's a physical list, it's on a post-it pad. Nothing major, just small achievable stuff. The idea being to normalise treating your own time with the respect that you end up having to give to external influences (work for example), and also to help feel like you do actually have some control over your own time. Your baseline routine needs to be comfortable, put pro-active - it doesn't need to fix everything - trying to fix everything will almost inevitably end up with set backs and obstacles that trip you up and kick you back to despair and dread.

Now, obviously, after some challenging weeks at work for me, my routine already back-flipped out of the window, and prolific alcohol consumption returned to fill the void - It's exactly as you say - any kind of negative occurrence and it's back to doom and gloom... The difference is, that having had the routine of respecting my own time for a couple of months, where I've been for the last couple of weeks doesn't feel like the norm (as it once would), it's a bit like instead of being stuck in a freeze stress response, I'm more likely to have a fight stress response, and that makes it quicker or 'easier' to get back to the 'new' routine, or the next spike of energy.

Just my two cents.
 
I recently lost my mom and it feels like a part of my soul was rip from me. I'm having a hard time accepting her death and I keep wondering what the point of living is.:(

I loved her so much and the thought that I'm never gonna see her again is breaking my heart every minute of every day.

The level of depression I feel now is hard to put into words.
 
I recently lost my mom and it feels like a part of my soul was rip from me. I'm having a hard time accepting her death and I keep wondering what the point of living is.:(

I loved her so much and the thought that I'm never gonna see her again is breaking my heart every minute of every day.

The level of depression I feel now is hard to put into words.
First of all, my condolences go out to you on this tragic loss.

When some loved ones pass away, especially those you really loved, it hurts when they are gone. That was the case when my grandmother passed away in 2017. She molded me and my family. Sometimes, I still imagine she were still with us.

All the tears and thoughts in the world will not bring back any loved one. That's the unfortunate truth. The next few days and weeks will be tough. Though easier said than done, you will have to try to deal with this loss and live life as best you can. Find some activities and hobbies that can relax your mind. You are your best investment- take care of that investment (yourself).
 
I feel like I’ve been in a constant state of limbo, waiting for the events I cant control in my life to get better somehow. Delaying actually “living” for something meaningful because “I’ll do that later, when things calm down”. Life is passing me by while I wait to properly live and experience things because it’s crisis after crisis. The more peace, experiences and health mean to me, the more they slip away further from my reach.

I try my best to endure everything patiently, stand my ground and keep my emotions in check, no other way to go through it. Justifying it as “it’s horrible right now but will get better, it’s got to”, but somehow never has in the last decade. Is this really my life? I struggle to accept how crappy it is, that for some unknown reason I wish I was given better circumstances. Sounds selfish but who doesn’t want a content life with health and happiness? At some point I want the universe to give something back instead of constantly taking for a change.

I keep updating the definition of “rock bottom”. Whenever I think I’ve hit that level of low, life seems to tell me otherwise, that it definitely can always get worse. I’ve dug myself out of deep holes life keeps throwing me in, but each time I make it out, I’m thrown a little deeper next time. By no means do I think I have it the worst despite what I’m saying, life is cruel to many in various degrees, but I definitely have been running low on fuel, I’ve been using my reserve tank for way longer than I should have, with no refill in sight.

Sorry for rant but mind has been going to places I wish it would stop going to. 😞
Hope you are keeping well. It's a positive step that you are looking to proactively improve your life. Strange thing about life is how circumstances can affect things so much. You could be the exact same person but have a much worse time of it if in a worse situation or be in a better situation and completely thrive and have the time of your life. I think different personalities can fare better in such different environments. That's why probably people more self-centred and strong-minded tend to really do well no matter how tough they have it but they may clash more in a better environment. Likewise, someone who benefits more from direction could thrive from that rather than clash but crumble more so where they lack support.

I think it's always important to keep perspective of things. For example, what you perceived a crisis a decade ago, you might consider a heavenly position to be in compared to what you consider a crisis now so things aren't as bad as we always think in the moment. If it's mainly things you can't control, then that will always be difficult to deal with but as long as you can keep the energy up on trying to improve things you can control, you will always end up in a better situation than if you let the situation drag you down further. That becomes the difficult part of keeping that energy up as you mentioned. However, the more you do, the luckier you get. Keeping emotions in check although good for coping, can probably prolong bad moments and the unwanted situation as you stop being present by not letting your emotions rise to the surface and fuel self-improvement.

Unfortunately, we as humans are fragile and always up against the race of time so it is always possible to go below rock bottom. When reaching the core of it, that can burn but usually affects the quality of life. You can still get plenty of meaning from life as long as you pursue what matters to you. This is the reason why you can find people who have nearly everything but still are unhappy but people who have almost got nothing but still be upbeat and happy.

When you think of fixing things, you do not need to do gigantic step forwards each time, just baby steps each time that can be achieved could be more effective to reach a better state of "living". Otherwise, if you constantly waiting to do things "later", life is actually incredibly short when you think about it so it is easy for it to just fly by. I know it's hard to live in a state like you are at the stage of feeling like "Game Over" yet you still need to soldier on and find purpose. By perservering and being able to laugh at the face of misery one day will be a lot more satisfying, rather than letting it take over the rest of your life.

Hope you can find the happiness, health and meaning you are looking for in life, you deserve it! Maybe worth looking for a local life coach if you feel you can benefit from it although they can be pricey, will be worth it if it helps you towards living your life how you want it. You live in a country of great opportunity so go grab it.
I'm getting feelings of worthlessness again. Nothing I do feels like it matters because I'm just bad at everything with at best subpar skills that anyone could easily take my spot yet through nothing but sheer Luck and no input on my own, I still have a pretty good job, nice family and friends but knowing it was only luck and I clearly don't deserve it or any of my very few achievements just makes the feeling worse. Why should I be where I am? Almost everyone is more worthy of taking my spot, I just bring it all down, mostly to myself but still. I'm just weak *** person who happens to keep getting Lucky and nothing to look back and say "I'm here because what I am able to do"

I really want the feeling to go away but I don't know how...
You can't be as bad as you think. Achievements are still achievements. Your employer has hired you as they see the value in you, and friends want to spend time with you for who you are. If you feel like you are bad at something, you can always work on improving your skillset bit by bit. You don't need to be exceptional at everything for it to matter, doing your best is enough.
I recently lost my mom and it feels like a part of my soul was rip from me. I'm having a hard time accepting her death and I keep wondering what the point of living is.:(

I loved her so much and the thought that I'm never gonna see her again is breaking my heart every minute of every day.

The level of depression I feel now is hard to put into words.
My condolences for your loss. Maybe speaking to relatives can help you get through this difficult time.
 
Those who are struggling with depression/anxiety, do you find or think you have any particular muscular issues? That is to say, something more than the average occasional twinge or ache?
 
Those who are struggling with depression/anxiety, do you find or think you have any particular muscular issues? That is to say, something more than the average occasional twinge or ache?
I'm aware that there's mechanisms that mean certain physical complaints causing inflammation could lower your mood, and going the other way that stress hormones can have an affect on muscle tissue, but I can't say I've noticed any correlation.
 
I'm aware that there's mechanisms that mean certain physical complaints causing inflammation could lower your mood, and going the other way that stress hormones can have an affect on muscle tissue, but I can't say I've noticed any correlation.
The issues could occur at different time periods (and one could be more intermittent or chronic than the other). Am interested if those with depression/anxiety have a higher incidence of muscular problems after reading a book in which the author hypothesized a neurochemical connection.
 
The issues could occur at different time periods (and one could be more intermittent or chronic than the other). Am interested if those with depression/anxiety have a higher incidence of muscular problems after reading a book in which the author hypothesized a neurochemical connection.
I don't sleep very well, and am constantly tired, I guess I often have a stiff neck too, but you could probably argue most of those are more related to things like lifestyle and diet. I comfort eat a lot, so my diet is terrible, which almost definitely doesn't help with low energy or lack of sleep, even though I keep active with my job.
 
I hope you all are doing okay. No matter how tough life gets, just be sure not to let your spirits be dull. Depression and anxiety can bring you down and slow you down. Find any sort of means to feel better when you're down.


Don't let depression and/or anxiety win.
 
I've been mostly okay, but I'm under pressure to find a new job that pays better, and the thought of having to apply and interview and... The whole process sends me spiraling into anxiety and depression. Because I know it'll consume the already little free time I have.

My job sucks but having a job at all should be enough. I have no desire to pursue a great career. I just want to live.
 
My husband. Also my finances. Almost all our income comes from him and we want to buy a house but at this rate we'll never afford one.
 
Did you get a diagnosis of AvPD in the end?
Wow, I barely even remember that.

No, in the end I had anxiety and depression, and ADHD. The former two have actually improved a lot. But I'm very comfortable in my current situation despite it being pretty terrible for long term financial well-being.

I've never been good with change, or at least not when I have to initiate the change. I don't know what kind of work I'd want to do and I have no confidence that a new job wouldn't stress me out and give me depression again.

This current job works for me because I know what I have to do when I get in in the morning, and there's no way to avoid it. I'm not spending my day coming up with soltions like at my programming job. I just get stuff done and then go home. There's not a lot of jobs like that that pay well.

I don't know if I should be concerned that he's pushing for me to search for a new job, or if he's right and I'm just avoiding it out of anxiety. I don't like that I feel like I'm not enough as is, but I also don't like imagining a future where I still work here. It all just feels bad. I shouldn't have to do any better than this to have a decent life.
 
This is hard because it sounds like you're at a crossroads in your life. Ultimately it's a decision you have to make for your own wellbeing - your husband will support you in the long term if he's right for you even if he thinks it's the wrong choice at the time. It's apparent you don't have much (if any?) passion for this job so you have to be realistic about whether you see yourself doing the same thing until retirement and if it's enough to find fulfilment from other interests in life. I'm not sure what your qualifications are in, but if you feel at a dead end in that industry perhaps a completely new, but manageable challenge is what you need. I imagine that with this pressure you're finding it hard to think of options, but a good start would be to explore what's out there without restricting yourself too much.

Please be careful and focus on what's doable. Sometimes we do need a little nudge, and it can be uncomfortable, but it shouldn't get to the stage where it drastically impacts our mental health.
 
What was to me making my first air fryer hamburger in a while ends up being another episode of sadness. I finally found these burger patties that were still unopened in the freezer. I slammed down the burger patties on the counter to separate them. When I then tried to use a wooden chop board to slam down the patties, I broke up the patties... but I also split the chop board in half. It brought back the feeling of feeling terrible because I seem to break anything I touch or am ultra clumsy and prone to mistakes. Not even making a good meal was enough to fully boost my mood after this episode. And usually, things like making your own delicious meals can bring happiness to you and boost your mood. Not so much this time.

Feeling like you are incapable of doing anything right, including seemingly damaging or breaking things constantly, makes you feel depressed and worthless. Not everything lasts forever, but you feel horrible if nearly anything you touch ends up getting damaged or broken. You have to remember mistakes happen. No one is trash just because someone does such a thing with regularity. Remember to love yourself and know you are better than your faults or mistakes.


Don't let depression and/or anxiety win.
 
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This might be a long shot, but anyone here used CBD for their depression? Can it really help with it?
Lots of people I work with do.
I’ll ask around and see what is recommended.

I’d been using cannabis for depression until it caused me a phycosis, but that was from the THC. If you just take CBD supplements I can only be beneficial in my view, if not for depression, then a whole host of other factors.
 
Coming up for four years since I lost my best friend. As time passes, how much I've lost of myself becomes yet more painfully apparent. We don't realise how much we invest in our friendships until that piece of our life disappears - the thing is, you don't just loose the past, you miss out on the present, and the future is only emptier.
 
What was to me making my first air fryer hamburger in a while ends up being another episode of sadness. I finally found these burger patties that were still unopened in the freezer. I slammed down the burger patties on the counter to separate them. When I then tried to use a wooden chop board to slam down the patties, I broke up the patties... but I also split the chop board in half. It brought back the feeling of feeling terrible because I seem to break anything I touch or am ultra clumsy and prone to mistakes. Not even making a good meal was enough to fully boost my mood after this episode. And usually, things like making your own delicious meals can bring happiness to you and boost your mood. Not so much this time.

Feeling like you are incapable of doing anything right, including seemingly damaging or breaking things constantly, makes you feel depressed and worthless. Not everything lasts forever, but you feel horrible if nearly anything you touch ends up getting damaged or broken. You have to remember mistakes happen. No one is trash just because someone does such a thing with regularity. Remember to love yourself and know you are better than your faults or mistakes.


Don't let depression and/or anxiety win.
I find myself that way with a lot of things. Always afraid that I'd do something wrong and even when I'm supposed to learn from my mistakes, I still have the possibility of repeating it. I know no one's perfect, but it keeps me from trying.... Thankfully it helps to have some external encouragement from others. Always knew how oil changes worked on cars, but never really got around to doing it myself until a recent trip to visit family and my car was screaming at me for an oil change service due to the mileage. Felt nice having my uncle who owns a mechanic's shop encourage me to do most of the work myself in his shop with his tools and lift.

It's a bit odd as he used to be the uncle that would always make fun of me as a kid and "bully" me, calling me fat and useless like my mom would. (He's one of her older brothers) Does feel weird how much nicer the (family member) adults in my life have gotten with age, but it is a welcomed change from my childhood. Where my mom used to always talk negatively about me as a kid in front of extended family or friends.... She would always say things like "Wow, your kids are so much more helpful than my useless son(s)" or "Look how stupid my son is!" My aunts and uncles would join in and make fun of me to the point of making me always want to hide away as a kid from the adults.

Your post @JohnBM01 made me think of how much I couldn't accept any mistakes I ever made. Always being told my mistake was the "worst thing ever," and fear of ever doing it again. To the point of never wanting to try something new. Unfortunately I still have that anxiety when it comes to going out of my comfort zone. Especially when my anxiety had basically peaked this past weekend....

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Went to visit family in Pennsylvania and New Jersey this past weekend. But for some reason, this particular drive got me stressed out more than I have before. Probably didn't help this was my first time bringing my own car down to visit them. I'll try to keep it somewhat short as I can.

Had an incident of road rage in downtown Philadelphia where my brother was driving my car through the city and made a genuine mistake due to the lack of signage/road markings. Nearly sideswiped someone who came flying up in what we thought was a bike lane/street parking shoulder. They chased us down through three intersections laying on the horn each time, honestly expecting them to come out to confront us or worse....

Second instance was following the GPS on the long drive back towards home, where it took us off the highway to avoid traffic jams and through the city. (These never really end up going well since everyone else is told the same thing) So of course we got stuck in gridlocked traffic and I was unable to take a left onto a busy one-way road with it's own traffic jam/gridlock. No one would let me take my turn out and always block me in, but a couple drivers behind me were more than upset with the fact (even though they couldn't see my situation) I wasn't moving. So they drove around into the oncoming lane, screaming, honking, making gestures at me, all so they could pull into the already gridlocked intersection that was only going into an even worse gridlocked intersection.

All I want to say about this was....that driving (at least in this country) has only made me feel worse and worse. I'm so sick of the selfishness people have towards driving these days. It's not just the large dense population urban areas or states either, even in my smaller town/state it's bad. I try to be courteous towards other drivers, not blocking intersections, not running stop signs to be ahead of one single car, accepting the fact I missed a turn and not cutting over. But the way people act on the road makes me just want nothing to do with it anymore. As much as I love cars and enjoy driving (when it isn't so stressful), I wish this stupid country was not so dependent on driving everywhere. I'm sure it's about the same if not worse in other countries, but the way people act towards each other makes me hate everything.

I'm sick and tired of it all. Just want to hide away from everything and never go out and deal with the general public. People say to ignore these selfish people, but when those two incidents took place, it only filled me with dread. (if that's the right word) I feel like I don't ever want to drive a car on a long trip again after this past one. I know I'm not a "main character," but I try to be considerate towards others. I don't want to be a part of this rat race.

I know the world keeps moving and no one cares and will move on with their day, but I just can't get these bad moments out of my head. It sticks with me for far too long and all I think about is not wanting to be a part of this all. Always heard people say "you gotta have thick skin and just ignore it." Partly want to blame this on the reason I don't want to get a job that I have to commute to....

Sorry if this was more like a rambling, but after this recent trip. I can't help but feel the need to talk about this somewhere.
 
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People say to ignore these selfish people, but when those two incidents took place, it only filled me with dread. (if that's the right word) I feel like I don't ever want to drive a car on a long trip again after this past one. I know I'm not a "main character," but I try to be considerate towards others. I don't want to be a part of this rat race.
Why does it fill you with dread? Perhaps it's time to change how you approach such interactions. I'm not saying to ignore it, but what I find helps is looking at the funny side and almost feeling sorry for people who are so angry/miserable that they have nothing better to do than vent that way on the roads.

It does help that I live in and grew up in Southall, a part of London notorious for bad driving.
 
I need this thread. I get depressed about certain things and bullies I used to deal with at high school when I was in my teens. Some of my family members have anxiety and depression issues. We are going to weekly therapy and it has gotten 60% better for us.
 
Why does it fill you with dread? Perhaps it's time to change how you approach such interactions. I'm not saying to ignore it, but what I find helps is looking at the funny side and almost feeling sorry for people who are so angry/miserable that they have nothing better to do than vent that way on the roads.

It does help that I live in and grew up in Southall, a part of London notorious for bad driving.

Had some bad experiences where I was followed by someone all the way to the street near my parents home. Where the driver (likely) blamed me for causing a rolling road block (even though it was two drivers in front of us) on a two lane wide road and tried to run me into a ditch.

Another was a lady who decided to dangerously tailgate me and either record video or take photos (couldn't tell) with her phone of me/my car. Just because I didn't pull forward at a green light of an intersection that gets infamously gridlocked during rush hour. It was almost blocked and I didn't want to be the person causing a jam. I have an irrational fear of being doxed on the internet...

At my old job, it involved a lot of driving. But my co-workers never did as much as me, so they'd always tease me saying that I "take driving too seriously." But trying to transport a $50k - $100k car that isn't yours because the dealership you work for could care less about your safety only to save a few hundred dollars doesn't help the worry.

Being followed to your home (when I was living with parents) to nearly be run off the road is one reason why I want to say it's due to trauma? I just don't want to deal/confront these types of people. Even if I live in the safest state in the US. People still carry guns with them in their cars here.

Not sure if that helped explain my reasoning for my anxiety with driving.
 
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Had some bad experiences where I was followed by someone all the way to the street near my parents home. Where the driver (likely) blamed me for causing a rolling road block (even though it was two drivers in front of us) on a two lane wide road and tried to run me into a ditch.

Another was a lady who decided to dangerously tailgate me and either record video or take photos (couldn't tell) with her phone of me/my car. Just because I didn't pull forward at a green light of an intersection that gets infamously gridlocked during rush hour. It was almost blocked and I didn't want to be the person causing a jam. I have an irrational fear of being doxed on the internet...

At my old job, it involved a lot of driving. But my co-workers never did as much as me, so they'd always tease me saying that I "take driving too seriously." But trying to transport a $50k - $100k car that isn't yours because the dealership you work for could care less about your safety only to save a few hundred dollars doesn't help the worry.

Being followed to your home (when I was living with parents) to nearly be run off the road is one reason why I want to say it's due to trauma? I just don't want to deal/confront these types of people. Even if I live in the safest state in the US. People still carry guns with them in their cars here.

Not sure if that helped explain my reasoning for my anxiety with driving.
Have you had CBT before with a therapist?
 
Does anyone here have experience with Atarax?
No, I've never even heard of that term before. I'll look it up and research about it though. So what hobbies/techniques do you guys use to help you with depression and anxiety problems? I need some advice to write/jot down or type it in an e-mail.
 
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