Possible depression, any advice?

[LifetimeLoser77]

wow, I think i went through the exact same thing as a junior in college. It was awful but I learned from it. You have to learn how to deal with all the crap life throws at u at some point.

[katyseagull]

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I guess I'm taking a big step here for myself, but I just made an appointment to see a counselor (not sure if it'll be a psychologist or a psychiatrist or neither) today.



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I commend you for doing this. It's great to see someone taking steps to find solutions to their problem instead of just whining about it or drinking themselves to oblivion. I really like that you are asking for help and exploring various options. Really cool akishore. Good luck.

[oddjob]

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I guess I'm taking a big step here for myself, but I just made an appointment to see a counselor (not sure if it'll be a psychologist or a psychiatrist or neither) today.



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I commend you for doing this. It's great to see someone taking steps to find solutions to their problem instead of just whining about it or drinking themselves to oblivion. I really like that you are asking for help and exploring various options. Really cool akishore. Good luck.

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as do i. one thing i do know is that friends who are not that close, don't want to hear it.

if i could afford it, i'd go see someone, but i freelance and work has not been very good these days. i've been battling depression for the past 7 or so years.

if you find you can't do the therapist, i did an online helpline type thing, where i would send anonymous emails to a counselor. it was a different person who read and answered each email, but it helped to just be able to talk about somethign to someone who isn't judging you in any way.

good luck i hope it works out for you.

[cjmewett]

As with others, I went through a very similar experience at around the same age. Around Christmas of my junior year in college, I had a terrible, awful, debilitating breakup with my longtime girlfriend. Basically everything in my life was infected with a pervasive sadness and lack of motivation. I nearly withdrew from school, ceased caring about activities that were previously important to me, and typically stayed awake all night and slept all day. I failed two classes in the spring semester as a result. I never really got things back on track with school or my campus activities, though I still graduated.

The one useful thing that I can tell you now is to take whatever steps you must to deal with the problem, because if you don't, it will affect you permanently. You will have excuses for the rest of your life about your academic performance, your first job search, and your social life in what should be one of the more enjoyable times of your life (and a time where the social circumstances will never be replicated and your ability to meet new people is at an all-time high).

As for classwork, I'm not sure that I have a very good answer. It's difficult when the work is in subjects that don't personally interest you or seem to bear on your academic or professional future. If you have a history of high academic achievement or competitiveness in general, I would do whatever possible to try to channel those habits into a commitment to doing everything well. As Blarg noted, you have an opportunity to really focus on everything you do and be free of distractions. To give you something of an overly-optimistic "make lemonade out of lemons take": this is one time in your life where you can do something perfectly, when you can completely remove the possibility for excuse-making. Everything is on you at this point, and all of the good that comes from that can be solely attributed to your hard work and perseverance.

Do little things first. Make yourself a list -- overwhelming as it seems -- and start checking off boxes. It doesn't have to be all your schoolwork, but everything in your life: get a haircut, buy toothpaste, iron a shirt, do laundry. Once you start rolling and see tangible progress, it should be easier to start adding "finish history paper" and "do chemistry homework" to the list somewhere.

Coming from a guy who has had a lot of the same sort of problems and allowed them to impact my life in a reasonably substantial and negative way: SLEEP. Whatever you have to tell yourself to do it, sleep, and do so at normal hours. Tell yourself that you're going to bed at midnight and waking up at eight no matter what else is going on. Just having a routine and a sense of being a normal, diurnal person will go a long way toward your mental health.

Seeing somebody is a good start. Good luck.

[wezvidz]

Didn't read whole thread but a big part of DSM diagnoses of various disorders is that it is NOT caused by external events. You're obviously down in the dumps because of all these rough things in your life right now, that is NORMAL. It doesn't warrent a psychiatric evaluation and a bunch of meds. If you don't come out of this mindset after things get better, then there may actually be a problem.

[Grasshopp3r]

Get some sunshine, too.

Good luck.

[seaweed]

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Didn't read whole thread but a big part of DSM diagnoses of various disorders is that it is NOT caused by external events. You're obviously down in the dumps because of all these rough things in your life right now, that is NORMAL. It doesn't warrent a psychiatric evaluation and a bunch of meds. If you don't come out of this mindset after things get better, then there may actually be a problem.

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rule #1. don't mess around with the DSM unless you actually know what you're doing.

a psychiatrist & meds might be unneccesary. but, talking to a psychologist couldn't hurt.

[rory]

There are different degrees of depression. There are some people who are basically unhappy all of the time with brief periods of being happy when really good things happen with their life situation. Those are clinically depressed people. It sounds like you have more situational depression, which means that your life is kind of in a place right now where there is a lot going on and you have had your stability pulled out from under you and what not. That is good news for you because once your life situation stabilizes you will come out of your depression as there is nothing chemically wrong with you. However being so depressed that you are unable to function in the world, even if it is due to your life situation and not due to a persistent chemical imbalance, is not good. Your life situation is unlikely to improve and likely to worsen the longer you feel unable to be productive.

Your college should have some mental health people that you can go talk to. It's not that you are depressed, it is that your life has kind of gotten to you temporariliy. It might be that just talking to someone about it and getting everything off of your chest is enough to make you feel much better and let you get going forward again. Or, it might be that your doctor prescribes you a mild antidepressant for a brief period of time to get you going through this hard time in your life. Either way it does not sound as if you have anything to worry about.

Think about it this way: if you started to get a pain in your side and it didn't go away for a few days, would you go to the doctor just to make sure nothing is really wrong? Probably you would for sure if the pain was such that you couldn't do your work anymore. You'd be in the emergency room. Well, you have some mental pain that is preventing you from doing your work, so go see the doctor that specializes in mental pain and stop suffering.

[divides_by_zero]

Been there done that. It's a tough school, and not just academically. It's a pressure cooker, and extremely unforgiving. If you fall into the cracks there is no one there to pick you up. (And yes, I know this from personal experience.)

Here's the thing, you're a smart kid and are very capable. Go to medical. They are extremely helpful. I've seriously turned my life around completely upon returning and things have never been better. I didn't have the support group of friends my first time around, but you probably do. Take advantage of that. Everyone here is so caught up in presenting themselves as the best that it's hard for anyone to ask for help.

I have been in your shoes. If you ever want to talk about it, PM me. Luckily for you, I don't think you're dealing with bigger psych issues, it's just end of term getting you down, but it can spiral so quickly out of control.

IHTFP :-)

[TheFaucet]

OP,

What you shared sounds a lot like what I'm going through. I am coming to the realization that college is no longer a good investment of my time and money so I am dropping out after this semester. I've become very disillusioned with the way things are and my depression's gotten worse in the last few months. So I decided to buy a beamer and travel the country for a while, see new places and meet people who have something to say. I also stopped smoking and drinking for the most part, and sought out counseling, acupuncture, and had some herbs prescribed.
Now as for you, if your depression persists for a few more weeks, I recommend you seek counseling. Many colleges have counselors on campus that you can talk to free of charge.