Does depression last forever?!
Question:
Does depression last forever?
I'm 17. I have unipolar disorder. I've been depressed since age 5. As a little kid I didnt enjoy doing things as much as other kids my age. Then 7 years later I was sexually abused by a relative for about 2 years. Ever since I hated the world and thought about suicide alot. Since age 15 Ive been hospitalized 5 times for depression and suicidal thoughts. I was on lots of medication but it doesnt seem to help me. I got alot of stuff going on right now. 2 court cases coming up and it is just making me more and more hurt inside. I dont know what to do. I just dont like doint the things I used to. So will this last forever?
Answers:
No, I don't believe so-that depression lasts forever. I hope not, for your sake.
What's concernful about your thumbnail sketch of yourself is your "depressive lifestyle," that you have created over the years and described to us ("hating" the world, suicidiality, multiple hospitalizations, etc.).
Try not to "identify" with depression. Remember also, that ant-depressant medication is not designed to make you "feel good," but to eliminate the depression, which it does quite well nowadays. There is no "buzz" or sense of well-being, insead, one isn't or is much less depressed. These meds are consistently misunderstood by lay people.
You're only 17. What 17 year old has a life that isn't a little tumultuous? Hopefully, when you get out on your own, have your own job and place to live, you'll be too busy to make being depressed a career or lifestyle choice.
To me you should listen. I was 14 years old when I couldn't get out of bed one day and was sitting in front of a shrink the next. I've had to accommodate depression and every fad and trend to treat it ever since, and I stick mostly with cognitive therapy. I mean it, don't identify with it if you want to be free of it.
I'm going to be optimistic that your happiest and best days lay ahead of you. Here's two hints, though: don't do things that require court cases and focus on what you do well, not what was done to you historically. If you stick with the latter, you'll always be blue and miserable.