2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: People WITHOUT depression and anxiety, what is life like?
This exact line of thinking is what caused me to avoid seeking help for most of my teenage years. That, and my Dad saying "Well if you really think you're that depressed we need to admit you to a hospital right now." So I just assumed everyone hated themselves but managed to find a way to deal with it, meanwhile I felt like I was drowning in a sea of self-loathing.
And then I saw a therapist, and she suggested I see a psychiatrist. Two months on an anti-depressant and the world genuinely seemed brighter. Colors were more vivid. And for the first time since I could remember, I could have a day where I didn't hate myself for some absolutely silly-ass reason.
I wish I could go back and tell younger me to insist on seeing someone sooner, or convince my parents that my lack of ambition wasn't some kind of moral failing or borne out of laziness. I just couldn't see myself succeeding at anything, so I didn't bother trying to do anything.
It's an incredibly cruel trick your brain can play on you.
Comment by CetiCeltic at 28/08/2020 at 18:39 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Yeah..I know that feeling. I think the saddest thing for me as a teen is I found my old Yahoo answers page and I had three questions on it, one was about formatting text on a forum, the other was what body shape I was/clothes should I buy to not be fat, and then the last was how to tell my mom I was suicidal because she didn't believe in mental health. I never got help as a teen, and it led to an attempt at 21 in 2015, three years after my mom passed away. I'm 26 and because I never got help young I struggled with dropping out of college, spiraling into abusive relationships because depression told me that's what I deserved because I was unlovable, not ever having a solid plan of saving and planning for the future because hey, I was gonna off myself sometime anyway. So now I'm 26, in a healthy stable and loving relationship, but trying to start new as if I was 18 because I didn't think I was going to love to see 22, let alone 23/24/25/26.
To parents reading this: depression and other mental illness can hit at any age. It can be genetic, environmental, physical (like an injury or just being born without the right receptors.) There is NO shame in taking your child to the doctor for a mental illness. There's no shame in getting your child medicine for a chemical that their body may not create naturally, or to help block a chemical that their brain just can't stop making. It doesn't make you a bad parent to have to "medicate" your child. It makes you a parent that wants to give your kid the best life possible. Get them meds, get them therapy, get you therapy!
I promise you having to only manage medicine regimes and puberty is SO much easier than having to manage puberty with an undiagnosed mental Disorder. Check on your kids and teens, open a dialogue with them about emotions and feelings. Check their behaviors. Don't brush everything off as "teenage hormones." Yeah, they're assholes sometimes and yeah sometimes they're HUGE assholes, but if things seem a little too "dramatic" there may be an underlying issue. No shame in having a talk, checking on them and letting them know you're there for them. And it's not shameful to be a parent and be on meds either!
To anyone younger reading this, if you feel hopeless or worthless or like the world is going to end all the time, talk to your parents, and if you can't talk to your parents, talk to a school counselor or talk to your doctor. Can't get your parents to take you to the doc for mental health? Lie and say you think you have an ear infection, or a UTI, or something that would get them to take you in. Then when you (hopefully) go back by yourself, you can talk to your doctor about what's *really* going on, and also throw in that your parents don't believe you, and that's why you lied to get them to schedule.
And if you're 16/17/18, you should be old enough to just schedule yourself and drive there, or in emergencies, like suicidal intentions and thoughts, have a friend drop you off at the ER. Tell them why you're there. I don't know about the legality of being a minor and what they have to tell your parents, but yeah.
Sorry this got long! 😅