Anxiety and/or depression

[Jazzy]

Members who suffer from anxiety and/or depression, how do you explain how it feels to others?

 

[Mortiferr]

Well, it depends on the type of depression you're talking about. You can have depression, which is a mental and clinical sickness that will affect you for the rest of your life and you must take medication for it.

OR

You can be depressed which is a phase. Don't get my wrong I'm not downplaying being depressed, all I'm saying is it will not be a condition you have for the rest of your life.


Most people have been depressed at some point or another, but having depression is a different matter altogether. I was depressed when I was a teenager, going as far as self-harm in a vain attempt to ease my pain. But basically nothing excites you and you have no interest in doing anything but sitting there and doing nothing.

 

[Wonko]

Very difficult, I don't tell anyone because it's so difficult to explain with out sounding like a whinny idiot, I have had it almost my entire life with out understanding why I felt like I do, I had a complete break down twice in two years but the doc was no help all he wanted to do was give me pills which I took and they worked but hated being on them for various reasons so came off them with predictable results. I have Chronic depression and manage it with diet and meditation and it seams to be working or as they say so far so good

 

[Dee]

Very difficult, I don't tell anyone because it's so difficult to explain with out sounding like a whinny idiot, I have had it almost my entire life with out understanding why I felt like I do, I had a complete break down twice in two years but the doc was no help all he wanted to do was give me pills which I took and they worked but hated being on them for various reasons so came off them with predictable results. I have Chronic depression and manage it with diet and meditation and it seams to be working or as they say so far so good

This, essentially. I have both anxiety and depression resulting from it, but it's such a personal, individualized condition that will differ on a case by case basis. Not everyone is going to feel the same way as someone else experiencing anxiety and depression. Their situations are always going to be unique to them. It's kind of a difficult thing to explain to people who have never had debilitating anxiety and depression as well. That's not to say a person can't imagine what it would be like, but you can't truly know what it feels like until you've experienced it personally.

I guess the best way to explain what anxiety is like (for me) would be to imagine the one thing that terrifies you most in this life, amplifying it by a trillion, and then make it a constant sentiment you feel on a day to day basis. Imagine it being the first thing you wake up to, the thing that riddles your mind, and the last thing you remember before passing out because you're so exhausted. That impending sense of doom, intense fear of the future to the point where you cannot function and take care of your responsibilities, to the point where it shapes the way you behave, think, feel, and generally your entire personality. Do the same with depression, but an intense sense of being alone in a deep, dark hole with no light, no other bodies around, no voices to talk to other than your warped inner monologue. Imagine being completely and utterly alone with nothing to pull you out and no sign of light or hope ever again.

 

[~KAGE-008]

As some of you already know, the origin of my depression came from the horrible past, 2009 concretely. I still remember the moment where I was starving for more than 12 hours (not kidding though) because of financial issues back then. Then when my social confidence went completely down in late 2013. I quickly went from someone who is open to new people, to someone who tends to be very picky. I'm also unsure about what will happen to my personal life, product of all that...

Yeah having depression or being depressed can lead to similar results depending on the situation.

 

[Webster]

This, essentially. I have both anxiety and depression resulting from it, but it's such a personal, individualized condition that will differ on a case by case basis. Not everyone is going to feel the same way as someone else experiencing anxiety and depression. Their situations are always going to be unique to them. It's kind of a difficult thing to explain to people who have never had debilitating anxiety and depression as well. That's not to say a person can't imagine what it would be like, but you can't truly know what it feels like until you've experienced it personally.

I guess the best way to explain what anxiety is like (for me) would be to imagine the one thing that terrifies you most in this life, amplifying it by a trillion, and then make it a constant sentiment you feel on a day to day basis. Imagine it being the first thing you wake up to, the thing that riddles your mind, and the last thing you remember before passing out because you're so exhausted. That impending sense of doom, intense fear of the future to the point where you cannot function and take care of your responsibilities, to the point where it shapes the way you behave, think, feel, and generally your entire personality. Do the same with depression, but an intense sense of being alone in a deep, dark hole with no light, no other bodies around, no voices to talk to other than your warped inner monologue. Imagine being completely and utterly alone with nothing to pull you out and no sign of light or hope ever again.

^ ^ ^ ^
...what Dee said above.

 

[MrDawn]

I have no motivations as of why I get depressed or angry. The emotions are there, the motivations of those emotions are not present. Its just something that happens to me and being OCD. I tend to harbor or fixate on the small things.