Depression is lonely.

[Username21]

Perhaps an odd way to start this post, but I don't know if I have depression. I just feel, and have felt for some time, a deep sense of not being a 'happy' person. Everyone who knows me would say I'm funny, happy, enthusiastic etc. But alone, I am none of those things. I have tried to talk to my family about my feelings, but have been very surprised at how hard people find it to talk about this, leaving you wishing you had not put your feelings on the line.

I am regularly unhappy, sometimes anxious and quite regularly consumed by thoughts of death, be them of my own death or those I love. Most fundamentally is a lack of overall purpose. I feel there's absolutely on 'point' to life sometimes, and feel very alone in this thought and within my feelings.

[Kimbo61]

Hi. I don't think it's unusual for people to feel this way from time to time, as it can help us to change direction in our lives or try something knew. However if this is something that's been affecting you for sometime it could be depression. I am not a doctor although I used to be a nurse, but I have been having treatment for anxiety and depression for the last year in the form of medication and counselling which has been very helpful.

It sounds like you could do with talking to someone outside your family, and the best way to start really is to see your GP. He should be able to recommend the next course of action, and start the ball rolling towards better times for you. there is not a quick fix, but you can do things to help yourself. Exercise regularly, good diet and doing the things you enjoy, really help. Talk to your friends about how you feel, not the whole thing in one go, but maybe a comment now and then, you'll probably find others have felt like you do. hope this is useful.

[loggerslot]

HI there, KImbo has made some very good points which I don't want to repeat. I believe most of us at some point in our lives will go through these thoughts, they help clear up our thoughts and help us see the world in a different but better way and help to discover ourselves.

its wrong to think there is no point to life. you have a wonderful gift to see everyday and do something exciting with it so don't throw away a lot of that time on these negative thoughts. FRom my experience its not worth it

You can think of your life like a plant that grows. leaves branch off but your life is still growing ahead. each of those leaves that branches off is a thought, be it negative or positive. that thought pushes you forward in some way but eventually it dies off. the end result is that your life flourishes with fragrance and colour and with only the positive branches of leaves supporting you staying up.

LIke most I've had a lot of negative thoughts but where I am now is a stronger place than where I was 7 or 8 years ago and I'm using my experience to help others where I can so there's positive to be had from the all negativity. I still have my slight issues which are not triggering my depression but being stronger those issues are a short term problem than they were that long time ago.

If your thoughts are a regular occurance then talking to someone can really help clear up their affects so you can move on with your life. there are people who may perfer not to talk about it because it may have a social taboo about it or maybe they don't know how to deal with such statements due to lack of experience. maybe due to the recent germanwings incident it may have demonize the whole term of depression as something really bad, we only have the profiting media to thank for that.

if you want to talk to someone about it then a good starting point is someone you trust and you know they are open minded enough to understand what you are going through.