What should I do about my depression? I'm 15! Please HELP!?

You should without a doubt take your parents up on their offer to get you counseling. And you should speak with your pediatrician about how you feel.

Eragon709, as someone who has had clinical depression for most of my life, (now called 'depressive bipolar'), your plea for help hits so close to home that I almost can't address the issue.

PLEASE get help. Suicide is why so much depression turns out to be a terminal illness. And do consider taking medication, just be careful to see a well qualified counselor because medications that are effective for adults, can be quite destructive for teenagers. With the correct medications, you can give your mind a rest from all the chaotic thoughts that distract you from the importance of living your life.

Your parents are understanding enough to consider counseling, so see if you can try it for a few months. It is hard work and takes an amazing amount of courage because you will be talking about the things that frighten you, that make you feel ashamed and guilty and, perhaps most difficult is that you will have to trust a stranger enough to address all you most painful feelings and thoughts.

Every human being has strange feeling and thoughts at times, but when they
interfere with your life, it is time to get help.

As hard as it is right now, try not to be so hard on yourself. A mental illness
doesn't make you inferior in any way and, when you get help, you will realize
that the real you is a person, just like the rest of us.

I will be sending caring and supportive thoughts your way.

Hi, Eragon (boy?) Welcome to the forum. Where are u? I 'm in New York.
I 'm no expert on depression.
I can just offer some thoughts from a gut feeling.
Your problem might just be biochemical,
such that maybe going for medical help can get u some relief from pills.





U know that your body is hardwired for sex and sexual thoughts; everyone 's is.
Those urges come from the "old brain" to move u to reproduce.







If u get them to like u, thay won 't care about your acne.
Additionally, on this forum, we will be glad and honored to be your friends.
U r anonymous, and no one can see your acne.
I have never liked MY face, either.
I wish I looked as good as Simon Baker, the TV actor.








U can either:
1. do things that are FUN for u. Thay will make u of use to yourself.

2. Volunteer to do things for other people, of your choice, if u wanna.








If thay get to know u better chances are that thay will like u better; that 's how it usually works out.








Because I have been out of my body a few times, I do not confuse myself with my body.
Leaving your body does not make u "dead". Death is a fake.
Its like when your car wears out u don 't stop moving.
U get another one, or u walk.










Try it. I 've done it a little bit a few times over the years; it felt nice. Give it a shot.









People who have done that and been brought back to life in hospitals
have reported some problems with that; against the rules.








Maybe u can get some anti-depressant pills.
Years ago, I felt very bad, emotionally on one occasion.
I was angry; I thought that I 'd been the victim of bad rudeness.
Then I had a good, robust Italian meal; really good.
It was like a miracle: I felt GOOD. I realized that my problem
had not been rudeness: it was low blood sugar. It was chemical.







My sincere 2 opinions are:

1. fill your mind with good and happy thoughts; think of beauty

2. try to get some medical help; pills and counselling.
Thay can overcome your problems.
Also, come back here and let us cheer u up!





David

Eragon709
I know how difficult it can be to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You have started by admitting you need help and don't know what to do.

As advised, please take your parents up on their offer to help you and see a counselor. If you don't like or feel comfortable with the counselor you get, try another one. It seems each one has their own technique in treating depression.

I have been down that road before and have walked out on counselors. It took everything I had in me to try again. Now I can honestly say I am so glad I didn't give up and found a counselor who has been very helpful.

When you are so depressed you don't want to do anything and like you said, not even talk to anyone. Please try and get help. What do you have to lose? You have a lot to gain because you are not alone in how you feel. Many, too many, feel at their wits end and sometimes as people we need help because we don't know what to do. A very good counselor will help you.

I know it is difficult, but try not to be so hard on yourself. There are people who care even if you don't know them personally.

From my heart to yours, I wish you the best.

TTH, this statement in your post is, perhaps, the most important. Finding the right counselor might be the most difficult part of getting meaningful and useful therapy.

Eragon,

Please don't spend another day feeling like you do - unless that's where you want to stay. Because if you do nothing, it WILL get worse. That's the bad thing abut depression. It pulls you backwards and downwards.

You have a chance to make some changes - adults around you have offered to help. Others have reached out, too. You are lucky to have concerned people around you!!

Put down your pride and take up the offers to figure out how you can be the person you want to be.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

PS - don't beat yourself up about the porn and the acne. Both are treatable!

To anyone who knows about clinical depression:

Does it help to think about your successes
about beauty, and about HAPPY events in your life ?





David

As the mother of a son who was diagnosed . . . now seen as an incorrect diagnosis . . . as bi-polar at age 12 and put on anti-depressants because his psychiatrist over-ruled me, an all too common situation . . . I am going to suggest a few different options.

The first is to seek counseling. Your parents have already put forward this remedy. Your parents know you are depressed and that is half the battle because they will not be in denial and you do not have to go to them with a
prepared speech.

However, I am going to recommend that you see a social worker and not a psychiatrist. This social worker should be one that specializes in counseling teenagers. My son saw such a person and he was extremely helpful.

And here I am putting the kibosh on the idea that you do not want to talk to anyone . . . you addressed this forum.

I know that you are home schooled but the local high school will know of counselors in your area who specialize in treating teenagers.

The second is to try attending public school for a time. You might discover that your depression has more than a bit to do with loneliness and the lack of that all important "small talk" with age peers. I would hope that, like many home schooled youngsters, you have contact with age peers through exchange programs, lessons offered by parents whose expertise is different from your own family's and through sports (home schooled kids can and do play on their local high school's teams).

The other factor of going to the public school is that it would force you out of the house and into a schedule.

The third grows out of the second and that is how much physical activity are you doing? I am not co-ordinated and would never have been help to any sports team and my other son, unfortunately, is just as unco-ordinated as I am. He, however, loves to hike and swim and was on the ultimate frisbee team at his private school (not his public school: he transferred half-way through). Of course, team sports may not interest you, but what about hiking? Golf and tennis are good sports for young people to learn as they are "life sports." You can golf alone and play tennis with one other person but football means finding 21 other people in superb physical condition.

It ultimately doesn't matter what you do as long as you get those endorphins pumping through your blood stream. You might find physical activity will sublimate some of your porn activity.

In re: porn. I have no interest in it. It does nothing for me but I know that curiosity about porn is something of a "stage" that many pass through. That you put the matter out on the table suggests that it concerns you a bit. Physical activity is a good way to sublimate the pornography urge.

Finally, I want to caution against seeing anti-depressants as a "silver bullet." I am a mother and I have taught. As I said above, my son was proscribed anti-depressants. The journey through psychotropic drugs and out of them was not fun for either my son nor I.

He has a very high IQ and may be the brightest of my three extremely bright adult children. He was accepted at a liberal arts college in Vermont but chose to attend a local community college instead because he knew that sustaining academic effort over four years was not a possibility at the time. His plan was to become a paralegal and then to work for a few years before returning to school, perhaps on a part-time basis, and earning a degree in biology or environmental science. Ultimately, he would become a lawyer, a reasonable goal for someone whose mind is logical and who comes from a long line of lawyers.

However, during his freshman year, he was overweight and listless. His moods still swung but they swung from about 6 inches off the ground to 12 inches. In other words, he was always in a funk. He went to the doctor because he felt vaguely sick. THe doctor discovered he was "dangerously anemic."

My 19-year-old son then made a series of decisions. He decided to take himself off psychotropic drugs but he did so under the guidance of his psychiatrist, his internist and with the help of the social worker he saw from 12 - 14. He also told me that although he should move away from home, that he wanted to remain with me for a time because he knew that I would detect any danger he was in and would act.

From the little you have written about your mom and dad, it seems they will do the same for you.

I see many dangers for young teenagers . . . and you are a young teenager . . . in prescription drugs. Psychiatrists will constantly up the dosage and change the prescription from "antidepressant" to "antipsychotic." The son of a close friend seems trapped in a circle of pills that he will never escape from and I wonder if some of the personality traits I see in my students at a community college do not stem from psychotropic drugs.

It didn't help for me to think about those things. I was at the point where I wouldn't go anywhere, do anything or even talk to anyone and didn't know why I felt that way. What was worse was very very few people supported me. I was told "what do you have to be unhappy about, you have a house, money, no worries and on and on." That was very unhelpful and it seemed to make things worse.

Did u get better from the depression?

If so, how ?

Good advice from Plainoldme.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

I have good days and bad ones. Most days are still a struggle for me. I prefer not to talk about the medical part and how that is being handled.

I wish u a lot of good luck, TTH.





David