Introduce yourself.

Hello, my name is Brenna. I just turned eighteen years old and I am the mother to a six month old baby girl. I graduated a semester early so I could get ahead in my college studies. I am now working full time as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at a nursing home and I am going to school part time. I would love to go full time, but if I did that I would never see my daughter. My ultimate goal is to become a Labor and Delivery Nurse in a Hospital or a Midwife. I am still going back and forth on the two thoughts. I will most likely be one of those two part time and a Lactation Consultant part time. I am a huge advocate for breast milk over formula, however I will never shame another mother for favoring the latter! My daughters father is somewhat in our lives. He lives in another state and swears up and down he will be coming back to live with us, but I am not holding my breath. Things are not working out between us right now, and things just seem to be getting worse.

I am normally a really happy but shy person, but I have found that since my daughters father moved away I have been getting slowly more and more down. I am very stressed about my school studies. Work is physically draining. My daughter is beautiful but she is a little handful. My financial burden is one I carry alone. A long distance (and emotionally abusive)relationshipwas a constant ache in my chest for six months before I called it off, and it still hurts just as bad. I just don't see how anything could get better at this point.

hello, patrick from U.K. I have depression..

Hi I'm Sophie, I do self harm which I am trying to stop, as well as depression. I am 22 years old and live in the United Kingdom. I get hurt really easy and when I do I feel like everyone is my enemy. I have trust issues as well. I do love talking to people though very shy at first.

Hi, I'm maggie from the UK. I'm 34 and I suffer with depression and anxiety. The only thing that keeps me from my bed is work. I throw myself into work put 200pc of my energy into it till I'm exhausted. Last year I changed to night shifts so I don't have to see so many happy people. Families couples friends I see them happy together and I wonder why I have no one. So I avoid them and now I barely see anyone and I feel lonely. I have issues with who I am. I hate my weight I hate my thoughts I hate that I'm here burdening others with me... but I hate feeling like this and there are days when I feel so distraught I'd do anything to make it go away. I have trouble letting people close. I can talk to people in shops at work but the minute I feel people are trying to know me I freak out. I can't think why anyone would want to know me at all... so I tend to think it's because it's a joke. I also hate that sometimes I'm over arrogant in my head. I just want to be a nice person but I have nothing to say to anyone lest I make a fool of myself. To be honest I feel like my biggest battle is the one I have with myself. And I am so tired i now spend most of my life in bed.. I find there's little point in getting up except to work. thinking about therapy again but it's so expensive but I worry about what I'll do if I remain in this half life. on a positive I've got through this before. In the past I've self harmed had bulimia and an addiction to painkillers but I recovered... still sometimes I think about it.. The thought of losing my job over it though I'm not quite there yet. anyway thanks for listening look forward to getting to know you mags

Hi. I've introduced myself over in anxiety, suppose I should do so here too.

Name is Sara, currently 35 years old. Diagnosed with depression (and some anxiety)... I don't know. Three years ago? More? Time is weird. I've been on medication since the diagnosis, in and out of therapy.

I've had a lot of trouble with continuity of care... I was going through my GP at first, had two of those in a row leave their practices on me, then had to fire a third because I just didn't trust her judgment and it was an all around bad fit, went to a psychiatrist after that but he left too, and when I looked for another I found out there really aren't any in town who are taking new patients now--so here I am with GP number 4. First therapist was OK, but I don't think I knew how to recognize a bad fit at the time or felt like I could do anything about it. Left her care feeling better, though, and stayed out of therapy for quite a while until things got bad and I had to go back. This time found a different therapist who was so much better for me--but then she got pregnant and I lost her for a little bit while she was on maternity leave. The therapist I saw in the interim was better than my first one, but definitely not someone I would want to stay with long-term; I'm glad that I was able to go back to my favorite after she returned to work. (Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that I can afford to get any kind of care at all! But to have such trouble finding and keeping a provider is really frustrating.)

Anyway. I'm... mostly doing all right at this point, down to therapy once a month (from once a week). I still find I'm really easily triggered, though, especially at the beginning and midpoint of my monthly cycle. The latter especially can sometimes feel like the meds just aren't even working at all. I fortunately don't tend to consider... drastic action... at all, but sometimes it's all I can do to get out of bed or form a coherent sentence. (I talked to my GP, therapist, and gynecologist about potential hormonal issues since this seems strongly linked to my hormonal cycle; what I got was that apparently it's normal for women my age to start having more dramatic fluctuations of that sort even if not actually menopausal yet.)

This summer is turning into something particularly hard to cope with, and that difficulty seems to be swinging back and forth between depression and anxiety. It feels like everything is happening all at once and I just can't keep track of it all. Sometimes I feel pressured to do everything and do it perfectly; other times I think why care, why try. A lot of what's happening is actually GOOD (like getting a new house), but the change is still really stressful even if I'm looking forward to the end result.

i feel so lost and alone. i constantly get rejected by potential suitors, some even before we meet in person. the ones that i do meet in person seem to not be interested in me. i have been sort of lost since i lost my partner of two years about six months ago. i am trying to move on by meeting other people, and i have so much love to give in my heart, but it seems that no one wants it. i know "forever alone" is just an untrue adage, but i am beginning to feel like i'll never find anyone that i am attracted to that understands and accepts me for who i am. i am diagnosed bipolar and borderline, and sometimes i take my issues with myself out on people that have nothing to do with it, making my relationships unstable. not to mention jealousy and reassurance issues. i admit that it's probably hard to love me, but i am trying to change by going to therapy and CBT. i feel like neither is helping me with the longing feeling of wanting to share myself with. i feel like i'm not worthy enough to better myself for myself, i feel like i can only move forward with my life if i have someone to work for. it's hard to get motivated, so i am pretty stagnant in my life at this point in time. i don't know what to do, so i've turned here for some insight. i hope that there's more to say in response to "keep busy" and "stop looking". thanks for your time :]

I am introvert since always and every year that passesit seems increase this dark hole inside me. I started unintentionally isolate myself for a long timeand I'm alone since then.

I maintain a mask of transparency, I appear somehow normal but I hide a big amount of anger inside me. I hate the world, I hate myself and above all I hate my situation. The only thing that keeps me alive and more or less sane is my anger. Anger gave me air without my consent, and now it's one of the few thingscirculating in my mind.

I don't like my family and I dream awake every time, I want to get out of this country and start what actually calls life in Portugal. I would love to go there and study, restart one life that I don't even remember if I enjoyed, but I don't have money so I came back to my reality, maybe I was born to suffer.

HI I'm new here. I'm 34 and in the process of going through a divorce at the moment. I was married for 7 years and have a daughter that's almost 3 now. My daughter was the only positive thing to come out of my marriage. I could write a for long while about the current state of my life. In the process of the divorce, my ex has turned everyone against me and now I'm alone and friendless.I'm trying hard to overcome my depression but nothing ever seems to work.

Hi, everyone. I just joined this site and I'm so glad that this type of site actually exists.
I've been reading some posts in forum and I feel already welcomed and relieved to learn that there are this many people who are fighting the same battles every single day just like me. I'm 30 years old and only have like one friend who is also depressed. I've been single for the last 5 years and I've honestly given up on finding the significant other. I'm struggling with the job that I absolutely hate. I recently told my employer that I would like to quit, but under the company's circumstances, he basically told me to stay put for another 6 months or so. Every day I wish that I could just disappear so I won't have to deal with life. I always had such longing to travel the world, but my anxiety and shyness are getting worse and I have to find courage to even visit crowded places. I've always lived with depression since I was very young, and I did talk to a theraphist for a whilebefore but it only seemed to work at that time, and didn't have the lasting effect as I would have liked.
My dream is to become a novelist that inspires people from all around the globe, with the stories that send a message you can overcome anything, even this horrible depression. Thanks for listening.

Hi, I'm Brecken. I am 19. I have recently been struggling with depression and anxiety, as well as suicidal thoughts and actions. I will be a second semester sophomore in college this fall. For those that need a friend, I'm a pretty good listener, and have an amazing collection of hilarious memes! 😊