Why do I always feel like I'm never going to get over my depression, no matter how long or how hard I try?

Depression has a habit of making you think that you're never getting out of its clutches, because it's messing up the way your brain processes certain signals. This can then influence the way you perform (in work or school, or socially, for example), which may not live up to what you're used to. After that, it's easy to start feeling bad about it, producing less of your 'happy hormones' (like serotonin, endorphins, dopamine and oxytocin), feeding back into the start of the cycle. This which makes living your life the way you want to, and the recovery towards living your life that way, very hard - and makes you feel like you're not getting out of what feels like a downwards spiral.

That's what depression does to your brain. It creates ruts and forces you to fight your way out of them. It's a consistent uphill battle. But you WILL get out - I speak from experience. I climbed out by doing these three things: every day, I found one thing to be grateful for; every day I did one thing that no one could take away from me that I felt I was the master of; and every week, I made some sort of plans to look forward to. These started out small: I'm grateful for the roof over my head keeping me dry; today, I read 50 pages in a book; next week, I get to go to the book store and buy a NEW book. Then, as I started to feel better, those small things got bigger. It became being grateful for life itself, that I'd mastered an olympic-style life in the gym, and I looked forward to kayaking in open water. You CAN do this. You have to remind yourself that you are worth the effort.

One of the symptoms of depression is hopelessness. That's consulting with a professional is so important. He or she may recommend a therapy to help overcome those feelings.

As someone who personally struggles with depression, I can say that, in the moment, it never feels like things are going to get better. But as you push through each day, you'll find things that make you want to keep going, whether it's family, friends, pets, a video game, or something as simple as feeling the sun on your face. And slowly, you're no longer trying to just survive through the day, you're living in it. Overcoming depression is like climbing a mountain. Everyday you struggle to get closer to the top, some days are harder than others. Some days you may fall, others you may feel like you don't have the strength to continue, but that doesn't erase all the hard work you've already put in. You are an amazing person, you had the strength to not only start your journey, but continue it for as long as you have. And I know you have the strength to continue, even if it doesn't feel like it today or even next week. Never forget that you are an incredible and strong person, and I'm immeasurably proud of you. Even through the ups and downs, one day you will conquer that mountain.

I understand, I felt like this and still sometimes do, deoression is hard, no matter how hard you want to be happy, your brain won't let you, you can try but it won't always work. You will get over your depression one day, no matter how long it takes, you are perfect and deserve to be happy, let no one bring you down or judge you. Be you, no one can change you.

Depression is a very difficult illness to over come and all too often we find ourselves feeling lost and unable to recover from it, which can be very hard to deal with. When dealing with depression it's important to try and hold a positive mind set that you can, and that you will, beat depression. It's often useful if you have a support network to get help from (such as 7 Cups of Tea), so that you know you're not alone in facing depression. It's a very hard illness to deal with, although try to remember depression is a treatable illness and there is help & support available for it! It's vital for recovery to know that you deserve to recover, no matter how overwhelming it feels and that you're worth it!

People have a tendency to feel that way. But actually you can, with time or you just haven't applied the right way

Depression is an ailment that tends to feed and empower itself. Depression takes away all the things that motivates us - the ability to feel connected to others, the desire to do activities that we need/love, a sense of self. The very symptoms of depression counteract what's needed to treat it. That's why escaping a depression can be so difficult for so many, because it creates that feeling that there's nothing you can do to get better.

It isn't going to overcome so easily you need to keep pushing to that goal even when you fail pick up where you fail and get back up and keep trying you can do it.

Because it's been going on for so long already. 8 years, and it only seems to be getting worse. There is no solution.