Stress/Depression, why do I feel like this?

[CouchCommando]

Ok here's the cliche, speak to a professional.
I did after battling depression for years and subconsciously with drawing into my work and studies until it seemed to occupy my entire life. After actually speaking to a mental health professional I am still kicking myself that I hadn't done it years ago. You will be surprised just how much you can accomplish by speaking to a trained professional.

 

[Liberaliter]

Attention probably.

 

[smithy_2045]

Seek professional advice.


Seriously.



If you're thinking about suicide, even if you think you'd never ever kill yourself, you should talk to a doctor/psychiatrist/qualified professional. It's not worth the risk.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

You have nothing to worry about, feeling those things means your human. Oh and its a teenager thing.

 

[Aur0ra145]

Time for the "John Wayne School for Boys," yes I'm telling you to break your weekly cycle and do something completely different.

My suggestion is to travel quite a bit away from where ever home is, and camp in rather extreme conditions (but ones that won't kill you.) If you can hunt/fish to obtain your food it's even better.

 

[Continuity]

pop some zinc and try to relax.

 

[Jacob.pederson]

Hey all,
I've been feeling a bit stressed lately, I have exams coming up and some other stuff has also been bugging me.

So my mind has been basically all over the place at the moment, I'm currently trying to focus studying on my hardest two subjects (Latin and Maths) but to no real avail. So I've been sort of stressed out and anxious about this, also feeling quite depressed. The thing is though, I don't know why. My life is, from an outsiders point of view, pretty good.

+ I go to a great, expensive school, where I am above average in intelligence (please note: I'm not trying to say "IM SO SMART!!!" all I mean is that I do quite well on most of my tests, and I find most subjects fairly easy).
+ I have fantastic parents who love for me, and support me. (Who I'm still living with, btw, I'm in my mid-teens)
+ I have a large group of friends.
+ I don't get bullied at all.
+ My family is in no trouble with finance.

There is really nothing bad in my life. That is why I am so curious as to why I am feeling stressed and depressed. I mean some nights I lie in bed worrying about stupid things. The next morning I think "Wow, that was a stupid thought, as if that would ever happen!" yet that night I feel anxious again. A lot of the time I feel extremely sad, and even think of suicide. The thing is though, I would never, ever kill myself, and therefore I hate myself for even thinking of killing myself, it that makes sense. I feel as if I am messed up, and that I shouldn't be thinking these things, maybe I should talk to the school psychiatrist.

I play sports outside of school twice a week, and I catch up with friends outside of school maybe once every two weeks. I also play (study?) piano, so I have lessons once a week and I practice fairly constantly. I play a lot of video games, but when I play it's almost always with at least one of my friends (who is online). I haven't told anyone of these feelings.

So I'm just wondering, is this just a regular teenage thing? Or is this unusual? I'm asking because I assume that most of you here are in your late teens/20's so you've all gone through teenage years.
Do you have any advice for dealing with stress or depression? All advice is appreciated.

And just to let you know, this isn't a cry for sympathy. I was just wondering if this is usual for teenagers, and if any of you have advice. I don't really know anywhere else anonymous to go.
Thanks.

Also:
I should mention that I rarely feel this way during the week, it's only really on the weekends, most often Sunday, usually at night, I really never feel this way during the day.

My first recommendation is a couple of books. First, Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, http://www.amazon.com/Ishmael-Adventure-Spirit-Daniel-Quinn/dp/0553375407, best 20$ you'll ever spend. His conclusions are a little off by the standards of modern science, but his reasoning is dead on. Humans are depressed because we weren't made for the environments we now occupy. Our species spent millions of years specializing to become hunter-gatherers. When civilization happened, we didn't fit anymore. Once you come to this conclusion, world-wide depression makes a lot more sense.

The second book is, The Depression Cure, by Stephen S. Ilardi PhD. This is a much more practical guide to getting out of depression, breaking it down into diet, lifestyle, and chemistry. http://www.amazon.com/Depression-Cure-6-Step-Program-without/dp/0738213888/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287848845&sr=1-1 It basically looks at the differences between modern society and the hunter gatherer, and tries to mend as many as it can.

My third recommendation is a little more relevant to The Escapist. And I'm being completely serious here, as a 32 year old who has suffered from depression hardcore since I was your age and before . . . Two words. Rock Band. I've played about 20+ years worth of games, and Rock Band is the one out of them all that leaves me with consistently raised spirits after playing it.

 

[_Janny_]

Being in your mid-teen usually means you're in that "finding your identity" phase. Everyone goes through it. And this combined with stress from your exams can usually make you feel blue. Hang in there and you should be fine.

 

[Fooz]

Hey all,
I've been feeling a bit stressed lately, I have exams coming up and some other stuff has also been bugging me.

So my mind has been basically all over the place at the moment, I'm currently trying to focus studying on my hardest two subjects (Latin and Maths) but to no real avail. So I've been sort of stressed out and anxious about this, also feeling quite depressed. The thing is though, I don't know why. My life is, from an outsiders point of view, pretty good.

+ I go to a great, expensive school, where I am above average in intelligence (please note: I'm not trying to say "IM SO SMART!!!" all I mean is that I do quite well on most of my tests, and I find most subjects fairly easy).
+ I have fantastic parents who love for me, and support me. (Who I'm still living with, btw, I'm in my mid-teens)
+ I have a large group of friends.
+ I don't get bullied at all.
+ My family is in no trouble with finance.

There is really nothing bad in my life. That is why I am so curious as to why I am feeling stressed and depressed. I mean some nights I lie in bed worrying about stupid things. The next morning I think "Wow, that was a stupid thought, as if that would ever happen!" yet that night I feel anxious again. A lot of the time I feel extremely sad, and even think of suicide. The thing is though, I would never, ever kill myself, and therefore I hate myself for even thinking of killing myself, it that makes sense. I feel as if I am messed up, and that I shouldn't be thinking these things, maybe I should talk to the school psychiatrist.

I play sports outside of school twice a week, and I catch up with friends outside of school maybe once every two weeks. I also play (study?) piano, so I have lessons once a week and I practice fairly constantly. I play a lot of video games, but when I play it's almost always with at least one of my friends (who is online). I haven't told anyone of these feelings.

So I'm just wondering, is this just a regular teenage thing? Or is this unusual? I'm asking because I assume that most of you here are in your late teens/20's so you've all gone through teenage years.
Do you have any advice for dealing with stress or depression? All advice is appreciated.

And just to let you know, this isn't a cry for sympathy. I was just wondering if this is usual for teenagers, and if any of you have advice. I don't really know anywhere else anonymous to go.
Thanks.

Also:
I should mention that I rarely feel this way during the week, it's only really on the weekends, most often Sunday, usually at night, I really never feel this way during the day.

seems to me its just exams and maybe deep down your worrying about your future, once you get past these exams you will most likely look back and think "wow wtf was i worried about?"

and if your stressed alot then maybe you should, erm, how do i put this, do alot of what teens do when there on their own in their room lol

 

[sam13lfc]

Hey all,
I've been feeling a bit stressed lately, I have exams coming up and some other stuff has also been bugging me.

So my mind has been basically all over the place at the moment, I'm currently trying to focus studying on my hardest two subjects (Latin and Maths) but to no real avail. So I've been sort of stressed out and anxious about this, also feeling quite depressed. The thing is though, I don't know why. My life is, from an outsiders point of view, pretty good.

+ I go to a great, expensive school, where I am above average in intelligence (please note: I'm not trying to say "IM SO SMART!!!" all I mean is that I do quite well on most of my tests, and I find most subjects fairly easy).
+ I have fantastic parents who love for me, and support me. (Who I'm still living with, btw, I'm in my mid-teens)
+ I have a large group of friends.
+ I don't get bullied at all.
+ My family is in no trouble with finance.

There is really nothing bad in my life. That is why I am so curious as to why I am feeling stressed and depressed. I mean some nights I lie in bed worrying about stupid things. The next morning I think "Wow, that was a stupid thought, as if that would ever happen!" yet that night I feel anxious again. A lot of the time I feel extremely sad, and even think of suicide. The thing is though, I would never, ever kill myself, and therefore I hate myself for even thinking of killing myself, it that makes sense. I feel as if I am messed up, and that I shouldn't be thinking these things, maybe I should talk to the school psychiatrist.

I play sports outside of school twice a week, and I catch up with friends outside of school maybe once every two weeks. I also play (study?) piano, so I have lessons once a week and I practice fairly constantly. I play a lot of video games, but when I play it's almost always with at least one of my friends (who is online). I haven't told anyone of these feelings.

So I'm just wondering, is this just a regular teenage thing? Or is this unusual? I'm asking because I assume that most of you here are in your late teens/20's so you've all gone through teenage years.
Do you have any advice for dealing with stress or depression? All advice is appreciated.

And just to let you know, this isn't a cry for sympathy. I was just wondering if this is usual for teenagers, and if any of you have advice. I don't really know anywhere else anonymous to go.
Thanks.

Also:
I should mention that I rarely feel this way during the week, it's only really on the weekends, most often Sunday, usually at night, I really never feel this way during the day.

In your early to mid teens you can go through mood swings quite often, and your emotions can get the better of you for no real reason. It's to do with the hormones in your body, you're probably completely normal. Depression in the medical sense is when you are constantly depressed, with very little happiness. If you're worried about it though, go to a doctor.

As for the Maths and Latin, you don't need to be good at everything, just do what you can do, there's no point worrying about it if you're a good student overall ;p.
Go to your teachers for help on the subjects too, or get a personal 1 on 1 tutor.

 

[new_guy]

So I'm just wondering, is this just a regular teenage thing?

Don't worry about it. The more you focus on it, the worse it will get.
And the last thing you want to be is one of those idiots who wallows in their angst.

Soldier on through it. When it becomes difficult to handle, vent. Just mind you don't get too used to venting every little problem you have.

I disagree.

Okay, to be fair, this all is probably from hormones. Don't get angry, I know everyone says that, but there is a high chance it is true. But I have to disagree with what Monkfish said. If you avoid this problem, it will get worse. Trust me from experience.

His other point is true. Find someone you can talk to about this. If you can't find someone, I would be more than glad to help. As long as this person doesn't mind you venting every problem though, there is no problem, but be careful not to go overboard if they do mind.

Ah, well, I don't really have any experience with this, aside from outside perspective. I skipped that phase entirely. So you would know better.

I feel I should clear up that I didn't mean "ignore it entirely", however. I mostly meant "don't make a big deal out of it".
In the case of most negative emotions, focusing on them prolongs them. If you keep thinking "golly, I'm so sad", you're going to keep feeling sad.
You kind of have to get the balance of focus just so. You can't avoid them, but you can't allow yourself to get swept up in them.
It's difficult, and I don't think many people really get it perfectly. But you can do it well enough to be functional, if you try hard enough.

maslow's needs hierarchy model is primarily a motivational theory mostly tailored to managerial uses for employees it is not a psycological well being of a patient and is not used in any medical uses as far as i know

edit: I totally recant what i said above sorry monkfish i was totally replying to something else entirely but i responded to you for some reason very sorry i feel like a major tosser

 

[BENZOOKA]

Spoiler

Hey all,
I've been feeling a bit stressed lately, I have exams coming up and some other stuff has also been bugging me.

So my mind has been basically all over the place at the moment, I'm currently trying to focus studying on my hardest two subjects (Latin and Maths) but to no real avail. So I've been sort of stressed out and anxious about this, also feeling quite depressed. The thing is though, I don't know why. My life is, from an outsiders point of view, pretty good.

+ I go to a great, expensive school, where I am above average in intelligence (please note: I'm not trying to say "IM SO SMART!!!" all I mean is that I do quite well on most of my tests, and I find most subjects fairly easy).
+ I have fantastic parents who love for me, and support me. (Who I'm still living with, btw, I'm in my mid-teens)
+ I have a large group of friends.
+ I don't get bullied at all.
+ My family is in no trouble with finance.

There is really nothing bad in my life. That is why I am so curious as to why I am feeling stressed and depressed. I mean some nights I lie in bed worrying about stupid things. The next morning I think "Wow, that was a stupid thought, as if that would ever happen!" yet that night I feel anxious again. A lot of the time I feel extremely sad, and even think of suicide. The thing is though, I would never, ever kill myself, and therefore I hate myself for even thinking of killing myself, it that makes sense. I feel as if I am messed up, and that I shouldn't be thinking these things, maybe I should talk to the school psychiatrist.

I play sports outside of school twice a week, and I catch up with friends outside of school maybe once every two weeks. I also play (study?) piano, so I have lessons once a week and I practice fairly constantly. I play a lot of video games, but when I play it's almost always with at least one of my friends (who is online). I haven't told anyone of these feelings.

So I'm just wondering, is this just a regular teenage thing? Or is this unusual? I'm asking because I assume that most of you here are in your late teens/20's so you've all gone through teenage years.
Do you have any advice for dealing with stress or depression? All advice is appreciated.

And just to let you know, this isn't a cry for sympathy. I was just wondering if this is usual for teenagers, and if any of you have advice. I don't really know anywhere else anonymous to go.
Thanks.

Also:
I should mention that I rarely feel this way during the week, it's only really on the weekends, most often Sunday, usually at night, I really never feel this way during the day.

Not to undermine your problems, but that's extremely common. Especially for a teenager. Nearly everyone feels that way. Nothing to worry about. Just try not to roll in this self pity, concentrate on the moment of now, get over the stressing parts, reward yourself for doing important stuff that gets you forward and it will be all good.

You can always go and get all the help you feel like you need and can get, but for your information: A lot of people have it many times worse, and they feel a lot worse, almost all the time.

 

[Nomanslander]

Start drinking profusely and shunning all your closest friends.

kidding...;p

I don't know man, I've been that way for 15 years now, and all I can say is there's nothing wrong being depressed now and then, just don't make a big thing out of it, and definitely don't turn it into a habit....0o

 

[xmbts]

It can happen for a whole variety of reasons, and just because you don't have the hardest life ever doesn't mean your a jackass for feeling depressed.

My advice would be to find whatever causes you stress and take a break from it. If it keeps up seek help.

 

[Mr Montmorency]

Start drinking profusely and shunning all your closest friends.

Way ahead of you.

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

The only advice that I have is to take some time to yourself. I feel the same way you do, and that always helps me out.

 

[Sonofadiddly]

Sometimes people really do just have a chemical imbalance that is apparently from no external source, and you'll need to be on antidepressants for the rest of your life. Also, sometimes even if it seems like your life is fantastic to you, there might be something unhealthy going on that you haven't noticed because to you, it's normal. Example: I thought it was normal to have parents that subtly criticized you for every tiny thing. Turns out it's not. A mental health professional can figure these things out.

Alternatively, does the area in which you live get a lot of sunlight? If not, consider Seasonal Affective Disorder.

 

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

I don't really have much to add, as other posters have already given good advice.

However, I'd recommend searching for unresolved issues you may have had recently. Those come back and bite you in the ass if you're not careful and quick to dispatch with them.
(e.g.: Some girl you were developing a friendship with suddenly starts ignoring you for months on end. And you don't know whether you should approach her about the situation or just let it be, so you start ignoring back. But everytime you cross in the hallways, there's this real awkward tension like you both want to say something, but nobody does. So you keep delaying the inevitable confrontation and putting it in the back of your mind until she finally says something. But she never does. So you keep ignoring and putting it in the back of your mind...You get the idea.
Okay, so I may be projecting a little bit.)
The thing is, this entire time, your organism, or more specifically the stress response within it, is under allostatic load, which is the chronic exposure to the fluctuating hormones communicated through your HPA axis in the brain, which can lead to nasty side effects. Picture two sumo-wrestlers on a see-saw. While it may be perfectly in balance due to the equal amount of weight and force sitting on top of it, it's under much more strain than if two toddlers were sitting on top of it, and it may snap at some point. ("It", by the way, is you.)
[shameless self-flattery]Look at me, I've been writing a thesis on stress.[/shameless self-flattery]


TL;DR: Cut that shit out. (And by "that shit" I mean the unresolved issues you may have on the back of your mind.)


Also, talk to your parents about it. Seriously. They've been teens at some point too, and if it's a simple case of the teen angstz, they probably have advice/support.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

I feel I should clear up that I didn't mean "ignore it entirely", however. I mostly meant "don't make a big deal out of it".
In the case of most negative emotions, focusing on them prolongs them. If you keep thinking "golly, I'm so sad", you're going to keep feeling sad.
You kind of have to get the balance of focus just so. You can't avoid them, but you can't allow yourself to get swept up in them.
It's difficult, and I don't think many people really get it perfectly. But you can do it well enough to be functional, if you try hard enough.

maslow's needs hierarchy model is primarily a motivational theory mostly tailored to managerial uses for employees it is not a psycological well being of a patient and is not used in any medical uses as far as i know

... Okay, I am going to admit I have no idea what the fuck that is.
I mean, I can guess, but that was not what I was going for at all. I didn't even know about it.
I was just saying something a friend of the family told me ages ago that had stuck with me.