Feeling dead inside. Anti-depressants?

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Sometimes I can pretend everything is o.k. but for the past several months I have felt numb and so depressed. I made an effort to pull myself out of it by getting out of the house a bit more but it is as if something is weighing me down and it is like a dark cloud is hanging over me that won't go away. I talked to as Aspie friend of mine and she thought maybe I should go on anti-depressants. I don't like telling other people about this because then I get accused of feeling sorry for myself or told to cheer up. I have tried doing some things to make myself feel better and nothing seems to help. I feel so numb sometimes I think to feel pain would be preferable to this dead feeling I have. . I can feel o.k. for a short time and then the monster of depression comes back to me. Does this mean that I am just a selfish and bad person? I know other people can't fix things for me, but I am desperate at this point so maybe I will try anti-depressants. Has anyone else benefitted from anti-depressants?

Unless the depression is a chemical inbalance in your brain, depending on medication for this can sometimes be a bad thing.. It would be a lot better for you to find something that will make yourself happy and content imo..

Sorry to hear that

If you've been feeling numb and depressed for months, then it's probably not something that will go away by itself. The right anti-depressants can make you feel better, and maybe this way you'll have more energy to put your life back on track.

If you feel you have no other choice and that nothing else works, talk to a doctor who will prescribe you something.

I also find that any break in routine is a spirit-lifter, from going to the cinema to a stroll in the park, you can try and "force" yourself to do more of the things you like to do.

Hopes everything works out.

there are two reasons that readily come to my mind for what you're feeling:

1 is that a chemical imbalance brought this on. in which case, pharmacuticals may pull you back out of it. a doctor should be able to help you sort this out with medication.

2 something in your life has brought this on. it also has probably played havoc with your brain chemicals, but until you sort out what your particular issues are, you can't expect a pill to fix it all. the pill may help you feel a bit better for a while, allow you to be functioning (more or less), but you do still have to fix what's not working. you should probably still see a doctor, and also ask if they can refer you to a counselor. sometimes just talking through things helps tremendously, without medication.

i have taken antidepressants in the distant past, with mixed results. it is my understanding the the new stuff they have now is very effective in a lot of cases, without the nasty side-effects that the older medications used to have.

best of luck to you!

i've lived in and out of depression my whole life and i know how you feel. 'the weight' and i are old friends.from my experience, I think going to the dr. and getting an antidepressant is a very good first step.Even though i do not agree with most physicians who perscribe an antidepressant as a 'cure', the key is for you to be able to feel SOMETHING and the pills can help with that. when you are immersed in the hell of 'the dark night of the soul', it can be tough just to get out of bed, i know. that is why I DO recommend an antidepressant for a while just to get you to a functional level, where you can try to get the help you need. It's hard to get help when you need help because people often don't understand that maybe you need help getting help, i think that's where many of us fall thru the cracks. Therapy may help, excercise maybe, too.

i think depression is a sickness of the soul, I really recommend meditation as the best way out. also, turn up the love. listen to some 'jon & vangelis', read 'seat of the soul' or 'journey of awakening'. people who tell you to keep your chin up have probably never been depressed and don't get it. the only way out of depression is through it. there will be tears, but that's better than the numbness, and never forget, no matter how bad it gets, that it WILL PASS. using antidepressants FOR A WHILE will get your brain rewired enough to take action. i hope this helps and keep us posted!

autisticstar, how old are you?
I'm not sure of your age, but am just saying that if you are under 18, some anti-depressants can make you more depressed and suicidal. If I were you, I would research anything before giving it a try. I was taking 20mg Citalopram last year...and in all honesty, they made me feel more depressed and made me start to self harm. About 2 weeks after I went off the meds, the self harming stopped. Coinsodence? I think not.
Can you get a referral to an aspie-friendly counsellor? I have heard that this has helped others to talk about whats bothering them and to develop coping strategies for those unpleasent dark times.
You are in no way a bad or selfish person. Depression is in no way your fault. You deserve to feel happy again. I hope things get better for you.

I would suggest some long hard research into the occult. Nothing in “psychology” or “psychiatry” can compare to aeons old methods of dealing with the spiritual. We have to throw away the model that emotions belong to “you” and realize that they are all around you and you can feel them, even from other people. I will say now and again that I do believe that Satanists have some the most effective methods in that they have no moral qualms about trying “anything” related to the supernatural.

Depression makes me feel like absolute crap - life is not worth living kind of feeling.
I take venlafaxine - this fixes the problem for me. I love my meds.
My depression is chemical - I have tried all strategies to try and help myself without medication. It was continual battle - I spent to much time fighting a low mood. Venlafaxine takes away the fight and the low mood. I feel okay now - other people I know don't have episodes of low mood. I still hate to admit to people I know that I take antidepressants - there seems to be a real stigma attached to these kind of problems.
I think you should try an antidepressant - if they help you - great!! ! Medications can be lifesavers.

I know that certain people leave themselves “open” to the moods. They find themselves effected by certain things in the environment. This isn't to try to guilt trip people for feeling bad, but rather to point out that the bad mood itself can be a source of powerful energy if you know how to use it right (or wrong as some people would say.)
The other thing I would like to point out is traditional western culture has an overemphasis on “functionality” hence the use “and abuse” of anti-depressants. Rather than fix the serious cultural issues, we would rather increase the issues, asking for more drastic actions to be taken by the gods.

For me they worked, big-style. I'd been suffering from pretty severe depression for the better part of a year. I finally went on Citalopram back in October 07, had the dose upped once, and since I am really no longer in the same bleak place.

I was initially very skeptic, as I was worried medication would augment my personality or leave me in a permanently sedated/drugged state, neither has happened, and I think perhaps I could start to come off them now as things have moved-on.

In tandem with the medication I am getting counselling/psychotherapy, which ironically is where the question of me having AS came up. I've since learned that AS and depression often go hand-in-hand. No wonder, it's so frustration to live your life unable to really share that with others in the way you'd like to.

Next I am going to get the AS diagnosis from a psychiatrist, and maybe lay rest to a lot of my demons

Don’t worry about what other people think. That’s the last thing you need. People who think depression is a personal/moral failing are complete f*cktards. For me depression can be a very tangible thing, almost a physical sensation yet indescribable to someone who hasn’t experienced it. It’s NOT just me sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

I feel the same way that you do. For the last couple months, I have been getting out more, making some new friends, and trying to change some of my old ways, yet there still seems to be something hanging over my head, holding me back from being happy. I'm really considering going to get professional help for this pretty soon...I've been putting this off for awhile, but I don't think I can fix everything on my own.

I think it definitely helps to do some reflecting on your life and to make note of the things that are causing your problems, then go from there. Talking to someone that understands what you are going through (or at least try's to understand) is a very good thing as well. This will help you get a lot off your chest. It has helped me releive a lot of my stress and frustration, although the sadness/depression is still there.

There are plenty of people on here, as well as a few in real life, that would be willing to talk to you, including me.

I hope things improve with you soon!

I was first put on anti depressents when I was 13, it was paxil, to me it really didn't seem to help, so I was taken off and the problem seemed to reseolve itself, for a while, then I was put on trazadone for what my mother called 'nervous engergy' (as in biting my fingernails to much) since I was 14 and having trouble sleeping I didn't protest, they didn't seem to work and again I was taken off. In my freshman year of high school I contemplated suicide and finally found a competent doctor who put me on Prozac and trazadone and therapy. Therapy is exreremtly helpful because you can talk without havin gto be judged and it is a person that you do not live or work with, so you know that you can talk to them and then the next day they won't be there looking at you funny. Really tis comination worked well with me. Also, an important part is the social aspect, relaize that out there someone loves you, whether your family or friends, there is someone who accepts you for you. Be grateful for this person, and know that the future is worth waiting for. Today I am off anti-depressents and mainly over my depression (I still have bouts of SAD) I wish you the best of luck, and the best advice I can give you is that if something doesn't work then find something else.

I'm sorry to hear you're feeling so down, Autistic Star.
I am on anti-depressants, and they have been a life saver for me. If I wasn't on them I wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things I am doing now. They helped get me out of the black hole of despair I was living in.

I think they are definitely worth a try for you, if you have been feeling this way for a while and other methods haven't helped. I hope you feel better soon.

When I felt dead I went on antidepressants and they helped a lot. Celexa made me giddy until it started to kick in for real, so there was hardly any waiting for it to make me feel better.