Recovered fom Depression?

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Has anyone recovered from really severe depression and is now truly happy?

The world seems very cold and I am truly frightened.

I wouldn't say i'm truely happy, but i'm most definitely getting there after a very severe depression/suicide attempts/etc.

I think you'll be okay. You're so caring and warm in all the ways. It does take time though.

Thank you. That means a lot and gives me some hope. I'm glad your life is going in a good direction.

I went through a pretty dark patch myself years back and I am in a real good place now.

I would get up in the morning, go to work, come home sit in a chair and cry unti I fell asleep. I had no real reason to be depressed and that made it all the more frightening. This went on for close to a month. I went to a doctor, but at the time my doctor was a worthless peice of s**t and told me to "cheer up and get more sleep" and gave me 3 Ambion.

My wife helped me out of it by making me go for walks and get out of the chair. Now when I feel it coming on I start exersizing and it really helps. I am not some big fitness buff or something but it works. Nothing fancy. Walk, jog, run, swim, lift weights. It get's the heart pumping and it helps.

( I used to think it was all in peoples heads and they should "snap out of it".......... Life has a way of kicking you in the ass)

wish i could help but i dont have anything to say. Still doesnt stop me worrying about you

there is hope Purchase.

I started out this year a complete basket case. When I finally got dragged into therapy by my concerned family, my "global assessment of functioning" score was like... 38? My therapist said it was well into the range where they start looking at if the person is going to off themselves. I barely left the house and couldn't remember what it was like to really smile or be happy at all. Im pretty sure if I didnt live with my parents and have a parent at home all the time they would have put me in the second floor of the hospital to watch me and make sure I didn't harm myself.


Progress was slow, and my things are not all fixed up like perfect, but I have started to get a handle back on the person I used to be before I got lost in the dark clouds of depression. I can see beauty again for the first time in a really long time.

Depression is very scary. Especially when you're afraid of yourself as well as the rest of the world.

I wouldn't say I'm truly happy, but I'm not depressed any more either. I think there is hope.

I wouldn't say that I'm deeply happy, but I have found a small amount contentedness and ok-ness. Or, more importantly, I don't have that awful feeling where every second of existence is agonizing, and where the future looks cold and desolate and you can't imagine that you'll ever have a place in the world, let alone one that is tolerable.

I still have bad days, but they're not as bad as the previous 10 years (something traumatic happened then (though it probably wouldn't impress a many people)). And even before that I was depressed less, but chronically since age about age 12.

So, despite decades of depression it can get better. Sorry you're feeling so bad. You seem like a really nice person, always trying help people out on here.

I have. I got really depressed 8 years ago over a breakup & lots of other problems I was having in my life at the time. It turned into psychotic depression & I had a breakdown. I spent the next 5 years seeing psychs & trying lots of meds. I did not start feeling better till I decided to try weaning myself off of the meds. I found a job after I started the meds & I think being out of the house doing things around others & making some friends helped me improve my life circumstances that were contributing to my depression. I also spent a lot of time posting about things online & talking about it with people who could relate & sympathize helped me feel a little better & it helped me analyze things that were related to my depression which gave me a better understanding of how to deal with it. Some of my depression was related to loneliness & feeling like I didn't belong; I felt like I was a freak & a loser because I was so different from others & misunderstood. I got a girlfriend a few months ago when I was getting over the final ending stages of my depression & she really understands & gets me & now I am truly happy. I twas quite a lot of work & a long struggle but I am completely over my depression now

I don't know if I ever had severe depression but I did have depression. I did recover from it and I am very happy. I have things to be happy about, I am married, I have a son now, we are both working and doing very well, our son is still alive and developing normal, I no longer live in Montana, my husband isn't abusive and he accepts me for who I am and understands me.


While I had depression, I have always lived my day at a time and still did my normal things to stay happy. But I tend to regress when I am depressed and feel the need to be a kid again and be taken care of. I still worked too while depressed. I don't like to let it run my life and interfere. Even if it started to effect me at work at one point, I still worked but at least I learned why some people with depression lose their jobs or can't work because it effects their functioning. They get forgetful and can't process information well, and their boss may decide "enough" and lay them off. But once I dumped the ex, my depression got better and I was able to function normally at work again. I just thought I was going stupid until my mother told me that is the depression doing it. Especially when I seem to tune people out so when someone start talking to me, I couldn't hear them until they got my attention and it still be hard to understand what they were saying, mom told me that was the loud bass doing that to my ears because my ex always had loud bass booming on his speakers when he play his computer game. That problem went away too when I kicked him out.

Thank you for the support and feedback, I will have to think about this more when I can actually think.

I've had depression for as long as I can remember, but I have yet to recover from it if that is even possible.

i, from adolescence through middle age, had dysthymia, un-dx'ed until i was in my late 30s, then the shrinks "discovered" various other things as i grew older [schizotypal/schizoid disorder, ADD inattentive subtype, AS, avoidant personality disorder, tourettes, auditory processing disorder]. strattera helped me a lot while i was able to take it [insurance dropped prescription drug coverage so adios strattera ], it was just about the only time i felt like a semblance of "normal." i have found that vigorous daily exercise [where your heart pounds and you huff and puff and sweat like a pig and are thoroughly wrung out, for 2 hours or so] also helps in a similar manner. at a minimum it makes me too tired to feel anything but ready for the sack. learning mental hygiene techniques also is helpful- the main one is to remember that the human brain can only hold one concrete thought in working memory at any given time, what we interpret as thinking complex thoughts simultaneously really is shifting focus multiple times in a short time, much as what the eyes "see" is really a mosaic of images recorded in the visual cortex over brief windows of time. anyways, with this in mind, if you have a negative thought, it is just a matter of knowing it is a negative thought [because it hurts!] and doing what you would do about anything that hurts, IOW try to stop the hurting, in this case by replacing the thought with another different thought. so everytime i started dwelling on a painful thought i would replace that with the thought, "how is this helping me feel good?" and then i'd switch to thinking about something else, whatever would quickly come to mind. much of the time, this is where the vigorous exercise comes into play, it takes all the power away from the negative thoughts and replaces 'em with the thoughts, "this is tiring! this is hard! i can't wait for it to be finished!" and by the time it IS finished i have no energy left to think of anything else.

It's a shame you weren't able to make it to the last GRASP meeting, Purchase. The discussion topic was depression and a lot of members talked about their struggles and coping strategies they've found helpful.

As far as helping to ward off depression from coming back again once you've gotten to a place where you're feeling functional again, I personally think a combination of daily exercise, a regimen of different supplements and a good diet can be as effective as prescription drugs, if not better, since there aren't side-effects associated with that approach. An ex-bf of mine who was working towards a PhD in neuroscience and had studied depression in-depth, told me there were studies that supported that idea, too. So, it could be more than just a hunch I have.

Thanks. I do exercise and take this vitamin thing my psychiatrist told me to take and I have a good diet. It's just beyond that. Way, way beyond that. Anytime I actually make it to a family event anymore there's a lot of gentle "We're so glad you're here"s, that's how freaking horrible it's gotten. I couldn't even make it to Thanksgiving. I can't drive anymore. I cry for hours each day. I have bad dreams every night. I get nauseous when I wake up and remember what my life is. I don't want anything cause nothing I could actually have would make me happy. There is no model I can follow to get out of this.

I didn't/wouldn't suggest it as a cure for severe depression, just as a way of maintaining yourself once you get to a better place.

I think it's great you have family in your life and that they're supportive. (I wish I had the same myself, to be honest). If the individual(s) treating you are making you feel like there are no treatments available that could possibly help, I hope you and your family will consider seeking out someone new.

There are models for you to follow out of this; many people suffer from severe depression and there is a great deal of research that continues to be done on it. Actually, the guy I mentioned who went into neuroscience research did so after experiencing severe, debilitating depression to the point he left school and was on SSDI for a year or two. He wanted to learn as much about treatment as he possibly could, so he could help other people and that's why he went into that field. We are still very close and he has an account on here, but doesn't really have time to use the site much. But, if you have any specific treatment questions, I can ask him for you, if you think that would be helpful.