Always stressed and depressed...help!?

Question

Okay, I'm 14F and in 8th grade. I am always stressed and I think I'm starting to suffer from depression. I feel lost and pointless in the world. I hate everything and everyone. I recently started cutting, but have gotten help from an adult to stop. How can I deal with my depression? How can I deal with being stressed all of the time? Are there any over the counter things to help?

Sometimes I get very stressed because I can't live up to everybody's expectations...they are VERY high...

Answer 1

I suspect that you are being a lot harder on yourself than anyone else is. When it seems that people are pressuring you, they are probably just charged up that you're so good at what you're doing, and they mean it as a compliment, not to drive you buggy with stress and perfectionism. Or, they could be trying to gain success through you, sometimes adults have a little problem there with their kids, so if your folks really are pressuring you, you will have to have a talk with them. I didn't have any kids because I'm bipolar and I didn't think I could take care of them, but my husband is a grandfather. It's so cool watching you kids grow up and get so smart and learn and do all those great things. So try not to misinterpret adults cheering you on. I was always a perfectionist as a kid (oops, still am!!) so it will be a good skill if you can learn to lie back and smell the roses once in awhile, while you are still young. A lot of adults have never learned that, and they are stressed out all their lives.

Let's see, I'm taking a stress class now (stress makes depression worse) and the main points are, figuring out all the things that are stressing you out, including things like someone dying, moving etc. and also daily hassles, which seems to be your main thing. Figure out how you experience stress, do you get headaches? Want to sleep all the time? Get tight in the shoulders or chest? That way you can recognize when you are stressed before it gets to this point you are at. Then you can try to reduce or eliminate the stress, like do a little less? Accept lower quality work? (There isn't enough time in the world to do everything perfectly) avoid nastly people as much as you can? Tell people that you need help/need a break? For stressors that you cannot do anything about, here are some coping tips.

If your depression seems to be more of a problem in the winter, try to get more sun. You could have seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, or your depression could have a seasonal component, meaning you can get depressed other times of the year, but you tend to have more trouble in the winter. Since I will always have a mood disorder, I have put in extra windows, keep the drapes mounted so they don't cover them, make sure I spend a lot of time in southern exposure rooms, painted the walls peach and yellow, mostly. You can do some of these things.

Avoid caffeine like the plague. Also, some cold remedies can cause anxiety. Look for the "agitation in children" warning on the box.

Try meditation tapes like progressive muscle relaxation or guided imagery. They may seem silly at first, but they work!! They help reduce stress, which makes depression worse. What I did was read some guided imagery (the forest, the beach) out of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook, your library may have this, and burned it onto CD. You can get a friend or adult to read it into the computer, or a tape recorder. You can also listen to nature sounds, like waves and stuff like that. And that reminds me, it's easy to listen to depressing music when you are depressed, try to keep it to upbeat music. I'm so bad, that it seems like every song I want to play on the piano is in a minor key, don't get like me!!!

Go out with friends, and if you don't have any, find a club or fun, low pressure after school activity to join and MAKE yourself go until you actually look forward to it. Isolation makes depression worse. Crafts are kinda good, I bet you have some friends or relatives who like to do those.

Exercise at least 1/2 hour a day, and anytime you feel really hyper or depressed. Exercise is a great mood stabilizer and cuts down on anxiety a lot.

If your depression makes it hard for you to sleep, here are some good "sleep hygeine" tips so you can sleep better. Like go to bed and get up about the same time each day, even weekends. Don't use your bedroom to watch TV and read and use the computer and all that-just use the room as a bedroom normally would be used. Don't do stuff that pumps you up right before bed, like exercising and using the computer. You want to use that last hour to wind down-Take a bath? Make the bedroom really dark, cover up the clock radio, even so the light doesn't shine at you. If you live in the rackety city, use a noise generator (makes wave sounds and the like) to cover up the city sounds. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening.

Put a lot of colorful things around your bedroom, happy type things, and keep the blinds open and let the sun in. Put on some pretty clothes. Make a list of things that make you happy. Here's some things on my list: A basket full of fluffy kittens, bread fresh from the oven, Fireworks popping on a warm summer evening, The first fireflies of the season, the scent of Jergen's cherry almond lotion, The crisp sound of a saltine cracker breaking, fresh sheets on the bed, etc. Use all your senses and read that list when you are breaking down. Sniffing vanilla or cloves helps too (or whatever scents you like that calm you down).

Work on time management if being overwhelmed and late for things and too much to do is getting to you. Cut back on other responsibilities temporarily so you can spend more restorative time with friends and family.

A pet is good to cuddle with, too, if you have one. Kitty or doggie will love the extra attention, too!

All the best to you. You make sure you tell your mom or dad how stressed out you are, if they don't know already. They have probably been where you are right now, and will have some more specific help for you, and they can take some of the load off you, too. Good luck!


PS If these things don't work, you may need to take medication, maybe the depression is genetic, and you feel more stressed from the depression. The advice above is what you would learn from counseling, most likely, and it should help you. There's nothing wrong with medication if you need it, and if you CANT do the things above because you are too depressed, you may need meds temporarily so you can do them.

Answer 2

The best natural therapy's for depression and De-stressing your life are a good multi-vitamin or B-complex(stress relief vitamins and some aerobic exercise every day. Like walking, running, lap swimming, biking that kind of thing at least 20-30 minutes per day. This actually releases chemicals in your brain that are adjusted with medications for depression.

Answer 3

any sort of depression can be tide over by faith in GOD and sincere prayer.

Your prayer is from your heart. Further You must have to understood the fact that God is present in our heart. This can be realised in meditation. Further we are the creation of our own destiny. As per Hindu sacred religion, we carry all good and bad deeds life after life. There is no end unless we pray for unification of self with the divineliness.
Hence there is always a possible way to complete mergence with God in this life by a simple and wonderful meditation

Answer 4

the world gets stressfull, i kno more than most ppl that life comepletely sucks.
believe me.
just turn up the radio && scream along... or go to a local show with a friend && act like a crazy person. thats how i get through everything.
everything'll be alright eventually, just keep moving on.
at the moment i just cant wait to start all over in a town where very few ppl kno my name.

Answer 5

Ok, I suggest you to go to any bungee jumping with heights of a minimum of 20 storey building.

Two young ladies who wished to commit suicide have tried this. And once they tried that, right before they were bounced back, their brains were shocked and reacted how valuable lives are and nurtured in the minds that all the problems are such a tiny/insignificant problem, not as tragic as they felt at the moment they were real close to death while doing the bungee jumping.

Answer 6

1

Answer 7

Talk to someone (teacher, church) and have them take you to a family doctor to be evaluated. You may need to see a psychiatrist.

Answer 8

start taking yoga
or aikido
or judo
or dance meditation
or soul motion
or shake your soul
or sweat your prayers
a physical/spiritual discipline is better than any medicine.

Answer 9

STRESS IS SIMPLY PUT THE DISTANT BETWEEN YOUR OUGHT TO AND YOUR CAN DO.SO IF YOU KNOW YOUR LIMITATION AND WHAT YOU CAN DO. DELEGATE THE REST.