Am I doomed to being depressed for my entire life?

Question

I have been diagnosed with clinical depression. After hearing my family history, which included two depressed parents and a mother who drank and smoked weed while pregnant with me, and giving me nuerological tests, my doctor is pretty sure I am genetically predisposed to depression. I've tried therapy, but I didn't get anything from it. Talking it out doesn't make me feel any better. I've tried altering my behavior and taking up new activities, but nothing fulfills me. I am currently on medication, but it has side effects (insomnia, mood swings, nausea, headaches etc.) just like the three other meds I tried before it. I cannot recall anytime in my life when I considered myself happy and I spend most of my time in a state of total apathy.

Are people like me basically doomed to being unhappy and/or taking medication that may or may not work and has unpredictable side effects? I'd appreciate any thoughts and advice.

And if you read all this, thanks.

Answer 1

You should be able to manage it, with the right kind and amt. of counseling and possibly meds. There are lots of treatments available, so don't you worry :)

Answer 2

Everyone has their challenges in life, and your greatest will be dealing and living with depression. I have clinical depression also and it is a constant challenge----day by day. If your medication is not working properly, you need to keep trying different medications until you get the right one. If the medication curbs your depression you may want to accept the side effects. One side effect I would not ignore or accept is the mood swings----those can have a devastating affect on your life and relationships with loved ones. And anti-depressants are supposed to get rid of those. You will probably have to be medicated your entire life, but your depression will be manageable as long as you are responsible. I still have long bouts of apathy....lasting at least a year sometimes, and then I have stretches where I am very happy.
You are not doomed to being unhappy! You can be very happy. My advice to you is not to give up on yourself and accept feeling the way you do. Always be willing to try something new. There are many medications in differents classes that may work for you. Never stop taking your medication without talking to your doctor. Therapy with the right therapist can never be bad. I feel that even people who don't suffer from depression can benefit from therapy.
You will be ok, but it will be a constant challenge. Just don't be afraid to ask for help or discuss things with your doctor.
I know that people in your situation really value happiness, and I think you deserve to have the feeling of true happiness, so don't give up.

Answer 3

I generally don't think many people would be doomed (if any) to always be depressed. I have suffered depression on and off now for the last 10 years and I have also inherited it.
I do know that councilling sometimes does and sometimes does not work. You need to find a councillor that you click with and on top of that you need to find the right type of councillor and their technique. For example some practice cognitive behavioural therapy, and some others take completely different approaches to treating patients. So I would love to encourage you to stay open to councilling- maybe read up on different ideas and then find a councillor who can give you specific councilling techniques.
Also reading helps for me, not only education about own conditions, but education about other people's conditions. It gives me a different perspective on things.
Also anything creative helps me. I find playing piano, painting, and going to the beach alone, or walking with a friend helps to vent, relax and just be in the moment.
Maybe that is something you can focus on. For your next meal I would suggest you sit at the table (like not in front of the tv). Take your time preparing the meal, put effort into the table setting, and sit down to eat. Think about how the food tastes, smells, feels. It is good to be in the moment and take you out of autopilot, and nourish your body.
Another idea is an online course/activity you can put yourself through- it is easy to read and different to other stuff I have taken- it is just at your own pace and is free. See below for link.
I am sure you will find something that helps you :)

Answer 4

I just wanted to ask what meds are you on? I've found Effexor to work really well with minimal side effects. I'm not saying it will be the same for you, but it's something to talk to your doctor about.

I've been on Effexor for several years and it's good to be able to just feel 'normal'. When they put me on it, I really couldn't have cared less. At the time, i just wanted to die and be done with this world. But literally within a week, I did feel like a tremendous weight had been lifted. People are so often to dismiss medication, but if your depression is truely clinical in nature, then the right meds can work wonders.

Take care : )

Answer 5

If you need to hear it: Your doomed for the rest of your life to be depressed. You can only hope to minimize the amount of time you spend feeling sorry for yourself with medications and therapy. You sound like you care about your condition so I believe you will keep trying to find the answers your looking for. There are many people here giving you a lot of great advise. Take some! There, how's that. Good luck to you.

Answer 6

Of course you aren't doomed. That's the depression in you talking. I come from a nasty family line of mental illness with myself having some depression as well. Just remember that it isn't always fixed by popping a pill. You have to develop coping skills that will help you when things get tough to use as a supplement to medication or other behavior modification techniques.

Keep your chin up. It may feel like the end of the world, but it isn't. Yet at least.

Answer 7

You need to see a psychiatrist, not just a psychologist. You probably need to be on an antidepressant, which only an MD can prescribe, and usually only a licensed psychiatrist can help you find the right one for you. Regular doctors prescribe them all the time, but they really aren't qualified to monitor your reaction and tell what kind you need and what dosage to minimize any side effects and usually only believe the blather that the drug manufacturer feeds them. Trust me, it's worth the cost of a session with a psychiatrist. You're not doomed. You'll be fine, in the right hands. Good luck.

Answer 8

What do Doctors really know...
What if I told you that you are not emotionally integent?
Humans are not born with emotions, we learn them from the people around us growing up...so if you learned from two deppressed people...what do you think will happen..
You need to know that you can change your behavor by starting over, and learning how control your emotions..
Medications are only a short term solution...self medication will not help you in the long term becasue life is a marathon, not a sprint..take your time..
You need life goals, and start small...
What do you want to do? what makes you happy when you are doing it...Pick something and start there...you will figure things out..
1st thing I can tell about you just by the things you wrote, that you have taken the first step and asking questions...
That is HUGE! good for you....now start educating yourself about human nature and human behaviors...
learn everything you can and someday you will see that you are incontrol of everything you do!
god bless

Answer 9

No, I don't think so. If you do what your doctor suggests and don't give up. Also try doing things that may make you feel better like exercising or something that may be physical that will get your mind off of being depressed. Give things a chance and don't give up.

Answer 10

I feel your pain man. I have a similar family history, but not relating to drinking, just other things.

The reason doctors will say genetic, is because of 2 reasons. You might have gotten the hormone sensitivity which leads to depression OR you might have learnt their way of thinking since you were a child (ie negative thinking, and assuming certain things etc).

Genetic does not mean doomed. I agree with the other replyer, who said its your depression talking. However i also see what you mean when you say doomed. The fact you have realised all this, is really a big step, because now your in a situation you can actually do something about it (which is the next big step).

If you have tried therapy, and it does not seem to work, even after letting things out. Think about it deeply, are you really bringing up your real issues in life? or are you just going with the flow with what your therapist says? Its not easy to find the right therapist, as we all are different in understanding. My advice, keep looking into therapy (whilst trying the other things im going to mention).

Other things you can get from your parents is their way of thinking and making desicions. I dont like calling it genetic, as a person stays with their parents, automatically learns their way of reasoning. And if thats bad, then you become just that. To change this, you need to change your environment. Remember, any living thing put in the right environment, will prosper.

Example. If your constantly thinking i cant do this (whatever it is). This belief is in you because in the past, your environment would not have allowed you to do this. And your success wasnt high as far as the result was concerned. So obviously you will think, i cant do this.
To change this, you need to change your environment. Think deeply about what you like to achieve in life. If there were no barriers to anything, what will you want to achieve? (Of course if your 1 ft high and want to be a basketball player, thats too unreasonable) but still, only be slightly reasonable.

If you make goals and work to acheive them, you will prosper and grow out of your depression. However this is only going to assist you in growing out of it. It wont be enough.

You need to get a good circle of friends. This is very very dam hard to do. As i am trying to do this right now, and failing at it misreably. But you have to try to meet new people. Postive people. If your a spiritual person, or would like to seek the spiritual side of this world, then learn about other religions. Ask your inner self, to show you the "truth". Close your eyes and ask yourself that, but you got to mean it. You will see how things will change. I know you might think im some religious nutcase, but whats the harm? your only asking to seek the truth right? so its not like anything bad anyway.

Last but one of the most important is what you eat, and do with your body. Do you eat healthy food? Fruits? Vegtables? Fish? do you drink enough water? (drinking 8-12 glasses of water improves mood swings and depression).

Eating healthy will strenghten your immune system, make you look better, and best off all, your depression WILL WEAKEN. If you eat a lot of meat, try to reduce it, SLOWLY. If you order a lot of take aways, reduce it to once a week or one special occasions. Eat natural foods. I garuntee you that your mood and depression WILL be elevated.

Exercise. Buy a pair of dumbells and look up online on ways to workout with just them. And go out jogging or brisk walking (fast walking). Try to do this 3 times a week. This will not only improve your self image, but also improve your hormone imbalances (by a great extent). You will feel tired enough to sleep at nights, and your sleep will be much better than normal.

Sorry for writing about almost every topic on this answer. But im telling you what i did, and am doing which helped me a lot. And i am severely depressed and still have sucidal thoughts and wishes. Yet it helps me greatly. Setting goals that I want to acheive helps me even more.

So NO your not doomed to depression your entire life. But you must do something about it. I have never taken medication for depression, but i think therapy does help if your with the right therapist. If you eat right and workout, thats the medicine you need. We humans have changed our lifestyles by so much, we forgot that were actualy meant to be working hard to get food and water (like cave men).

Wish you the best of luck dude!!! I hope this helped.