I feel depressed all the time.

I feel depressed/anxious all the time and I'm not sure what to do about it?

• This has been going on for about 7 years now and I'm only 20. I've been to therapists. I've been hospitalized many, many times. I can't seem to get my **** together and everything seems hopeless. I have a boyfriend who is getting increasingly annoyed that I get upset all the time. He's at the point where he doesn't want to deal with me and I'm at the point where I just feel alone and depressed all the time. I tell him that I need him to emotionally support me and just kind of understand that I'm in therapy twice a week and I'm trying to fix it. He's pretty much fed up with me. He thinks I get upset over ridiculous things and my parents think the same. I think I just find ridiculous excuses to get upset over because I'm just generally unhappy and constantly anxious. Nobody understands it. Medication doesn't work for me. I've tried over 20 kinds of medication from anti-depressants to mood stabilizers to anti-anxiety pills. Nothing works. I'm currently in therapy but sometimes I just feel so hopeless and like I'm a lost cause and it's just so much more painful and upsetting to know that no one understands what I've been going through for so long. It just makes me feel so closed-off and alone. All I have is my boyfriend and my parents. I don't have any friends and my brother has stopped speaking to me because he doesn't like my boyfriend. I'm at my wit's end and I just feel more and more hopeless everytime I get into a bout of depression like this. What do I do now?

• Answer:

  Have you considered family therapy? Bringing your parents and/or your boyfriend to therapy with you (if they're willing) could help you communicate with them better, help them to better understand what you're going through and how to support and help you. Try explaining to your loved ones - in a clear, straight forward way that won't alarm them or make them too upset to listen - what you wrote here, that you always feel sad and anxious, you don't know why, so you attribute your mood to little things, to justify your own feelings. Communication is SO important! Clear, calm and honest communication, on all sides, will help the most. Try to find support groups, blogs, websites, anything to help you find ways to cope. Things that help wit depression are making sure you're eating a healthy variety of foods, getting enough exercise (it releases endorphins) and creative things (art, music, writing). You could try keeping a journal, and don't worry about writing everything down perfectly. If you feel anxious, you can just attack the page with a pen, doodle, write out random words. Anything to help release the anxiety. Also, try watching comedians on tv. Learning how to find humour in even crappy situations could help you a lot. I suffer from depression and anxiety as well, I know the kind of hell it is. I hope things get better for you,soon.