Depression

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littleflower_24

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Has anyone here delt with depression before, or something similar? I have been having a hard time with it, and I have only talked to my good catholic freinds. Nothing seems to be working, and I have started resorting to cutting myself so that I can focus on the physical pain instead of the spiritual pain. I’m new here, too-so any comments or suggestions? 😦 Please help.
 
Stop cutting yourself IMMEDIATELY! It is a very dangerous thing to take up, it will only lead you into deeper and darker realms of depression.
I am suffering of depression and anxiety disorder. Since I have no catholic friends, I have noone to talk to about my illness, except my family (over the phone) and my doctor. I have not been tempted to resort to self-mutilation, thanks be to God. Stop it immediately, it is very serious and harmful! I would almost say sinful (causing yourself harm) had it not been for your condition.

Seek help from a therapist as soon as possible. Prayer in itself is a great help but you should know that you cannot expect God to solve this issue for you, our will has been given to us for a reason.
And it is our duty to take care of our health in order to be able to serve Him as best we can. Medication and therapy has done much good to me.
However, my symptoms are not as severe as yours - in fact, self-mutilation is a symptom, not a coping strategy.
Please ask for professional help.
 
Make every effort to seek professional help, preferably a psychiatrist. I lost a year from work due to severe depression but with help have been back at work for 11 years with no depression.
 
littleflower_24 said:
Has anyone here delt with depression before, or something similar? I have been having a hard time with it, and I have only talked to my good catholic freinds. Nothing seems to be working, and I have started resorting to cutting myself so that I can focus on the physical pain instead of the spiritual pain. I’m new here, too-so any comments or suggestions? 😦 Please help.
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I dealt with depression for a number of years, from emotional and physical pain. Get to a doctor immediately, go to the emergency room if you have to. There are medications which can help, though you will need counseling as well. It is a hard thing to have to admit to. I dealt with it probably for five years or so; have times where I slip backwards, but I am not on meds anymore and have not been for five years.

It can be a dark and scary time, but does not have to be for long. But if it is spiritual pain, I can also say my “dark night of the soul” has lasted fourteen years - because I refused to listen to what God was trying to tell me all that time - and oddly now, when I am finally trying to listen, the devil kicks in in over-drive. Go talk to a priest, go to confession; it will not solve everything immediately, but is a solid step forward. Meds and cutting will not take the pain away if it is spiritual - been there, done that. Except my cutting was alcohol and tylenol - bad mix.

I will keep ypu in my prayers.
 
littleflower_24 said:
Has anyone here delt with depression before, or something similar? I have been having a hard time with it, and I have only talked to my good catholic freinds. Nothing seems to be working, and I have started resorting to cutting myself so that I can focus on the physical pain instead of the spiritual pain. I’m new here, too-so any comments or suggestions? 😦 Please help.
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Most people with depression do have genuine problems to which there are no easy solutions. Once you accept that, you can start to rationally salvage what you can. However most people cling to the idea that they are somehow entitled to a solution - this is whether they are depressed or not. The ones who aren’t depressed are often bitter.

However some people are depressed purely because there is something physically wrong with the brain. In crude terms, it seems to produce too little dopamine. If that is the case then of course there isn’t much point going into the reasons that present themselves for the depression, the treatment is just drug-based.
 
I agree with the other posters that you need to speak with a professional right away. If there is a Catholic therapist in your area, that may help. I too used to engage in self-mutilation by burning myself with a lighter and it wasn’t until I met my now wife that I stopped.

When I look back I can’t believe I had sunk to that point. I was wallowing in self-pity and pride and thought the whole world owed me a favor – a real selfish brat. Something which only the grace of God could have pulled me out of. Except now I have to try and explain to my kids what the round scars are all over my legs and arms. Stop this before you do something that cannot be reversed!
 
You’ll be in my prayers…

PLEASE listen to what others are saying here. So many of us have been exactly where you are in our own lives. You have so much life left worth living… you are a GIFT from GOD above and a blessing to others around you.

PLEASE know that depression is a serious ILLNESS… but the symptoms can be deadly. Please seek medical help to relieve those painful symptoms FIRST. You can address the causes for the depression when the symptoms are under control.

PLEASE know others are praying for you.
 
Enoch said:
I agree with the other posters that you need to speak with a professional right away. If there is a Catholic therapist in your area, that may help. I too used to engage in self-mutilation by burning myself with a lighter and it wasn’t until I met my now wife that I stopped.

When I look back I can’t believe I had sunk to that point. I was wallowing in self-pity and pride and thought the whole world owed me a favor – a real selfish brat. Something which only the grace of God could have pulled me out of. Except now I have to try and explain to my kids what the round scars are all over my legs and arms. Stop this before you do something that cannot be reversed!
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Just FYI…

I’m not suggesting the LF_24 is any of the things I mentioned. I’m just saying that’s what MY problem was and I needed a kick in the pants to get out of it. I don’t know the first thing about LF_24 and am not making any judgments.
 
My prayers go out for you, my ex fiance used to suffer from the same problem and she is now on meds and goes to counselling and it has made a huge difference. It is hard to seek out help in todays society where there is a taboo attached to mental illness but do not think of it that way. I for one know how you are feeling, please go talk to your doctor and ask for a referal to a counsellor (most docs will just give you meds but you also need someone to talk to, whether a priest or professional secular counsellor)
 
I dealt with SEVERE depression and social phobia for several years of my life, and it was a long hard road but I have just about completely recovered. PM me if you want to talk, believe me I can relate! 😦
 
To everyone who responded to my thread, Depression:
Thankyou for praying for me over the last month! Things had to get worse before they got better. I thank the Lord for my friends and for you. I was going to kill myself 3 weeks ago, and was ready to it, but my good friend Sarah sought help before I did so. Because I saw how much they cared and how much you care, I didn’t do it and haven’t cut myself at all since The 1st Wed. of June. I have no yet gone into counseling, but we will see if my parents are going to set anything up for me. Thankyou so much for all of you’r prayers, and I am going on a 5 week retreat from the 18th to the 21st where I am hoping alot of healing can take place. I thank God everyday for you, who have seen me and guided me through my darkest time. You, with you’r comments and prayers, have called upon The Lord who saved me from myself. Thankyou! God has truly blessed you, because you cared about a little soul in need. Please continue praying, the battle is not over yet. Thankyou, I have started to see the light which is our saviour by your help!
 
oh my goodness, i’m so grateful you’re feeling better! when i saw your first post, the hair stood up on my neck… cutting yourself is so, so dangerous, even if the intent to die hasn’t yet surfaced. i’m glad your friend sarah has been there for you.

blessings for you on your healing journey. you’re right: the battle has only begun. you’ll have more dark times in the future, and i pray you’ll remember that there’s relief for the pain. you found it once – you can find it again!

❤️
 
Hi.
I suffer from bipolar disorder and fight deep depression all the time. I, too, used to cut myself with razor blades and burn my arms with cigarettes to try to cover up the mental pain I was suffering. I don’t do that anymore. It’s been a struggle but I just don’t do it. I was diagnosed bipolar 30 years ago and have lived a difficult life as a result. I am suicidal frequently and always have to put up a tremendous fight to keep on living. There are a lot of times in my anguish all I can pray is Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God have mercy on me a sinner over and over again. This past weekend I was tempted to kill myself, again because the despair and pain were so heavy. I got through the weekend by others prayers for me on these forums (I am convinced their prayers worked anyway). I don’t have any friends, catholic or otherwise I can see or call. I can’t get to Mass because we can’t afford a car. This week I started feeling better. I had been started on some different medications and they finally kicked in. I woke up feeling a lot better on Monday and the rest of my week has just gotten steadily better. I am grateful to God for his mercy and care.
I understand what you had gone through and will add you to my prayers. I hope you can get in to see a psychiatrist and get on some sort of anti depressant medication. They sometimes take 2 or 3 weeks to start working but they help a great deal. I’m glad you are feeling better. PM me anytime.
Johannah
 
I was in line to receive Annointing of the Sick for a physicall illness I had. But all of a sudden at the last minute, I asked for healing for my depression instead of my physical ailment. (I was already on medicine at this point but I would say it only helped about 50%) And it worked!!

Now, I am on medicine but previous poster is right that physical ailments can cause depression. I’ve had some severe vitamin deficiencies in the past,
B12, B1 and D, I went into tailspin of depression while I was suffering from these deficiences. I’d definitely ask your dr. to check your vitamin levels in your blood. I think that should be part of any physical exam but it’s not.

When I had the B1 deficiency, I almost went MAD and had the most bizarre suicidal thoughts. I never intended to carry any of them out but I kept thinking of really strange ways to commit suicide. It was a miracle I made it through that. But as soon as my vitamin levels were restored, I felt so much better. (But I still take an anti-depressant, too.) I realize this sounds like some scientologist nonsense but that is my personal story.
 
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