Am I really depressed and should I seek help?
Do not delay in seeking professional help. You mentioned that you have seen couple of psychologists - that means you have depression tendencies. Life can be hard sometimes and joys and sorrows come and go. A few tips:-Play sports. Exercise. Any kind of physical activity for 30-60 minutes every day can help your brain heal itself. Travel. See places. Meet people. If you are from a big city, there might be hundreds of attractions you might not have seen. If you have a group of friends, you can plan a weekend retreat. Avoid being alone. If your friends make you cry, there're six billion more people to befriend with :) You can try joining some clubs, or volunteer for a church or orphanage. Get a hobby. Playing music works the best for me. You can try painting. Or maybe making artificial jewellery with paper beads. Be creative. Learn something new (away from your studies). Whether you are on prescribed drugs or not, you can't stay happy until you are enjoying the life. You'll soon find the things that make you happy. And if your parents are supportive, talk to them more often. Share your thoughts. Tell them what worries you. Ask for their advice in your matters.
Why people don t seek help for depression?
Unfortunately the stigma that hovers over mental illnesses is so prevalent that many don't seek help based on how others might judge them. Compound that with the ongoing concerns about negative side effects of the medications that are recommended, (based on lawsuits over suicides); doesn't seem very hopeful for anyone seeking treatment. Additional therapy is usually recommended along with medication for depression, and some people are limited financially (no health plan, or can't pay for sessions), and even scheduling (can't make time for appointment) can prevent a person from utilizing all the suggested treatment options. If anyone is experiencing symptoms, and wants treatment, make an appointment with a doctor. Be diligent with your treatment, (what works, what isn't) and become an educated patient. Research online about support groups, treatment plans, alternative treatments, and find the regiment that is right for you. I wish you well and luck on this matter, and best of health.
Am i depressed enough to seek help or can i wait it out?
i have emotionally abusive parents. i experience 8 out of 10 symptoms for depression excluding hopelessness and suicidal thoughts/tendencies. its really more on and off. sometimes i feel great and i think i might be better, but most of the time I just feel numb and depressed and quiet. my dad won't pay for counselling unless my grades depended on it so I'm just waiting the 1.5 yrs until i graduate and i can get out and then i know ill have lots to keep me happy. i think i have depression except i know if i can just wait it out i have an awesome future ahead and i know there are too many cool things to learn and do to commit suicide. i don't really have a tragic explanation for feeling depressed all the time and i don't want to whine about it if its not serious but i don't like feeling like this. i have trouble getting to sleep and waking up. in the last month or so i've had a sudden loss of appetite and i just never think to eat and when i do i don't eat much. I'm reclusive a lot of the time even though I'm very extroverted when I'm not depressed. i cry a lot and i spend as much time alone as i can because I'm always so tired and i get headaches a lot. I'm terrified I'm going to crack and my dad will get angry and make it even harder for me to get out. should i try to get help? if so, how? i can't pay for therapy. i don't want to talk to a friend about it, i don't want to whine to them, they have enough going on.
Why might someone who is seriously depressed not seek help, and what can loved ones do to convince such a person to seek help?
I feel for people who suffer from all the horrible flavors of depression. I (with expensive therapy and a butt load of meds) just came out of the worst type of depression. The type that makes you walk around like a zombie and contemplate suicide a couple of times a day because the pain never stops. at first you are scared of going into things like ECT or TMS treatments, but if things get bad enough - gaunt from not eating right, going to bed really early to stop the pain - you will be willing to do some pretty dangerous stuff, anything, to stop the depression. I'm not saying that he should pull himself up by the boot straps, that's bull crap and it is a cruel thing to say, but he's going to have to be really brave and strong to negotiate psychiatric medicine in this country, paid or otherwise. maybe he just doesn't know how. Maybe he's just overwhelmed at the very thought. I could say that you could just wait for it to get bad enough and maybe hell change his mind. maybe you could go on his behalf to setup the initial appointment and tell him to go there and talk to a doctor about taking some serious amounts of medication or maybe daily TMS treatments for a month. When you goto a psychiatrist office and he asks you how you are doing, you dont just give a stock answer "im alright"; what are you doing in my office then? Just tell him outright that things are horrible and you need to have some serious and immediate care. the doctor will move faster. it takes like a month to get a new appointment, tell him that you need medication NOW. a lot of bad stuff can happen in a month.
Am I depressed or just seeking attention?
The fact that you are asking this quetion means that somehow, you seek attetion, but its not a bad thing you know. Some people will tend to look for conforting things to overcome stress, sadness or depression. The thing is, you should always seek attention if you feel like you need some guidance or help in your life. But you also have to be able to say what if wrong. Depression is a big thing. Its not because you were sad the last day or the last weeks that you are in depression. We all do have a "bad phase" from time to time, where nothing good seem to happen to us. Is that how you feel, or do you fear you really are in depression? That you are in a black hole that never seem to lossen the grip on you? Its alright in both case to seek attention, but beware not to get on the nerves of people around you, because when you'll need them the most, they'll run away from you because you seeked to much attention. Dont be affraid to call for help, but make sure you have real question "I dont know what is wrong I just feel sad" is a good start. Here is a situation that I lived and hated it : I had a friend who was diagnose with depression, even though, she mutilated herself quite often and then came to me and my friend almost bragging about her cuts. She wrote enormous text about of sad and depressed she felt, but never had she said WHY she felt that way, so in other word, she was looking for attention not for help. After a while I was starting to get annoyed each time she'd ask me to read another text. All she did was complaning about things that she could have easily changed, and when we told her "we know its hard but the only way is to just change that" she said that we were bad friends who didn't understand her. There is no point in complaining, but its alright to complain if you're willing to change and its alright if you do know know how to make those changes. Usualy seeking attention means seeking help. If you just seek attention for the sake of attention, you should start thinking about a lack of attention somewhere in your past instead of depression.I hope you'll find the anwsers within yourself