Life just sucks sometimes.

Well I would agree that life does suck sometimes, but being in the health care setting has saved my life. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly sides of life and death. The good, bad and the ugly have helped me keep my life in perspective and focused on what is important.
The events that injured me in my childhood have crushed many people’s lives. Some have survived other have not and everything in-between.

I don’t feel incredibly popular, it is something I wish I could cut out of me, but then again it has shaped me in both positive and negative ways. I have been behind the locked doors twice, been on different medications, still am, some have helped others not, Many hours of counseling. I have made some hard choices to take my life in different directions. At this point in my journey, I am doing well; I have good days and sad days, a pretty normal live.

Yes life does suck sometimes, for those who struggle, just do it, make the hard choices, fake it till you make it, and use whatever you need to succeed. If you don’t take care of yourself how can you take care of others?

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on mental illness and bless you and your grandma for having the courage to be real. I totally agree with you and even though I have taken antidepressants for a short period of time two different times in my life and am glad I was able to use that tool to help balance my brain chemistry at the time, I also utilized psychotherapy and learned some coping/life skills and learned that--yes, there was a reason I was so sad and it had to do with my life situation. I then had the courage to change my life situation and with time/healing/support from friends my life didn't suck anymore!!

This is a really great article. I would hope that the writer sends it to NPR. This would be a very meanful This I Belive segment.

I am one of those people who require psychiatric medication and likely will require medication and support for life. When depression is part of a person's life full time for a long time, it can become hard to figure out what is the illness and what is 'normal' sadness.

My psychiatrist teaches a modified Dialectical Behavioural Therapy program for people who do not have personality disorders. He teaches Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness and Distress Tolerance. Slowly, as I got more comfortable with my own mindfulness, I started to be able to discern what was the depression and what was a bad mood because life sucked.

When life sucks, I usually just let it suck, unless the sadness or anxiety that comes with it begins leading toward dangerous paths. Either way, I also have the skills to deal with the mood and anxiety issue-or I can call people who also know the skills and can give me a bit of a hand in remembering and using them.

There has been research that found that cognitive behavioural therapy is as effective as SSRI treatment for mild to moderate depression. However, most people (IME) would prefer the pills because (a) they don't have to do any work-they just have to pop a pill and (b) CBT makes them take some responsibility for their actions and their emotions. I've met a few people that were thinking about meds and when I suggested CBT, they brushed it off with, "I don't have time for that; the meds will be quicker".

My guess is that spending time helping people whose lives suck more than our own would be a rapid cure. Also, FINALLY coming to the understanding that I was in control of my happiness helped me dump my sadness. Can't get that in a pill. It was hard work.

How true.. I remember when my mom died after having terminal lung cancer and I started to cry I was in nursing school at the time of her death that my siser offered me a Paxil because I was crying. She was presribed it for anxiety and depression. She did not cry when my mom died and my family thought it was weird I was openly crying. Its called grief... I so agree with the poster. what a wonderful essay about life.
Thank you for your story on your grandmother Bless you

I totally agree with the sentiment expressed in your post. Perhaps some people truly have chemical imbalances, but for the most part, life CAN suck. Before I found my niche (school and nursing) I felt depressed for no tangible reason. Now I know it was because I was pretty unfulfilled.

I'm not saying it isn't really hard and sucky a lot of the time. I am a single mom of 3 and starting my ADN program next month, have to live on grants and loans, commuting at 5AM, kids in daycare for hours etc. But, this is life. Thankfully we are healthy, have running clean water, anitbiotics, shelter, ample food, and the 'net. Still, I get really anxious, and I do have a prescription for Ativan. Half a mg 1-2 times a week really helps me to calm down enought to put things into perspective. And no, I am NOT broken. My brain is interpreting things just as they are---sucky at times.

Right on for you and Granny.

Depends on the person. Some would definitely react by saying to themselves, "Things could be much worse", while others could find their day sucked even more with the thought, "I'm so stupid; why am I feeling so bad when it could be worse. I'm such a loser and terrible person....".

That's part of the reason my doc even recommends CBT/DBT for people for people WITHOUT mental illnesses; the skills taught in those two programs are useful for anyone and everyone. They don't make you feel happy all the time, but they give tools to help minimize the negative effects of the more difficult emotions.

If you get 10 psychotherapists together, you'll probably have 10 different opinions on cognitive based therapy vs. medication. That's part of the point (and the problem) with finding the right therapist; the fit has to be right not only with your condition but also with your own value system. Some conditions clearly need medication. For others, any meds are over-meds, but some therapists will prescribe anyway.

Remember the patient or client can always say no; the problem is that someone struggling with even moderate depression may have so much self-doubt that they can't say no and stick with it.

At one point in my life I was under pressure to take an SSRI "just for a while", and also to take ADD/ADHD medications as a form of diagnosis. (If you get better, it's AADD; if there's no change, it's not.) I refused both, and had a great deal of support from my spouse. He has his own issues and we came out of therapy as a team, him and me against the world. It's by no means a perfect life, but it's certainly a workable one.

The other point I want to make is that exercise is of huge benefit for cases of mild to moderate depression or anxiety. This is not just my opinion; it's also one voiced by psychiatrists and psychotherapists. I'm by no means in great shape or athletic but I get antsy when I can't work out, and can trace relapses in my mental state to too much stress and too little exercise. Ya think I'd learn, huh? But it's all a process, and one I am embracing!

good to know thanks a million thumbs up!