People in their early 20's, students, young people living at home etc.

[Liv]

Hi there, I just thought it might be nice to have a little thread for those of us in a similar situation regarding age/lifestyle whatever... It's great to have the support of everyone on this forum in general but it's always good to talk to people who are sort of in a similar position to you. Personally I was at university in Edinburgh for two years before I had to leave... for various reasons (It's hard to know which were specifically depression-related and which were reasons in their own right). Now I'm living at home with my mum. Overall I'm in a much better situation now but I do miss having the day to day company of people my age (and my ex who I left behind in Edinburgh). Anyway, if anyone else feels like they might be in a similar situation or anything, it would be nice to hear from you. 

[cornish]

im 25 and i now live with my mother, its made life a lot easier for me and i do miss seeing people my own age.  but im not a student

[CharleysAngel']

I am 16 and live at home with my parents. I'm still in full time education which makes things just that little bit harder. Living at home also means that my parents had to find out about what was going on (the school told them) eventhough I wanted to keep it a secret. I still trying to decide if this is a good thing or not that they know. Things are a little messy at the moment.

[Liv]

Hi guys, thanks for responding.

Cornish, do you get on with your mum? Do you get to see any of your friends or anything? Do you work? I get on pretty well with my mum but she frustrates me a bit sometimes. I don't get much of a social life at the moment since pretty much all my friends are still at uni around the UK and I haven't worked for about a month now... So I only really talk to my parents... or my cat and dog... I could talk to my friends more often but I have some social anxiety related problems with using the phone etc...

IceLolly, my parents found out about my depression (by finding out about my self-harming) when I was about 15/16 and living at home and going to school. At the time it was very stressful for everyone and I don't really think my parents helped. I think they panicked, you know "hide the knives and send her straight to the therapist and don't say anything negative or let her watch horror films (!?)" sort of stuff. I think them knowing has helped in the long run though (I'm almost 22 and a lot better than I used to be). I've read some of your other posts and it sounds like things are a bit different for you. If you feel you need help, then no one should stop you from getting it. One therapist once told me that the way I felt was normal teenage stuff. She was definitely wrong and it's irresponsible for people in that sort of position to say things to young people.

[CharleysAngel']

Thanks Liv, I realise that later on I will probably think 'yeah, I'm glad they found out when they did' but at the moment there's a little bit of mistrust between us. My parents got that letter from CAMS weeks before they decided to tell me, leading me to believe that they knew nothing, just watching me suffer in silence really.

I'm sort of stuck in the middle, too sick for school counselling but not sick enough for CAMS is the impression I get. Lots of people are involved and trying to help but I don't get told what's going on so I am left very confused a lot of the time. At the moment there is nothing for me. I'm not allowed to see the school counsellor and I am not allowed to go to my appointment with CAMS

[cornish]

i dont really get on with my mum very well now, i dont tell her much but she knows im ill.   i haven't been out socially for about a year now, haven't really been in contact with friends.  i dont really talk to anyone about my problems and i work far too many hours to the point of exhaustion as a distraction.

[Liv]

Cornish, I hope my questions don't sound shallow to you. I've seen some of your other posts so I know that your situation is probably a lot worse and a lot more serious than mine. What do you do for work? You don't need to answer my banal comments if you don't want to 

[cornish]

Nope they sound ok to me.
I'm an electrician.

[smirfy21]

I lived at home for half a year whilst still at uni and recovering from bulimia, mum cared for me a lot which at first was really hard and very frustrating for the both of us however we are now very close. What I should probably tell you is that me and my mum had an extremely neggative and rocky relationship for five years before all of this happened and I would not tell her anything.

Mum excepts my bulimia and bipolar disorder and puts up with a lot of my problems and never really complains unless I am being unbairable or a complete brat.
Dad on the other hand doesn't except any of it, gets angry and is makes being at home unbairable.

I miss family life now as I live in university halls, however when I am at home all I want to do is get away as it can be sufficating and at times unbairable as my conditions amongst other things causes a lot of arguments between my family.

mum has been my rock recently as I don't have many friends left and Im not really that sociable.
smirfy

[FreyaD]

Hi,

I'm 21 and just about to finish uni.. got diagnosed in january although been suffering from depression for 6? ish years but it got really bad just before xmas hence trip to doctor as I need to finish my degree.

Haven't told my parents and don't really know how to go about doing it. Not sure if I ever will :/ I don't really enjoy living at home, but my parents like me being at home. I've enjoyed the freedom of uni for the past 3 years, so now I'm finishing I guess I'll have to move back home as I can't afford a place of my own.

Freya

[smirfy21]

Hi,

I'm 21 and just about to finish uni.. got diagnosed in january although been suffering from depression for 6? ish years but it got really bad just before xmas hence trip to doctor as I need to finish my degree.

Haven't told my parents and don't really know how to go about doing it. Not sure if I ever will :/ I don't really enjoy living at home, but my parents like me being at home. I've enjoyed the freedom of uni for the past 3 years, so now I'm finishing I guess I'll have to move back home as I can't afford a place of my own.

Freya

Freya I know that telling your parents is going to be a hard thing to do but my advice is to be honest with them from day one of you moving back in as hiding it won't do any good and in the long run it may cause unnecessary problems.
Your folks are going to need to understand that you are suffering from depression in order to understand you, If you make a point of hiding your condition from your loved ones you could end up causing yourself more pain.
I really don't mean to tell you what to do but I have been there and have seen what hiding it can do to a family, you are going to need as much support as you can get so please do try and tell them.
good luck with it
smirfy

[btst]

Hello there!

I'm 21 and in college too, like 7 hours away from my home. I've just recently started going to therapy, as I think I've been carrying a lot of issues with me for a long time but in the past few months everything just kind of started getting out of hand :S
This was supposed to be my final year, but I'm gonna need to stay for one more to graduate. I was OK with that when I 'found out' last year, but I've been losing all interest in my degree lately to the point of wanting to just drop out but I can't afford to do that, much less in my 4th year. I just think if I knew that in June I could be done with it, it would motivate me a little bit, but the idea of dragging myself through this for one more year is getting me down.
Anyway, I'm living in a shared flat with 3 more people and it doesn't help. All of them have boyfriend/girlfriend and are busy and productive and social and I just stay awake till dawn and get up when they're having lunch, barely get out of my room/house and it makes me feel like such a loser. I wish I could just take a nice long 'vacation' away from it all , uggh...
Bit of a rant, got carried away, sorry!