I am depressed and I need someone to talk to

I wish to see the flagged comment. Why this censorship?

As a sufferer of clinical anxiety and depression, some of the things said here don't resonate at all. By the same token, some of them do.

> "in the moment it seems like it will never go away, but the truth is, that it always does."

The truth is, it always does for you. I'm not the same person pre- and post-diagnosis, and even when I'm not feeling down, I never feel quite as 'up' as I used to be. To that end, I don't feel like it's gone away. It's by no means as bad as some other people have it, but I feel like I'm stuck with it now.

Exercise, though, is definitely a good idea, and is a piece of advice I've been given from other depressed friends, my counsellor, and my GP. At the very least, doing a bit of it takes your mind off things, and has the benefit of keeping you in decent shape too.

Personally I don't think someone who is either depressed or feeling blue and is a member here should try and remedy those feelings by immersing themselves in even more startup doom and gloom, or success stories. Take your head out of the job, because it means fuck all compared to your own happiness and wellbeing.

And as has been said, consider change. A change of scenery could offer you some peace of mind.

I'd second the splitting of self into an analytic side and a emotional side being helpful as a short term coping mechanism, but I would caution against taking it too far. It is great as a short term buffer against letting your state get the better off you, but at the end of the day you're still depressed and viewing everything in some way through that lens of depression. Even if you're able to recognize the cognitive biases that introduces, your self esteem is still in the gutter and you still feel that cold depressed feeling. As far as other not-meds things that help, exercise, a regular schedule, good diet, and avoiding drugs (especially alcohol/narcotics--they can both make the depression worse and you're at a greatly increased risk for addiction) are relatively easy (not that anything is actually easy when you're depressed) things that help.

I'd second the 'if the meds aren't working, try new ones' advice. If all they've put you on is a cocktail of SSRIs, there are other options (MAOIs are effective, but a pain to deal with in terms of other medications, and are as a result less often proscribed) Also, if your depression has been periodically occurring for a long time and doesn't respond well to traditional medications, it might be worth looking at the symptoms of bipolar disorder to see if they fit. I know several people who were treated for unipolar depression for years before they were diagnosed with bipolar depression: and the medications and treatments are very different. Bipolar depression also is rather famous for not responding well to talk therapy. On the similar note of things that wouldn't respond to medication but are treatable in other ways: if you haven't been checked for hyper and hypo thyroidism, those can also cause depression-like symptoms that don't respond to traditional medication, and sleep disorders like apnea can make minor depression much worse.

Do you want to get better? Why?

Additionally I will respond here and say that I don't think it's wise advice to recommend a Girlfriend (or boyfriend?) for the original poster. I don't know if you've ever suffered from depression, but you rarely even want to emerge from the house while suffering it. To say that you would be able to function in a loving relationship properly is a long shot indeed.

Working out, helpful, changing diet... sometimes helpful.

As for having people visit, I would say this would be helpful but would be dependent upon the situations for your depression.