Question:
I am a 20 year old female.. I have 4 weeks left of university and then my degree is completed. I live with my boyfriend, who I love very much. I am close to my family and friends, and I still have been going out on weekends. But i am always upset. I cry all the time. I am usually a sensitive person, but this is just ridiculous. I get even more upset at how upset I am. It’s so frustrating. I just want to go back to who I was before. I don’t know why I am feeling this way.. I feel like I should be so happy and lucky with the way my life is going. My friends and family say it must just be that my university work is stressful. And i agree that it is, but I’ve been at university for 3 and a half years, and it has never made me like this before. Yes, I’ve been stressed before, but this is just silly. I feel so stupid to be so upset over nothing when there are so many worse off than I am. And i feel so selfish. But i just can’t help it… What is wrong with me?
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Answer:
What is wrong with you is that you are depressed. The fact that you believe that your life is good and others are worse off then you does not mean much. Depression is depression just like the flu is the flu, whether life is good, bad or indifferent.
I cannot know why you are depressed and to learn why and do something about it you have to enter psychotherapy. I can guess at a few reasons for feeling this bad now above and beyond the stress of school. For example, it is a very important life transition to complete a college education. For most of us it represents the end of one stage of life: that of childhood and adolescent education. Of course that does not mean that education has to be over. But, for most people, completing college is often followed by entry into the adult world of work and adult responsibility and that can feel very scary. Add to that the fact that you and your boyfriend are probably making plans for the future or are not making those plans. Anyway, I think you can see where I am going with this. People graduate, campus life ends, friends scatter and life changes.
Whether these are you issues or not please trust the fact that you are not being selfish and that it is important that you get help in relieving you depression. I want to suggest that you enter Cognitive Behavioral Therapy because that works well in learning to end depression.
Your depression is real and everyone of has has reason and the right to become depressed at some points in life. Get help now and wait no longer.
Good Luck
