I’ve been dealing with depression (and anxiety) for well over 5 years now. I’ve tried so many different medications and treatments with no apparent success. Inevitably, in the course of the treatment, the doctor will ask if I’m starting to feel better to see if it’s worth continuing the treatment, up the dose, or swap to something else. And… I never know what to say. If it’s not going to get dramatically better all of a sudden, I don’t really know how to recognize any incremental progress if it’s happening at all and without being able to do that, I might be passing on treatments that could have helped if I gave it more time.
So if you’ve been in this situation, how did you recognize progress? To the extent that you can put it into words, what did it feel like to slowly get better as you were treated?
I don’t know that there is such a thing. In this world fixing one problem only creates three more, more effort is rewarded with worse outcomes and everyone you meet is a potential enemy/source of frustration and annoyance even if they’re nice to you, even if they’re your friend. Bad people win, good people lose. What should be isn’t, and what isn’t should be. The unfortunate things that happen to you compound over time until you become an empty shell with no fucks left to give. And then they happen some more.