How did the onset of depression look for you? At what age? This also stands for other illnesses 🫂

[TapeMachine]

I was 5/6 years old when the agony materialized within my brain. I've always been a sensitive soul..

Edited to add:
The onset of my depression involved a lot of rumination, anxiety, and crying myself to sleep at night.

 

[Kit1]

I was abused from the age of 2 or earlier - don't know when it started. Clearly learnt the art of dissociation, had managed to brun the same room twice by the age of 4, was constantly found wondering the streets aline by the age of four, non verbal till 5/6, first proper cbt attempt at 14, diagnosed with PTSD and since then Comptex PTSD, CFS and possibly autism (the assessment referral was messed up by GPs surgery - and now I don't engage with GPs surgery or hospital and don't taken any of the medication I was on. Late 40s now. Don't know why or how my life started and don't have a clue how it will end - trying to stay on for th3 sake of my children as they are happy children who have only known love, safety and security and I want them to carry on feeling loved and safe. Will try and carry on for ad long as possible. Without meds, it will only be there matter of time as I will need to end it when I become quite sick as I do not want to be treated by the NHS for anything.

 

[F@#$]

I can't remember. I've been miserable for as long as I can remember.

 

[spøgelse]

i wouldnt say i was depressed but ive been suicidal since around the age of 8 or earlier. most i did at that age was hover with a knife above my stoumach but i never went through with it just a lot of praying to god to make me normal that quickly spiraled into praying for death

 

[tiredcat]

i was diagnosed with major depressive disorder at 12 (didnt keep the diagnosis)

it started with a lot of self isolation and online use, mostly on amino (that fandom thing lmao) i started coming out of my room less and less and my family never went to check on me in the name of "privacy." my sister was really the only one who would but when she left the house i was lone in my room for hours on end without any REAL communication with anyone, just texting random people online. with a combination of family problems and constant anxiety attacks i attempted suicide in 6th grade, got hospitalized, lied my way out, and i wasnt allowed in my room for like 2 months then everything went back to normal cuz my parents thought i was better lol, but to be fair my mother knew nothing abt mental health and was just barely starting to learn and my dad didnt even believe in it, whatever that means lmao

but ever since then i've been struggling with different things, dad post likely has npd and my mom was a victim of his psychological and physical abuse since age 15 so she never really had a chance.

shit happens tho :p

 

[Spiritual survivor]

I had a pretty traumatizing childhood so I starting developing symptoms early but it got really bad when I was about 12 or 13. I was crying all the time already and it just got worse. I stopped talking to my friends I started not doing my work in school I stopped eating lunch I started sh I stopped eating breakfast I started not sleeping or just sleeping too much and then I started becoming suicidal with my attempts getting worse each time, I was in and out of the hospital and I still struggle to stay out of the hospital

That age is wen the full reality of what u were born into hits I think. I was also from an abusive, neglected home.

 

[emptymiku]

i've had problems with mental illness since i was like 9, at least. i remember being super depressed in middle school

 

[iamalreadydead]

6 or 7 or 8. don't remember exactly but i was in pain everyday constantly dissociated socially anxious and more than anything just fucking empty and no one cared because i was an ugly kid i guess? Classic case, bullied, abused etc

 

[𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆]

I started struggling a lot with social anxiety in primary school, it was slowly develiping through middle school. It wasn't as bad though and I had lots of friends at that time. Then highschool came. New school, completely new people. I couldn't find myself a place, didn't have anyone to talk to, spent all the breaks alone on my phone. I got bullied by teachers a lot, missed a lot of days to the point where I almost didn't pass. But with the amount of work I was still making myself busy enough not to let those thoughts get over me. The worst came right after high school. I went to the university, first year was fully online. Again. didn't have friends, couldn't find myself a place and then big stress from finals. This was the lowest I've ever been at. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, wasn't even able to shower often as my body felt so weak and sore. I had no energy. That was when my suicidal thoughts got very loud, it was very hard to manage. I started self harm, was constantly just in bed crying. I was probably the most awful person to talk to at that time, got a lot of shit for that from my family which probably was making it even worse.
So yeah, overall I started struggling when I was~9, then it kept getting worse and then at the age 16 it just went fully downhill and I hit my rock bottom at the age of 19. Since then it's pretty stable low with some ups and downs.

 

[eatantz]

I was diagnosed with depression at 13 but it was definitely consuming me before then. I put most of the blame on my emotional abusive father and undiagnosed autism which made me an outcast at school. Going into secondary school was the breaking point as it became clear of how much of a freak I am

 

[greebo6]

Adolescence. So at about age 16 I would say.
A very long time ago........

 

[Jinxyxx]

Most of my oldest memories are very traumatic and i remember i wanted to ctb back then. And that feeling didnt leave me since. So ig i feel this almost since i can remember.

 

[UtopianSoliloquies]

I think I started being suicidal at around 11 but didn't have a dim m full blown depressive episode until 14. I couldn't tell if it was better or worse back then but the episodes are a lot longer now. I've felt like I'm in hell for every moment since university started.