Feeling bad, just want to have somebody read this I guess

Hi, just wanted to say all this to someone. Thanks for reading, please ignore if you don't like long and whiny posts.

I'm 16, graduated from high school almost exactly a year ago (yes, I graduated in the middle of the year when I was 15, it's a long story and this post is already going to be pretty long so I'll spare you all). By the time I graduated I had no friends at all (mostly my own fault), so I was already feeling a little lonely but I wasn't really depressed yet. I was going to start working after I graduated but I didn't get any of the jobs I applied to. I started to realize just how empty my life was. I had been admitted to college but I started having major doubts about going so I made up some stuff about how I was taking a gap year and got my admission deferred for a year (until aug 2012).

By this time I had developed deep depression and really bad social anxiety and agoraphobia, which have been getting worse and worse since. I just sit around in my parents basement, sleep 14-16 hours a day because it hurts too much to be awake, maybe go outside to take my dog for a walk once every 2-3 days but otherwise never leave the house, and cry a lot. I started going to a psychotherapist but it wasn't helping so I started going to another one who I think was helping me a tiny bit but we've kind of hit a dead end. I tried various medications but they weren't helping at all and were giving me really bad side effects so I stopped.

Basically everyone, my parents and my therapist, are saying that at this point I just need to accept that it's going to be painful, grit my teeth and bear it, and go out and take a class at a community college, volunteer somewhere, or something. I'm probably just being stupid and lazy and cowardly in this, but I just really, really don't feel like I can (although that's probably just me trying to create an excuse and in reality I just don't want to).

I tried taking a class at the local community college once and I was just in such absolute, total panic the entire time that I couldn't even think. I dropped out after the first class. My parents and therapist say that that was just because the class was in a topic I wasn't interested in and that if I was in a class that interested me I'd feel fine. Maybe that's true, idk. I just feel like there's got to be another, easier way.

I don't quite feel hopeless, but many days I just don't feel like it's worth it. I look at most people's lives, including my own so far, and it just feels so empty and meaningless. It's just get up, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat day after day. The things that most people find fun, like TV, video games, sports, sex, money, alcohol, drugs, etc, feel really pointless, superficial, and transitory to me. I wonder some times, is it really worth all this pain just so I can have this empty life?

Also, on top of all this, there's the fact that I'm transgender. I was born (biologically) male, but I'm 95% certain that I identify as female. This isn't the cause of my depression, but it certainly makes it worse. I haven't told anyone about this. I'm pretty certain my parents would respond badly if I told them about this right now. They've already just about had it with me (understandably, no one likes having a useless deadbeat sit in your basement and cost you thousands of dollars in therapy, medication, food, etc).

I fantasize about suicide a couple times per week nowadays. I wouldn't exactly call myself suicidal because I'm pretty sure I'm not ever going to actually do it, but I think about it.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for here, just wanted to talk, I guess. Whenever I try to talk to my parents about this, they just say "All you ever want to do is talk, talk, talk. Why don't you ever get off your ass and DO something. Talking isn't going to do anything.". My therapist is a little more kind about it, but he basically says the same thing.

Thanks for actually reading my whiny, narcissistic rant.

Edit: I just want to clarify a few things. First of all, the transgender thing is not why I'm depressed, it's just something on the side. Second, I think my original post made my parents and therapist sound too bad. They're good people and they're trying to help, they just think I'm past the point where talking about things is going to help and that I need to take action. They're probably right, honestly, it's just that I'm completely terrified of doing anything.

Posted Dec 29, 2011, 4:59 AM UTC · edited

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