I'm a 23 year old woman, I've been depressed for most of my life with brief periods of being OK. Talk therapy has never really helped me, so I'm trying this out until I can find a good therapist who does CBT to work with.
This is proving a bit difficult, since I'm, er, not at all mainstream, and a lot of the things that bring me the most joy have negative, fixed interpretations in the eyes of a lot of therapists who do CBT. I've found talk therapists to be more understanding and supportive.... but the therapy just isn't working. It's hard to find someone who will help with the real problem, and really help, without wasting time trying to "fix" the fact that I like tattoos and body piercings, to name one of a few things that seems to come up.
So here I am.
I'm currently working VERY part time, and applying for grad school. I work with dogs, and I find that spending time with animals seems to help me a lot.
I had stabilized, more or less, on antidepressants, but they seem to have pooped out on me (again.)
So here I am.