Is Numbness a Sign of Depression?

I know exactly how you feel. I am going into 10th grade now and I felt that way for all of 7th grade. Good news is, it does get better. You're so used to that feeling that you just accept it and think it's never going to go away and you look at happy people and envy them...but hate them because you know you will never get there...but you will...it just takes time.

Depression....where do you start?! Are you on medication? If so do you think it actually works or does it work cos you think it does? Cos you seem to be doing something about it? Have you tried therapies....not therapists...but therapies? Do you have someone you can completely trust 100% whether they are in your life just now, family, someone you haven't spoken to in ages, someone who you don't speak to anymore but someone that will be there, listen and tell you the truth. I have to go back to my first comment and say that you need to start loving yourself, I don't know if it's as easy as saying you just get used to it. You need to realise that you are a person and people love you whether you chose to believe that or not. Have you ever thought about where this depression originated, childhood, teenage years, adulthood? Have you spoken to anyone about what triggers this? This numbness you feel I don't think is a numbness to things around you, people you love I think it's a numbness to how you feel about yourself. Something has happened that makes you think that you're not worthy of other peoples attention and when you get that attention you start to shy away from it cos again you don't think you're worthy of it. You are your own person, you are going to be loved by people (sometimes unwanted! ha ha) being loved and surrounding by this doesn't mean that you have to give up your identity, that your dependent on people, take some time to think about it......people spend time with you for a reason cos if you don't take something from this then just take this one thing, people don't do anything "just because", they don't do anything "because they have to" they do it cause they want to. You have to start seeing what they see. You feel numb about yourself and this is probably highlighted because when this happens you freeze everyone out. Then you start to feel guilty about freezing them out...its a vicious circle...and one that only you can break. Freezing people out and running away isn't going to solve anything. Surrounding yourself with people who you genuinely care about, trust and respect and you know who those people are. I personally found that the people I could talk to most weren't my family (too close, and probably where it all started), partners...yes most def, they might not understand but the bond there, if you feel that there is love, hope, trust then go for it.... but friends, not people you work with, not people you've known for a while but the people who will stand up to you and challenge what you're saying, make you think, offer solutions.....make you think of solutions, maybe even have a spat with you over it, maybe even get so annoyed that you have major spats about it. Believe it or not, even though there might be a fight on the horizon, doesn't that mean that you feel something, when someone hurts you, you don't speak anymore is that not because someone along the line has been hurt....yes...which means you aren't as numb as you think you are. Sorry for going on but I don't think there is an easy answer to the difficulties facing you but I do think you need to look deep inside, find out why this has happened, address it, find a true friend and rip it to shreds until you have found the true background, then start dealing with day to day. Please let me know if this has helped any or ....not. Take care xx

Hello, I feel for you. Yep , that is how it is unfortunately. How long have you been feeling like that?? Do you have children , do you know what may have trigger it . Hope you have family or good network to support you through your really rough days. I am at stage at the moment, and but worse than you (mentally I want to do it ) physically well another story.....

Shystar has covered it well , to hopeful help you. Talking if you feel like it , is good to let out of your system. However, with this mood swings I found do not try to hard to analyze , just take moment by moment and 1 day at the moment.

Hope to hear that you are feeling better ,and things are ok.

I would agree that in the early stages depression can feel like a general numbness. I have had the numbness, and the heaviness as well - not fun.
I'm not a therapist or anything but here's something to consider;
"Depression occurs when our feelings are disconnected from their source but attached to all aspects of our life"
Janice Berger - Emotional Fitness
Her book is mostly about acknowledging and grieving the trauma of our childhoods (trauma can be lack of parenting to active abuse), and directing those disconnected feelings to the original hurts.
The earlier you do something about depression the better.

I would agree that in the early stages depression can feel like a general numbness. I have had the numbness, and the heaviness as well - not fun.
I'm not a therapist or anything but here's something to consider;
"Depression occurs when our feelings are disconnected from their source but attached to all aspects of our life"
Janice Berger - Emotional Fitness
Her book is mostly about acknowledging and grieving the trauma of our childhoods (trauma can be lack of parenting to active abuse), and directing those disconnected feelings to the original hurts.
The earlier you do something about depression the better.

That "black cloud" is a *****. I can feel it coming on, just as real clouds drift in on the horizon. I can be having a fairly good, productive day...then wham. Ten years ago I tried the "meds" route. Despiramine, then Zoloft, then Paxil over the course of six years, with only marginal results. I switched to St. Johns Wort after that. It has the same properties, only organic. It's not a cure-all,(be mindful of sun exposure) but it helps as much as the script meds ever did. Stack DHEA after a month of St. Johns Wort dosing....then call me in the morning.

Also I agree with Shystar. Depression has triggers. Finding those triggers is the key. Understanding those triggers is a must. We all have them, they are part of who we are. Managing and or eliminating the depression triggers is the hard part.

i totally feel u

its exactly the same with me ... i can laugh and smile
i try to enjoy but i cant.. i feel so numb ... nothing feels
like it used to anymore... i do the exact same fun activities as before but i don't feel anything am not happy .. am not satisfied... i cry without a reason ... i cant love it scares me.. i feel that i need to have someone close to me but i cant honestly love .. :(

MiuMiu

I feel the same way. I have felt this way for as long as I can remember. I feel different from other people. I know why I am sad, but those realizations don't help at all, because I know that things are not going to get better. It's call depressive realism- looking at the world realistically and seeing what is really there. I don't distort things to see them negatively, I just see them realistically.

All my hope has drained away though, and I have accepted that things will not get better. Now I just feel numb.

I feel the same way I sometimes just wish i was never born or was dead and get angry at God fro creating me.
some peoples deprssion is extremely dark but everyone copes with it differntly and evryones situation is differnt so it doesnt sound scary

I suspect that I'm older than most of the other commenters. I'm 50 years old, and I've been thru a period of about 5 years where nothing mattered. My experience features that numbness as its major symptom. For about the last 2 years of that period, I tried daily to figure out a "guaranteed" method of suicide that wouldn't leave me paralyzed or like that.

The first thing for me was to "get up off the couch." That is, do anything to address that numbness. I wound up on 12-step recovery, which is very good for me. Among other things, it's where I found people I could really trust.

Now it's coming back. If my own efforts and my recovery can't get me past this numbness, my next step is to go to a local mental-health agency. I have no money, but I know where to start.

Above all, take it seriously. I have had pain, anger, and sadness in recovery that were legitamite. None of the legitamite feelings was nearly as dangerous as the numbness.