Please tell me that it is normal to become extremely depressed before turning 18 and that I will get over this?

I know I’m still really young, which is why the last thing I want to be doing on my birthday is laying in bed crying like I seem to do for every birthday! What’s the deal with my angst over birthdays?

I don’t think it is normal. You should be looking forward to your life ahead of you. I think you know you need some help. Who can you ask? Doctor? School? Family? Please do it soon. You seem like you are in a lot of pain

I wish I sought help as a teenager. Instead I bottled it all up and am dealing with the fallout to this day

I wasn’t depressed then although I’ve had bouts of depression through my life. I had a boyfriend, I was looking forward (pretty much) to college, high school was ok enough. If you are extremely depressed, you need to get help.

I suggest you talk to your doctor about your depression. S/He may be able to help.

I had a difficult childhood. It was not easy growing up gay in rural Oklahoma in the 70s. I don’t remember feeling depressed, but I know I was not OK. I experienced a lot of anti-gay bullying. Basically, it traumatized me. I got to college and learned how to drink, and that delayed healing for another 15 years. I wish I’d known how to find help sooner. You’re in a place where it would be beneficial to reach out for help now.

I loved turning 18 and wish I could do it all over again. You wanna be depressed about turning one year older? Just wait five or six decades!

Anything in particular that is making you feel down? It is the internet.. We will never meet or know who your are. Feel free to share and maybe we can help.

Personally, I had been living on my own for a few years when I turned 18. I was stoked to be 18 so I could by porn without shoulder-tapping it.

It depends but:
A. Get help, you need to know what is causing it.
B. Depression in teenagers is common.
C. I was depressed at 17 and was over it by 18. (getting out of H.S. and being on my own cured it.)

Oh Hell yes! Old people get nostalgic about the teen years, and completely forget how awful, insecure, and depressing they were.

Depression can be completely unrelated to what’s going on in your life. Lifestyle changes, therapy, or medication could help you.

To be honest I would have probably jumped off the water tower if Facebook was a thing when I was in high school.

Eighteen didn’t get me down, but I did have a little bit of a struggle with twenty.

And forty.

And . . . well, a few more past that.

(But I wouldn’t be 17 again for anything in the world. Whatever I’m nostalgic about, it ain’t that.)

However if a birthday or other significant date affects you as a marker of loss or some kind of failure, even if it’s just failure to celebrate and enjoy it, I agree that you need some help putting that in perspective. It would be a real shame if you couldn’t see the fullness of your present potential until it’s half a century in the past.

I’m so sorry to hear about this.

You need to talk to somebody, and soon. Someone you can trust and, preferably, someone that ‘gets’ you.

Please take a good look at this discussion of teen depression. If it doesn’t help you in and of itself, it will point you in the right direction.

If there’s anything I, or any of us, can do, please ask.
This is an important time of your life and we need to get you on a more positive path as quickly as possible.

“What’s the deal with my angst over birthdays?”

I am willing to bet that you know why you’re feeling birthday angst. I don’t think it’s a common problem. Are you afraid of getting older? Are you starting to feel your mortality? Do you think that you should be accomplishing more with the time you’ve had?

These are some reasons that people dread birthdays, but again, are not very common with people who are as young as 18. Are you worried about things like starting a career and family? Or that you haven’t decided who you are yet?

Only you know what it is that’s causing your birthday woe. If you’d like to tell us more about it, please do. Or perhaps think about talking to a therapist? I’m sure you could find someone to talk to.

I’m gonna take your guys’ advice and try to get some help or help myself. I figured this night just be a more common thing I’m experiencing which is why I asked, but now that I know it’s probably a serious issue, i guess I need to do something about it before it gets worse. Thank you all for your answers

@CunningFox, that sounds good. Do check back with us, won’t you?

(And how soon is your birthday?)

30th of January. Fast approaching. I will check back in, hopefully with good news.

It doesn’t sound normal in any way. I just turned 62, and at every decade marker and other “significant” milestone birthday (including one or two when I was temporarily unemployed), “it ain’ no thang”.

As others have said, you may need some outside intervention, assistance or medical attention.