Why can't I feel anything but pure sadness?

You sound very depressed. Have you talked to your doctor about how you’re feeling? There is a way out of this feeling. It may take time and you may need medication to help you, but you can feel much better than you do. Acknowledging how you’re feeling and that you aren’t happy is the first step, and you’ve taken that.

As someone who suffers from what is regarded as a mild (since I am able to function) form of depression, I know these feelings very well. Make an appointment with a psychotherapist. You may be referred to a psychiatrist, who is able to prescribe medications.

Welcome to the club. Sit here and whine with the rest of us.

This sounds like serious depression – not whining. I would definitely talk to someone about it. Life doesn’t have to be that way.

I have been there. I understand.

I have been in that black pit where there is no light. I understand the difference between the pit where I can see a pin prick of light at the top and the pit where there is no light. The walls of the pit are slick, black mud that does not allow for any grip to climb up.

I got out. You can, too.

Today, I have a job I honestly love to come to every morning. I have friends. I had dinner with 2 friends I’ve known for 30 years last night. We ate delicious Chinese food. We talked and laughed heartily.

I experience joy today.

You can experience joy, too.

But you’re going to have to do one thing today to reach for that joy. You’re going to have to pick up your phone that weighs 500 pounds (mine used to weigh that much), and you’re going to have to call your doctor.

Do you have a doctor? It doesn’t have to be a specialist. You can call your regular doctor.

When you make that call, you have to read what you wrote to us above to whomever answers the call. Tell the receptionist or nurse who answers exactly what you told us above.

And add one sentence: “Please, help me.”

They will help. I promise they will. I promise.

After you make this call, please, tell us here when your appointment is to see your doctor. We care, and we want to know.

^^He the man.

The definition of serious Depression is precisely what you’ve written in the details. The definition of Clinical Depression is depression that lasts more than 6 months. Clinical Depression is when brain chemistry has changed detrimentally and the depression becomes an abyss much too dark and deep for many people to climb out of by themselves.

The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) provides information on Clinical Depression and other mental illnesses and gives excellent advice on the people in your area who specialize in your particular mental illness. They do not treat, they advise, do outreach, advocate and lobby for better mental health services. So, if you’re unfamiliar with seeking help, these people are your navigators. Give them a call.

Get your thyroid checked. Hypothyroidism (lower than normal thyroid hormone) will make you feel slow, empty, tired, and not human. It’s amazing what difference it makes to have the right level, and it is a totally insidious condition. What I mean by this is that even after being hypothyroid for 20 years, it’s still the last thing I think of when I’m feeling shitty because I haven’t taken my medicine. I’m tired or irritable or hungry or I just need some down time is what I think to myself for a few days and then it occurs to me that I haven’t taken my medicine in a couple of days.

Any good behavioral health therapist will suggest getting your blood work done as a first step. If your thyroid is off, then fixing that really takes care of 90% of the problem.

Can you figure out when it started? Sometimes depression is anger turned inward. Maybe you can figure out what you’re mad at and begin to heal. It’s not easy to do alone, and that is where a good therapist can come in. I am less enthusiastic about drugs, which may help the symptom but not the cause.