I feel like the world is ending

I'm sorry it's really hard for you at the moment, I don't have anything more to help, than hang on and don't let the systems that are letting you down win. Keep shouting at them, and like Hergé, scream into the void when you need to. Reaching out is hard, and if you don't feel heard, that can make it harder the next time. 

The news is so hard at the moment, and everything is so charged. I keep reading the BBC news site, but it's really depressing at the state of the world. I can't comprehend people not being kind to each, and it's all so negative. I do like looking at the pictures people send in of around Scotland, it's a little bit of joy amongst the sadness.

Defying the sadness is hard, but you have worth, and I'm glad you could at the very least tell us about how hard it is. It is a really hard thing to do. It's obvious you've been doing it a while, it can be wearing but it's a good thing to do.

Would you like to talk about anything that could cheer you? I do love your sylveon pic. Though I appreciate if you don't want to. 

I can't really override it. It doesn't work. Whatever this feeling of despair and suicidal thoughts are, they override free will. 

I know the news is tough, that's partially why I'm depressed. UK politics are absolutely out of control and idiots buy what other idiots say. Then the only hope we have is suddenly the devil to them. Exactly the kind of crap that dooms us to repeat history. I don't find much joy in things anymore. Aside from some nice landscapes and good TV, there isn't anything else. I find it hard to listen to music as well.  

Not really anything I want to talk about.

I can't really override it. It doesn't work. Whatever this feeling of despair and suicidal thoughts are, they override free will. 

I know the news is tough, that's partially why I'm depressed. UK politics are absolutely out of control and idiots buy what other idiots say. Then the only hope we have is suddenly the devil to them. Exactly the kind of crap that dooms us to repeat history. I don't find much joy in things anymore. Aside from some nice landscapes and good TV, there isn't anything else. I find it hard to listen to music as well.  

Not really anything I want to talk about.

In a nutshell Kate Kestrel  it does help.

I think that’s all a lot of people really want - a peaceful life where they can be left alone. You’re living in a broken system that makes a lot of people feel pretty terrible much of the time. My son and his girlfriend are claiming Universal Credit and his girlfriend is struggling to find a job - and they tell me how much it can get them feeling really down and defeated. You’re not alone, and your response to the situation is entirely sane and understandable. Medications for depression and anxiety often aren’t as successful as we are told they will be. When I tried an SSRI felt truly terrible - it made me feel much much worse. I’ve found that the thing that’s helped me most is to change my perspective and how I think and respond to things - in my case this was through studying Buddhism - but there are lots of ways of doing this - like CBT for example. We can’t change the world around us or the political system etc - but we can change how we respond to it, how we deal with the difficult emotions it triggers in us. Often the way we respond to situations is because of conditions from our upbringing too - and understanding all these things can help us to find ways that help ease our nervous system and help calm our responses- so we get less overwhelmed. It can be a nice project to look into all these things and learn about our own psychology and what the roots of it are. For example I had not very loving parents and I find it hard to trust people sometimes. But the more I understand that the better I can be a mitigating some of the effects. It’s really interesting to become a bit of a detective and work out why we think the way we do. 

Yes - for quite a while now have had to go on a bit of a News ‘diet’ - and watch/read much less of it, and I find it’s helped. When I was young the news was something you might happen to watch just once - if it was on at 9 or 10pm or whatever. But now it’s there all the time - 24 hours - and it can be too much. If you’re a sensitive person (and most autistic people are) it can be overwhelming and depressing. It’s a bit like with food: if we have a diet of ‘bad’ food all the time we tend to feel awful. What we consume impacts on how we feel - and if we consume a lot of sad and distressing media it’s bound to start to get us down. 

I do like your advice on the hard times, plugging out from all the chaos sounds really healthy and let's you get back in control. I think that would give you space to breath and focus on the things that bring contentment, rather than the gloom of outlets. 

Analysing and feeling deeply are true for me too. 

Virtual hugs to all who need them.

It's good to just hold space sometimes, and know someone wishes you well tonight.

Yes they do make the system difficult on purpose, to try to make people miserable as they think that will make people want to work, but the opposite is true, as when you get like that everything is harder. Burnout is very hard to deal with, and there is so little research into courses that could actually help, so yeah being pushed around medication in the hope one 'fixes it', would be difficult. 

The world keeps turning though, and it's worth holding out for change. Write to MP's and tell them what's important to you. Sometimes being the voice of all the people like you that are suffering helps, even when you get the dismissive reply, they've had to read it, and if lots of people wrote letters, they would start thinking maybe it's important. It can feel pointless, but the tiny things we do to be heard can add up. 

I hope one day you can move to somewhere that makes you happier.

I feel low as well.

I get a bit better by plugging myself off the media for a few weeks.

One reason may be that we are quite analytic but also feel very deeply, and the contradiction and pain becomes unbearable.

It's not depression, it's autistic burnout. Learnt that the hard way with the amount of treatments I've had. Therapy, 5 different types of medication and still not helping, in fact making things worse because I turn out so depressed from taking the meds.

All I want from the economy is a place where I can be alone away from noise issues, preferably in a beautiful part of the UK, or Scotland. And not have to worry about paying bills... or at least the ones I have to cover, thanks to a complicated and pointless support system and universal credit. 

I think when depressed it's so hard to find the joy in anything, so I don't blame you. Is it alright if I ask if you are being treated for depression, and if that's helping at all? I mean it's difficult to be taken seriously sometimes, but it's sad when the system to support is so fall of holes (the chronic under funding doesn't help), and then you have parties coming in saying they don't believe in it and want to slash support further. Wouldn't it be nice to have a magic wand to wave and fix it all. To design systems that work, the world is very spiky, but you can dream of what it could look like. 

Sometimes the greatest strength though is just holding still, even with the hurricanes roaring, to be able to just keep going despite it all. If just being was a marathon, a lot of people here would win medals.

I am trying to get better at some things myself, but changing is hard. I like listening to podcasts, it helps with hearing people talking of things that aren't terrible, and gives a truer sense of the world, that there is life outside of the bad times. Even if you can't find joy, doing one small thing to help is worth it.

You aren't alone with it.