Success Happy

Can a person have a successful life if they suffer from depression and emotional problems?

I have a very close friend who has suffered from depression for the most of her life. She dropped out of high school because she couldn't focus and couldn't deal with her emotional problems. So much has happened to her her, but she is a very strong individual and she just wants to see her dreams realized. My friend then got her g.e.d and enrolled in college. She said that every time she was in class, she felt like she was caged and had to leave class early. She told me that she did horrible in math and other classes because she missed so much in high school and grade school. I encouraged her to get a tutor, but she said she gets embarrassed when they realize she can't do basic math. My heart goes out to her and I think she's very smart, but she doesn't think so. She's always comparing herself to others and putting herself down. Her family doesn't seem to understand and they haven't been supportive other than her mom. Please help her. How can she make her dreams come true if she can't get through college? She said she couldn't understand any math they did in college. What programs can help her? What should she do about her depression and emotional disorders that she has been diagnosed with?

Public Comments

1. she needs to seek professional help and get her on the right medication to get her to stay calm and focus in class. She should never be ashamed to ask for help so she can achieve her goals that she wants in life. Just keep her moving forward and in a positive way, get her the professional help she needs and go from there. One step at a time!! Good luck
2. She needs to find what underlying problems she has other than the obvious depression she is suffering from. She could have Dyscalculia which is sort of math dyslexia, those people have problems doing basic math and they struggle with math all their lives. She can be tested for it and if it comes out positive she can be exempt from passing or taking math courses in college and still obtain a degree. Have her checkout this website to see if her symptoms fit her. www.dyscalculiaforum.com She could also have ADD. There is nothing wrong in having a tutor. I had a tutor when I was in 3rd grade. My son who is below average in math but excels in everything sees a tutor at the library twice a week and he always looks forward to it. She needs to understand that we are all good at something but many times we need help in something and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Anybody who say they are perfect is a perfect liar.
3. Since I was 18 or so I have bipolar disorder, ADHD, anxiety attacks, and it was a fight and it was not easy by no means. But I went to Yale and spent 6 years in the Marines. I got a job with computers making over 65 thousand a year. I graduated from high school at 17 and married at 18, had our first of 6 children at 19. Plus schooling, military and built a home at the age of 20. And it was just me and my wife that did it all! Life has been good, but having the depression too does make it hard. Then two years ago I lost my leg in and accident and blind in one eye. Now I have fainting spells because my blood pressure drops out. Because of medication for fainting I have extremely high and dangerously high blood pressure. to the point it's deadly! But you have to put your mind to it and decided that you have these problems but these problems don't have YOU! You have to run your problems not your problems run you. No, it's not easy, with counseling, family and friends for support and my beautiful sweet loving wife has been my angel, saint and I still don't know how she did it! We met at 14, married at 18 and it's been 30 years this year. 31 yrs July 2009. Now I'm 48 and my wife and I retired back in June and our children are all in their 20's and married and having their own kids. Life is great! Positive thinking! Then if you have faith thank God for each day you get out of bed. Enjoy life the best you can, get all the help you can get, your friend. Counseling, tutor, pastor, therapsy, psychiatris. who ever and what ever it takes, I did!
4. Whether she can have a successful life (totally depends on how you define successful, I'm going to say good career in this case) depends on how severe her symptoms are after getting treatment. She will not be able to do it unless she gets more help for her depression and/or issues thru counseling and medication. Otherwise, she will suffer all her life in addition to not getting the career she wants. In my case, I have bipolar disorder & went thru serious sexual abuse as a kid, and I have not been able to find meds to help me. I was a National Merit Scholar (a prestigious scholarship in the US) and yet flunked a lot of classes in college due to severe depression & mixed moods from the bipolar. I still finished my degree, but it took a couple extra years. I got into graduate school working toward a PhD at a prestigious university working in planetary geophysics & working with NASA, but after 3 years, I had to quit because of the bipolar, which hadn't been diagnosed yet. Now I am totally disabled by this disorder & can't even handle selling doll clothes I make because it is too much pressure going to craft shows 6 weekends near Christmas. I did it, barely, but had many breakdowns. I also tried working as a cashier at Kmart for 10 hours a week, and I had breakdowns from the pressure. I tutored math on AOL years ago for a few hours a week - again, too much pressure. So she needs to get help for her underlying problems first. If she gets them treated effectively, then she will be able to do anything that she is interested & skilled at. The depression is screwing up her ability to do math, probalby. Missing time in math class - that is the subject matter that is most sensitive to not getting all your work done. I'm gifted in math, and it still was my hardest subject except for physics.