I've been literally thinking this EXACT same thing when I saw your post. I know my lastest bout with depression is stemming from exhaustion from my day job and the fact I don't have much to look forward to. My creative side is pretty much my only outlet for how I'm feeling. I just want to be apart of something deep and meaningful. I am so tired of feeling like I am in limbo

Oh, hey. Me, too. Anxiety and depression and I just want to stop existing. Creativity is gone. Everything seems like too much effort. I literally sat on the floor to eat earlier - two steps away from the kitchen chair. Currently unmedicated (long story) and it’s killing me

me i just try to think happy things and talking to someone.

It doesn't work perfectly, but my therapist got me onto routines. Even if it's just half an hour a day or a week, set aside that half an hour regularly and you start doing it naturally. It's 6.30pm that's creative half hour, and you start to get used to it.

Also saving all the little comments and accomplishments that make me happy. I have a folder full of them. Even little stupid comments so that when I hit the periods of no one cares, it's no good, why am I even bothering I should delete everything and vanish, I can look through and see the good things and try not to get too worked up.

And also reminding myself I don't have to be perfect and it's fine. (I literally have this printed off and stuck in the corner of my work computer for when I'm getting too wrapped up in my own head and seeing too many flaws).

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Adequate is fine. I don't need to be perfect.

It's a fantastic picture. It's from a yoghurt advert and I saw it and realised I definitely need that every now and again. Therapy is such a big help when you find the right therapist and are ready for it. I went through three different ones over several years before I was finally ready and found the right person. I spend a lot of my early therapy convinced it wasn't working and not even trying to give it a chance because I couldn't see how it could help. Just a few months got me from being unable to leave the house without full on crippling panic attacks to actually feeling sort of normal and mostly comfortable. It's so underrated much good it can really do even if it's not for everyone.

My mom is great. She doesn't understand why I post my writing online but she's more than happy to listen when I want to talk about the milestones I reached.

Me too, I get depressed for long periods of times and it will be like this for the rest of my life. Fortunately I have been in treatment for years and now I know the signs. I used to blame myself for being lazy but now I know it's a condition.

Since this apathy is part of the illness it's normal to get stuck creatively. What helped me a lot is to exercise with music that is inspiring for my comic or the project I want to think about. I just let myself go. Other than that I don't by get more creative until the serotonin starts doing it's work. In general I try to not pressure myself and let my brain heal because I tend to be super harsh.

I send you all a huge hug, stay strong

I should be more depressed than I am given my mood disorder, i'm surprised I don't feel like i'm dead inside. I'm stuck unemployed living in an unhealthy family situation. I really hope I find a job and move out, I think that will give me peace. I honestly would rather just cut ties with them than do one of the pointless "oh they weren't that bad" spiels, cause forgiveness and connection just causes you to normalize their behavior and think they'll change.

Been there. I like to remember a quote from a former agent I had in the 1980s. "Don't f**k with creativity. It never comes when you want it to."

I'm sad when people I know are depressed and I feel kind of helpless because there's really nothing I can do. But I CAN say, if you have people in your life who love you and care about you, whether friends or family or social acquaintences, you're never alone. And when you're not alone, you can get through anything.

I felt like that once last year yeah when I had creative block for 3 months and it was about solute torture for me. I couldn't write or draw anything so much so that i felt like i was going insane. i decided to go on a month hiatus because any further i would go crazier. There's always times to create and then there's where you need a break.

So I heard my people were having a party.

Sending hugs and support to everyone here.

In terms of right now... I think it's important for everyone to remember that life is really, really difficult these days, wherever in the world you may live. We're in the middle of a pandemic. The environment is doing weird and terrifying things. Various democracies are doing weird and terrifying things. Every day is a new flip of the coin.

And that means that it's more important than ever to be kind and gentle with yourself. At this point, our one job is just to survive this time as well as we can manage. We need to allow ourselves a lot of grace. We need to rest more. We need to make an effort to spend time doing the things that can make us a little bit happy, even if it's only for a short time. Treating ourselves the same way we would treat a struggling friend or family member -- with compassion -- should be the top priority.

(Brought to you by a woman who just had a small panic attack about the 2020 U.S. election and spent two-and-a-half hours hashing out all the feelings with a friend.)

Twitter was a mistake in general and this time in particular.

I’m not sure if creative people get more depressed than others. But from my perspective, it is a state of mind that comes with.

I feel it is a Yin and Yang. Maybe it is like athletes, you can't run all the time without hurting your muscles.
Me, I use my muscle called the brain, and I can't be creative all the time without burning out. And with that comes depression.

I live with this all the time. I know that the sun will shine after the rain. I know I will burn out and I know depression will pass and I will be back in the game.

I just need to focus on the positive side of life. When I’m down I look forward to when it is over and not focus on the pain, if I do that I will only stay longer in the depression.

Me too. On medication at the moment: Sertraline and Mirtazapine. Since then I work on my comic. I have not drawn for 30 years. I know what I am drawing from. From life experiences and from the view of a scientist

I am depressed... all the time honestly, but when it's particularly bad (like recently) my creativity just turns off, and the only activities my brain will kindly allow are crying and passing time with something that requires 0 mental effort. (eg. mindlessly scrolling social media, playing stupid games on my phone, aimless internet browsing)
I have pretty much no friends and my family either doesn't care or is even worse off so I can only count on myself for support and motivating myself, and of course it's super-reliable...
How do people even make vent art??? You don't become a different person, completely unable to do anything art-related, when your mood hits the "I wish I were dead" point???
The only thing I can do is try to make as much art as I can in between depressive episodes, but it's very easy to turn this short downtime into a longer artblock - I stop drawing for two days, I might as well stop it for life.

I was diagnosed with Major Depression when I was a 10, so it is sort of something I dealt with most of my life. I have had little luck with medication with some not working or causing really bad side effects.

I never found therapy helpful. I am poor so my selection is limited and most don’t have a good background knowledge to deal with someone like me.

What I mostly do is just keep myself distracted, so I don’t have to think about it. However, I think most of my depression is rooted in being lonely and feeling rejected from society. So I like to write about people finding connections and friends.

I feel you @mbindhammer I feel you.
I have the diagnose ADD (that's ADHD without the H) meaning that my brain is newer shutting down. I get meds and it helps me to not burn out that much.

Wish you the best.

Same to you. Like I wrote in my comic, episode "No filter". I have lost the ability to see the world through a filter. Everything collapses upon me unfiltered. I have a wife who loves me and a daughter, but I cannot stop the self-destruction. Maybe we should show our art here, which was created during such crises. That would interest me.

I don't have depression but I do have Schizoaffective which causes depressive episodes. I can empathize with you all because it can be hard. I'm a bit of the opposite where I retreat into my art and writing because I find it comforting. I've had people take advantage of my vulnerable states in the past to use me for various things and it hurts because I always just wanted friends and to share my stuff. That's all.

Luckily nowadays I have a close group of friends who I get to speak with almost every day. And I've been with the same boyo for over ten years. (He's not on here, but I love you, Mike! ) I did most of my suffering it feels like in middle school and high school lol. Back when everyone was catty and immature.