How can I stop letting my depression make me feel like a burden to others?

You are responsible for your own feelings, not the feelings of others. This is a difficult lesson to grasp and learn, but it's incredibly valuable. If other people are burdened by your depression, try to not blame yourself. Depression is hard enough as it is, focus on getting better and surround yourself with people who will support you in the journey to healing.

You can't stop it until you recognize that your feelings are not always reflective of the truth. Feeling like a burden does not make you one. Depression is the burden in this scenario, not you. You cannot give someone your feelings and depression, you can merely share them. It is their choice to help carry the load, and often, they may ask you to help carry their load. Neither of you are the burden- you are both the support.

Try and find things you bring to the table in a given relationship. I'm a great baker, and so I try to make treats for others. I'm also a great listener, so here I am on this site, trying to help others, even while I fight my own battles!

It can be tough, but you must realize that those others, the ones you care about, care about you too. If you are feeling down they will want to help you. You are not a burden. You are their friend.

Know that you are important to so many people, including myself. I want you to be safe and happy. You are worth so much more than you can even imagine. People care about you.

You need to understand that even though it feels like it, you are not a burden. You have a mental disorder that you are working through and you are in no way a burden because of it. Try talking to someone you trust about your concerns.

You are not your illness; learn this (I'm working on learning this, too). So even if your depression's a burden on others, you certainly aren't. You can help others, you can help yourself, you can contribute to your world and to your community, friends, family, etc. even when you have a depression that might demand a lot from other people. Again, you are not your illness, so even if depression is a burden, you certainly are not. People appreciate you and benefit from your existence (if you doubt this, go ahead & do something nice today to counter that). Depression may be your burden to bear, but you will never be a burden. (Lastly, surround yourself with positive, supportive, loving people if you can, because they can remind you of how much they want to support you.) Now go prove your depression wrong -- I believe in you!

You have to show yourself some compassion and try to refrain from negative and critical self-talk. Understand that you are very much in your own feelings and projecting your feelings onto others. They most likely do not feel as if you are a burden.

One of the things about depression is that, it tends to make you feel like it should be your issue and your issue alone; that's just not true, however. Often times people enjoy your company, depressed or not. I've found that there is no such things as "friends out of being morally obliged". If someone is your friend and seems to actually enjoy you being with them, then I guarantee you are no form of burden.

dont ever think your depression is a burden to others. the real burden is when someone makes you feel like it is your fault, which it isnt. asking for help or advice is the best thing you can do to help yourself feel better sometimes. sometimes the key to overcoming depression is to just talk to someone you love. if you feel you are really burdening the people around you, maybe a therapist would be beneficial to you. best of luck!

Find an activity that interests you and get active, it'll be hard, so you can try starting with something you feel comfortable in. By trying something new you'll recognise that you can enrich yourself for yourself without having to judge yourself by how much you matter to others. You'll feel pride in yourself.

Know that you are not a burden you are a strong person fighting a hard battle, loved ones do not understand this sometimes but you must be compassionate to them even though they do not understand and know that they still care for you

Stop thinking about what others think, and begin to focus on your own health. If people get tired or annoyed with you because you're struggling, they aren't people you would necessarily want in your life. You would need to reconsider what kind of people you surround yourself with. Positive people have a positive impact on you.

Get over with the negative thoughts. Stand by your own and prove to them that you can do what they can. Stay positive!

I think this is a hard one, from my own experience I always feel/felt that I was a burden to everyone, I think the best way around this is to talk to the people in question and tell them how you feel and trust in their answers to you. I often tell my trusted friends when I am "having a moment" and they ensure to keep me focused and remind me im not a burden and they are there to help.

Picture the situation in the reverse: If one of your good friends was depressed, would they feel like a burden to you? Of course not. Other people care about you, and you aren't being a burden. Depression distorts your own perceptions of yourself, and you are not worthy of blame.

By keeping myself busy, helping others instead of focusing with my own problems and my own self... Life is too short to just worry about just myself alone. There's a bigger world out there that would be needing my existence too.

Unfortunately a symptom of depression is feeling guilty about having depression. The only thing you can do is get help for your depression which will in itself help with how you feel about your condition. Counselling may help, talking through how you feel. Also mindfulness can help with your thought process. The short meditation techniques can help ground you and stop you obsessing about things. Mental illness is like a physical illness and will need support so you shouldn't feel guilty. All you can do is make sure you are doing everything you can do to get all the help that is available to you. There is nothing more you can do.

This can be a difficult feeling to go through. Often those who aren't dealing with depression don't know how we are feeling or how to help. Perhaps seeking help through counseling or therapy can help you cope with your feelings. You could maybe even try to incorporate those closest to you to help them give you a better understanding.

Truth be told, it's hard, depression is not easy to rationalise with. You have to remember, though the people who you think you are burdening, the ones who are sticking around are the ones that are going to be there to help you.