To make a long story short, I know that I've been depressed since I was 13. I had extremely low self-esteem and I just wanted to kill myself almost everyday. I'm almost 18 now, and my self-esteem is higher, but still lower than I care to live with. I can't remember the last time I was truely happy, and my crappy friends don't help the situation. Plus, depression runs strongly in my family; both my mom and brother have it.

What I want to know is: who did you go to first when you knew you needed to be medicated? How did you go about explaining how you were feeling (how did you word it)? How old were you when you knew what was going on? Did people not believe you at first? And what advice could you give me?

I'm really sick of not enjoying life, when that's all I'm supposed to be doing at this age.