Thank God, I had never hit rock bottom, but ofcorse
I've being in very dark places before, one of the hardest was my fathers death I was 11 when he was murder, and it was very hard to understand, and to assimilate.

I have DEFINITELY hit a very scary rock bottom. Last January I was holed up in a dinghy apartment doing drugs and sabotaging my relationships. When I started doing that one drug I said I would never do, I had a very good friend shake me up by forcing me to talk about it. Saying out loud what I had allowed my life to become came as a huge shock to me. I hated myself and everything around me.

Over the past year I have been dating the best man in the world, we got a nice place together in a nice neighborhood, and I have become an avid runner, doing 25 miles a week! I feel energetic and happy almost ALL of the time, and I'm actually grateful for everything I went through because hitting rock bottom made me realize that I could go completely in the other direction and really change my life for the better. The best advice I could give to anyone is to quit drinking and doing drugs and start eating a healthy diet and exercising every single day! I feel like a new woman!

I am at an all time low...too many things to list but would appreciate advice from those who have managed to get out.

I've been at the bottom and therapy was my salvation. It has such a bad rep these days and I truly don't understand why. Talking to someone who wasn't involved in my life at all and could give true insight and advice was very uplifting for me. That and I was on a depression/anxiety med (only while in therapy as those meds do hardly anything on their own), focused on making my body and spirit healthy. I saw the sun come out again and have been doing great since.

I hit rock bottom in my life and it's a VERY scary feeling.
I hit rock bottom with my diet, love life and friendships. I didn't know where to go or where to start first. I was confused with friendships, because women are complete superficial b*tches as well as phony and men only wanted sex with me. Ehh... I started with the diet first! And I'm back on the road to success!

I really don't know, at first thought i would say yes, but I think i still have a lot of life to live and I still think it could be worse. I can say that i have lived most of the last 6 or 7 years in an allright state sprinkled with bouts of depression. As of now I am at a new low, but at the same time I am very well. Its hard to explain. My points is that my life has hit pretty low points, after my mother's death, but i think that somehow having a steady mind has kept it from getting worse, and me from hitting rock bottom. If that makes any sense.

very recently I hit my rock bottom and I don't ever want to be there again. I thought about doing things I NEVER have before. I think I am pulling myself out, but seeing a therapist has helped.

I've hit a couple of rock bottoms. Once as a teenager, and once during my 20's. It was rough. The first time, I almost died, and the second time, I contemplated suicide. Needless to say, I pulled through okay. I'm glad those times are behind me.

Oh yeah...I was being stalked for a long time and for a minute I felt like the only way to keep my kids safe was to get rid of me or send them to their father, who they can't stand longer than a weekend. It made me want to fight though. By the time I got better I was more likely to kill him than me. And he's still out there but I made it clear it's a two-way fight. Sucks, but it happens.

Ooooh dear lord have I been there...only now have I made it through to the other side of the tunnel. And to anyone who is there right now: you WILL make it through. Just take one step at a time. For me, it was constantly downhill from the end of my senior year of high school to the end of junior year in college. Yep, about 4 years of depression. Let me tell you: There IS sun where you want to see sunlight. I would suggest exercising, reading anything and everything that catches your interest, spending time with your family, and really getting to know yourself. My rock bottom occurred from a culmination of a terrible break up with my first love, starting college, and my family moving halfway across the country. Now, almost 4 years later, I can see how much I have grown and how much I have learned...I still have so very much to learn, but all I know is that I can handle pretty much anything.

Basically, if you find that you are lost...keep your chin up, you will find yourself

Right now I am at the rock bottom, but I'm trying my best, it gets really difficult without my psychologist.

My all-time low was between December 13, 2007 through January 28, 2008, when between Christmas and New Year's I lost my very first job as a bookstore assistant in San Francisco after only three months of working there and moving all the way from the East Coast to accept the job. In December I was told "to get a jump-start on vacation," so my employers would take the time over the holidays to think about keeping me on board.

I returned to Massachusetts for two weeks, and saw my family and friends. It was supposed to be a happy time when I was proud to have a good job and be in love with my new city, new friends, and new lifestyle (which I was). Instead, over Christmas I lied through my teeth over how great things were and was just holding my breath about my fate. What was I going to do? Where would I live? I only confided the truth to a small group of people I could trust.

Meanwhile towards the end of my "break," I expressed to my employers how much I wanted to stay with my job. Then on New Year's Eve, I finally received a message from them saying that they were not optimistic about having me back. I slept early New Year's and missed the ball drop (which I love), only to catch an early flight all the way across the country on January 1st---sobbing the entire way over---to officially be fired on January 2nd.

I felt lower than I did in middle school, and I never thought I would ever feel worse than I did then. While I wanted so much to stay on the West Coast, I only arrive for a job, which didn't pay well. I asked references in my field for advice, and they said there were no choice leads out there in the Bay Area for librarians. I stayed for most of January, where it rained all the time. I unsuccessfully looked for work, but I felt like a zombie, and I found myself missing the four seasons. I didn't really feel like I was even home in Massachusetts when I was there over the holiday, so I moved back with my parents on the East Coast. It didn't last long though: that spring I received more work opportunities and moved to Washington, DC. I've been here for about six months.

That was a terrible holiday season, and the aftermath hit me hard. I find myself still recovering from it. Techinically over the course of this last year I made 5 big moves: completing grad school in NYC, moving to SF, moving back home to Boston, staying with a friend in Maryland as I started my new job, and then ultimately moving to D.C. Things are better now, but now that it's autumn again, all I can think about was how happy I was learning a new job and living in a beautiful city by the bay exactly one year ago. But while I may prefer a city like SF to DC, at least I have employment that I love and appreciate, even more than what I had in SF. It's a hard-trade off, but every experience is a part of who I am today. At least I can say that I have lived in all of these great places.

Last year was a tough year for me. After my husband had left me and went AWOL from the Navy, the downward spiral didn't stop. I was put on medication, but not put in therapy. While the medication worked TECHNICALLY, I marveled at how little I cared about ANYTHING, even things that WERE important to me. I stopped doing everything that had once meant something and spent the majority of my time sleeping. To make matters worse, the husband comes back, grovels and convinces me to leave military service when my time expired if he turned himself in. Stupidly, I complied. He moved me out to a tiny hick town in between Oklahoma and Arkansas. I had no friends, very little money, and not even a mall to retail therapy myself into faux-happiness. When he up and left again, I had next to nothing. I sold everything I could conceivably get money for, stuffed what was left into my car and drove back home to be with my family. Three weeks later, my car was reposessed. He had been keeping the payment money instead of taking it to the bank like I asked.
Finally, exactly one year later, I'm getting my life back together. I have a good job, with a caring boss who's footing the bill for my associates degree and a new apartment I'm in love with.
Everything in this world happens for a reason. Sometimes you get knocked down to raise yourself up higher than you've ever been.

Rock bottom is a place I'm familiar with, yes. I've been there twice in my life. And I was so low that I couldn't even imagine how to get myself out of it. But! When I was ready to tackle getting things straightened out, I think I already knew what needed to be done and slowly and surely I did that both times, one baby step at a time.

I'm there.

Yep, sure did. About 2 years ago, and it involved an abusive boyfriend and a lot of drugs. I completely cut off my friends and family, so they couldn't help me. It was something that I had to get out of all by myself.
I am definitely a success story though. I feel stronger than ever and I would never put myself in that situation ever again.

yes, i have. one of my worst places in life was having a family member fall deathly ill. having his life in the hands of strangers ... them giving us the run around .. i kept asking god to take my life instead of his.

in all honesty, every time i go through a major change in life (and i'm going through one right now), i feel as if i have hit "rock bottom" or at least rock bottom in a different way.

right now, i'm taking up exercising and the endorphins have helped. lol. i also have been trying new things and taking up the hobbies that i've always wanted to do, but have been afraid to do. & reevaluating my relationships .. i realize i spend way too much time wondering why people who i want to make a priority don't want to make me one. i'm learning gradually to let it go, and to love those who love me.

yes, a financial rock bottom with credit cards maxed out, student loan payments fast approaching...I am going to begin a credit counseling program so that I only make one payment a month to an agency then they pay my creditors who keep calling me all of the time! this should take about 5 years...and I am going to be on a a very very VERY strict budget that I cannot deviate from with no more shopping trips to the mall, or cable TV. I basically maxed out my credit cards because I was living away from my parents and needed to pay for my car, rent, food etc...my school intership didn't give me time to hold a full time good paying job...but now I have a good paying job that will pay those cards and my living expenses including a nice apartment car, although no more eating out twice a week and fun vacations at least for 5 years or until I get married and can split my living expenses.

I meant,"apartment,car" not "apartment car"-hopefully things don't get so bad that I have to live in my car!

I feel like I'm at rock bottom right now. I've lost the capacity to care about anything, and although I know that I'm not being fair to my loved ones I can't seem to make one right move. I really need help. I'm too tired to even cry.

I'm there.

I am at my rock bottom now. My boyfriend of three years has giving me an ultimatum to change my obsessive and jealous behavior or he is leaving me. He could have just left me but is giving me a chance to work on ME for us.....but I am petrified he will leave. Here is the letter he wrote me this morning:

Ok. After the nightmare of yesterday I think its time we take a breather from each other.
Lets communicate here for a few weeks. Its for the best.
Do us both a favor and use your head this time. Dont freak, just go and get your head together and I'll be here, ok.
Sorry it has to be like this, but it does.
Im not taking anymore of the pain.

Maybe a few weeks will give you a chance to figure out what you want. If not, then we'll go our own ways, honey.
If you need longer, take it.
If you truly look at yourself and decide you want to be healthy and happy, then we can have one LAST chance. Otherwise Im moving on with my life Tina. I hope you understand. I'll never be the guy you once made me.
The way things are I could wealk away and never look back.

Its up to you now.
If you decide to not get help and take my advice in getting a life and a social circle, please dont bother to contact me. The trying part is no longer going to be acceptable to me. And if you need months you TAKE THEM.

I'll know if your bullsh*tting me. If I see the same behaviour from you ever again Im gone. I hope you know I mean it.
What love I have for you is fading very fast. Your stealing it from me and have been since we met. And Im ready now to move on in life alone. At this point its more appealing to me to walk alone.

The question you have to ask yourself is..how did I get to this point.

We may have a chance, but Im not a fool, and Ive given you HUNDREDS of chances.
Go find yourself and I'll be here if and when you do.

Thats the best I can offer..

I married young, at 21. Within 2 months I was pregnant with my son. In my youthful naivety, I expected that just because we were married we would be together forever. I tried to be the perfect little housewife, and I expected perfection from my husband. He was working a menial job in a fast food restaurant. Our little family was living with his parents at the time, and my husband hated it. I didn't like it very much either, but tried to keep silent about my frustrations. Because I was not talking about the things that were bothering me, I became depressed and started having panic attacks. My husband tried to talk about the things bothering him, but I told him that things would work themselves out. We did not have a plan to get ourselves on our feet. His stress caused him to lash out in the same way that his father had done when my husband was a child. He found a girlfriend. I discovered the affair when my husband decided to not come home one night. When I tracked him down he let me know that the only time he was coming home was to get his stuff. All of a sudden my life had been pulled out from under me. About a month later, I finally broke. I started cutting my legs with a butterfly knife. My mother in law, who I was still living with, woke up to my crying and called an ambulance. I spent 2 weeks in a state mental hospital with about 10 other people who had hit the lowest point in their lives.

When I took my first breath of fresh air after checking out of the hospital, I vowed to change my life. I accepted that happiness in life requires work. I worked on fixing myself for about six months. My husbands affair lasted about a year, and when she left him for another man he came to the one person who he knew could trust forever. We have been back together for over 5 years now and have learned a lot from the things that happened. He is working a great job, we have just moved into a home of our own. I have gone back to school, and in a few years I will be a licenced psychotherapist. Helping others gives me such a sense of fulfillment.

Hitting the bottom and then finding the way out was an eye opening experience for me. I would not wish it on my worst enemy, but if it happens to you, try to find the lessons in it and use them to shape the rest of your life.

((((irishvixen)))) what a story...inspiring to me actually. I also married young (18) and had my first baby at 19, my 2nd at 21. My first husband also cheated and ended up leaving me for her(a stripper, lots of drugs and partying). I was so low. I didn't hit rock bottom like you did, but it was bad. I had such a supportive family and group of friends thankfully. And, even at my age (39) I am thinking of going back to school for psychology. Have been thinking abiout doing it for years actually. LOTS OF LUCK!!!!!

I want to study medicine and need an extremely good GPA. In my home country class rank doesn't matter. It's only the marks of the final two years (grade 12 and 13).
Thing is, my school is known for giving bad marks - I was one of the top students and still had average marks. I was doing great at school (in comparison with my classmates), but I wasn't good enough.
It was such a pressure. I was constantly worried and unhappy. I didn't sleep. I drank too much coffee. I ate too much.
Then my beloved cat disappeared. My mother had to undergo another surgery. Everything went wrong. I was on the brink of a breakdown.

I finally decided to retake 12th grade and spend my summer holidays doing nothing at all.
I've lost 30lbs within the past few weeks and want to lose more weight until my birthday in January. I wouldn't say my life is perfect now, but I'm much more relaxed and I even feel happy every once in a while =)

I am in the process of hitting rock bottom. I have done it before, and I know it will be a tough and long road back to the top, but I just keep telling myself to take it one day at a time, and I keep hoping that everything will work out for the best, even if I don't see it right away. Here we go. -sigh-

I've hit rock bottom before. I never did drugs or anything like that, but one of my friends (who is a friend no longer) stabbed me so hard in the back that it crushed me. Before that experience, I never thought I had the capacity to feel so low and depressed. It scares me whenever I think back to it, I never want to reach that point again.

I got put on antidepressants and go to therapy. It's really not as bad as people think it is. But it really is an ongoing recovery process, almost like people who go to rehab for drinking and drugs. I still have ups and downs. I don't think I'll ever be the same as before my breaking point happened.

i hit rock bottom last winter...he started creeping up slowly in february and by april i was a complete mess (depressed, crying all the time, felt extremely helpless, nothing was enjoyable) and i wasn't able to pull myself out of it until like july!

and when i say rock bottom i mean BAD. i was seriously doubting my ability to do my job - even when everyone around me at work had nothing but great things to say about my work. i almost quit my job and went to work in starbucks (not that there's anything wrong with that at all...but that would have been a complete change for me, not to mention a $40k pay cut).

i started going back to therapy and over time i realized it was the girl who was working under me that was severely damaging my self esteem. it was shocking and confusing that someone could have such an affect on me! but like i said, over a few month i finally overcame it.

has anyone else ever had a similar thing happen to them??

I've hit true rock bottom twice(had suicide planned out completely), and am currently close to hitting it again. I was doing drugs(which I stopped in June). I was put on antidepressants and I started feeling better than I had in years. But, I haven't been able to afford them, so my mood has crashed.

I'm self injuring again (after having stopped for a good while). I can't bring myself to really care about my studies. I keep thinking I'll most likely kill myself before I finish school, so why bother studying? I live with my parents, and they constantly fight about their money problems. I can't really do anything to help and it further stresses me out. I just wish I could stop thinking about all of this. I've started thinking how best to end it: my worthless feeling or my life. I don't know anymore.

I started partying way too hard, and I didn't seem to realize it.
So one night I went clubbing with some people from college I had never gone out with before,and even though I recall drinking less than usual the following morning I woke up with bruises spread all over my body and couldn't remember anything. When I came out of my room I noticed only mom was home.
She asked who had brought me home and dropped me at the door and why was I crying so hard (I didnt understand why she was asking, I didn't even remember crying) she then told me I had forgotten my keys and when she opened the door, I threw myself to the ground and started crying like crazy and wouldn't stop. that it took her and dad about an hour to take me to my room, put my pj's and get me to sleep. Then it turned out I had first tried to come into a neighboor's apartment (I live in a building) thinking it was mine so the guys from security first wanted to throw me out of the building and then when they finally understood what was I saying they had to take me to the right one. By that moment I had already thrown up my building's lobby. (And when I woke up I was wishing my parents hadnt noticed I had drunk!!!!) To make matters even worse I asked her where dad and my brother were and she told me dad had taken him for detoxification at the hospital cuz my brother had gone to a bar and someone put something in his drink and stole everything from him.

To me... that was just way overwhelming because I never got to know where I got the bruises from (I've always ended up with some on my knees... but this time they were all over my body!) or why was I so upset! and that happening to my brother the same night...
After that I realized I didn't need to drink that much when going out to have fun. I still go out, and even have a drink but in a measured way, that night really changed me.
My parent were always complaining about my brother and I partying too hard and the same night, both finally understood.

I know exactly how it is a saw the headline and I did not even read the rest I just had to comment. I am fed up with every time I meet a guy and conversation is great, but the guy is willing to pull out instead of making a relationship work. It can be annoying, but I keep trying and one day I will meet that one guy. I am not saying that I sleep with any guy that come my way, but every guy their has being something, but they never want to go all the way in to a relationship with me. So I have gotten tired especially after my couple of days relationship with this guy who decides to move a hour away from me with his ex after coming back from Vegas. The thing that pisses me off is that he does not tell me and I find out from a friend.

Absolutely. Two years ago when my older brother (my only sibling and best friend) committed suicide. I was also dealing with two chronic pain illnesses (that have become worse since then) and I tried to end my life. I'm so thankful I'm still here, but at 22 years old, I've been through what some may experience in a lifetime already...

I hit rock bottom sometime between the third year of my last relationship and after we broke up. I was doing drugs, ignoring my responsibilities and feeling suicidal on and off. I'm sure I contributed to our relationship problems but I was also deeply unhappy in the relationship and I'm grateful we decided to end it. I have much better self-esteem now; I realize he consistently undermined me and lacked respect for me. I hit real rock bottom in June with drugs and diet. Therapy helped a lot, as did reconnecting with friends, starting an exercise program, traveling overseas, and meeting a new love who is fantastic. (The latter happened soon, but with someone I knew for a long time.)

I think I just hit it and finally have realized that. I have been drinking every night and after getting super drunk the other night, and getting into an argument with my brother, that this is not the person I want to be. I am fully committed to making the changes necessary in my life to insure my own happiness. My whole life has revolved around my family. My happiness was determined by them and whether or not they approved of me. I can't live my life like this anymore. I need to focus on me and let all the others fade.

I have never LET myself hit rock bottom, because too many people depend on me and i cannot afford to do that. There are ways to recognize going down that path and to divert hitting rock bottom, counseling, family, warning signs.

I have hit rock bottom a couple of times emotionally and its bad bcus i suppress everything so unless ur super close to me u cant even tell. The last time my parents were even goign to pull me out of college and they didnt even have any idea..they just thought i wasnt eating properly lol..i completely snapped and refocused but I have been trying to stop myself from reliving that lately..i dont want to go there again!

I HIT ROCK BOTTOM LIKE 4 YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS AN ADDICT.
I WAS ABOUT O LOOSE MY LIFE AND FAMILY.
LUCKILY I SURVIVED AND NEVER LOOKED BACK.

I hit hard once, about 8 years ago, after one of the few members of my family that I actually cared about committed suicide. I barely functioned for months, went to work and stared at the computer screen, came home and ignored the outside world. Started having anxiety attacks. I finally realized that my job was in danger and that I wasn't doing my young child any favors. Not to mention that my relationship with my then-boyfriend, now-husband was in shambles. I'll never know exactly how, but I pulled myself back up again. Sadly, I think denial has a lot do to with it, and I probably could do with some therapy, even after all these years.

i have, one big time, i was living on two opposite extremes, which can be damn near impossible, as time proved. i had also had this run when i was younger, but when i was younger i had yet to fail at anything so i still thought it was impossible.

i think the advice that led me out of it is to watch out for illusions, the differences between how you are seeing your life and how life is really going. the sooner you catch yourself falling into or believing an illusion, the faster you can run away from landsliding into rock bottom.