Everything in Life Feels Pointless

Reader’s Question

What do you do if everything in this life feels pointless becuase of your inevitable death? Nothing seems worth doing, no goal worth accomplishing. I just feel like nothing I can do in this life will hold any significance past this life.

This feeling robs me of my movitvation, desire, and willpower. I’m 27 years old. I probably have been suffering from some level of depression since I was about 13 but have always refused help. I probably also suffer from some level of anxiety disorder but I have learned to live with it. Both are self diagnosed, and I’m no doctor but I would bet on it.

Possible related — I don’t really fear anything but death. I don’t feel empathy, compassion, remorse, pity, or sympathy.

Our Clinical Psychologist’s Reply

I think your self-diagnosis is correct. You are describing a chronic depression and anxiety disorder. When you mention that you’ve learned to live with it — that’s only partially correct. In truth, you’ve made accommodations and limited your life trying to cope with the symptoms. People often think they’ve learned to live with depression — but they’ve really only learned to avoid people, decrease their life and activities, and take an attitude that they have no future or hope. The depression remains alive and well. We don’t fix a broken leg by not walking on it.

Chronic depression produces all the symptoms you mentioned. We also have treatment available for depression and anxiety disorders. Treatment is not difficult and includes the use of medication for the physical symptoms of depression (fatigue, sleep/appetite problems, no motivation, apathy, numb feelings, etc.) and counseling to address the attitudes and low self-esteem.

Treatment should be available in your community. You can often contact your family physician as a starting point. I’d recommend reading articles on this website about depression. There are also thousands of articles and references on the Internet on this topic.

At the age of 27 and with depression since age 13 — we actually haven’t seen the real and emotionally healthy you. I think you’ll be surprised at who comes out. It’s quite an adventure. As your depression lifts a variety of opportunities will appear. There are very few opportunities at the bottom of a hole but once you’re out, the world can be explored. Begin your treatment and remember, it’s an adventure!