I'm going to piggyback the top comments here to add my story for anyone that it might help.
I had my first mental breakdown at 13. I came from a religious family and dealt with very serious bullying from the moment I started public school to the time I was pulled out into homeschooling at 12.
I was awkward, nerdy and doofy looking. People would come up to me at school to tell me I looked retarded. My only friends made me promise not to tell anyone that we were friends and would openly mock me when their peers were around.
Homeschooling put me into isolation and loneliness. My only siblings were older than me with my brother living with a foster family instead of my folks after my dad left his mother.
I became deeply religious which only made my issues worse. I felt that God himself had no interest in me and at 13 I decided that my only way to redeem myself was to sink into deeper isolation and I refused to speak to anyone for over a year out of soom sense of self redemption.
My parents were very religious and dead set against psychological help or medication so my only therapists were my pastors who tried their best to steer me towards a doctor but my folks wouldn't budge.
At 16 I started working at a grocery store in town. Immediately I dealt with mockery and bullying from my coworkers. Girls would tease me and pretend to be interested in me just to make fun of me.
I met a few friends there. One tried to invite me to a party but his friends told them that I'd scare the girls away because I was weird. I started drinking at 17 but didn't enjoy it and ended up losing my virginity in a bad way.
I dealt with constant self esteem problems and thoughts of suicide. My dad was a cop so his friends kept the physical bullying at bay-they'd pull the local teenagers aside who were making my life hell and warn them to stay away.
At 19 I got a job in the city. At this point I felt so low that I was a constant state of depression and had turned my back on religion. I was afraid of everything but was determined to beat this problem.
Suddenly I began meeting new people who didn't know my past. I met girls who took interest in me and eventually started dating. Life became very different-I had gotten away from the town and people who had haunted me my whole life and I realized that this image I had built of myself was an illusion created by cruel kids in small town cliques. I wasn't hideous or undesirable, I was just an easy target.
I got engaged to a girl at 21. We were together for 3 years before my issues started surfacing again-my paranoia and distrust cost me my relationship and my job.
At this point I sunk into deep depression and realized that alcohol stopped the feelings. From 24 to 29 I was a major alcoholic who had multiple amazing jobs that all disappeared because my anxiety was out of control. I was constantly afraid that my managers and coworkers were out to get my fired so I skipped from one place to the other until I ended up in a bad place making very little money.
Last year I lost a mutual friend to a car accident. I began daily drinking and stopped socializing much. Then, a few months ago, my niece was nearly killed in a car accident. We watched the doctors give up on her and it took weeks for her to wake up and come to.
Two months ago I developed serious health problems and determined to stop the cycle. I had seen multiple doctors who all brushed my issues aside and saw me as a pill seeker asking for some kind of medication.
Finally, 6 weeks ago I found a doctor who prescribed me an SSRI and some temporary anxiety medication. My life is completely different-I'm 6 weeks sober for the first time in my life and finally have a clear head. Even facing some potential daunting health problems I'm calm and optimistic and all it took was a 30 minute session with a caring doc.
The tl;dr of this is that depression is a very powerful illusion. Despite all of things people and my mind told me, I always had the opportunity to live a normal life and be happy. It was never hopeless and I accomplished many things I felt were impossible for me but I also neglected to deal with some very real psychological problems.
Here's what I found. Don't let others define your self image. Work out, be active-physical exercise made a huge difference in my life. It both kept my problems at bay and improved my self image.
But when all else failed, medication did what I couldn't and put me over the mountain that I needed to cross.
Life will get better if you allow and seek the help available. It's not hopeless.