There are so many misconceptions about depression. People often believe that depression is a choice to be pessimistic, lazy or is simply a negative personality trait. It’s not. People also think that depressed people are seeking attention. They assume that if the person looks to the bright side of life or get out of the house all will be well. Thinking comes from not knowing. Not knowing a sign of ignorance and lack awareness. The one thing social media has done is provide a platform to those who think they can just invite themselves to have conversations on topics and issues they share no expertise, no formal training and aren’t qualified to have. So, instead of good dialog where we are asking questions and seeking answers and solutions, you just have feeds and pages of loud noise everywhere where everyone is shouting their beliefs.
Depression is very, very frightening. It is a monster that follows you everywhere you go. Indoors and outdoors. It can be covered up with a smile and even laughter but it doesn’t make it go away. You can’t concentrate. There are even times when others speak and you can’t hear them because the voices that are your own thoughts in your head tunes them out. Sometimes they notice and sometimes they don’t. When they do notice, they can’t quite put their finger on what’s wrong with you. Imagine a cold, isolated, dark hole where only you sit every single day being stripped mentally of everything until you are left feeling completely powerless. As someone who once suffered from depression, I can tell you that it’s like trying to breath under water. There are good days and bad days and the bad days make you question why you even exist. You feel worthless. You don’t have the energy to do anything and socializing becomes a chore that you hate. All you want to do is be alone and sleep. Sleep and cry. Sleep until you die. Or, just die. When you do finally get the courage to recognize your illness and seek help, it’s not an overnight fix. My depression lasted nearly four years. I was on three different medications. It’s a trial and error thing. Some work until they don’t anymore. Some don’t work at all. Some give you unbearable side affects, like terrible nightmares where you wake up screaming. Others screw up your short-term memory or make you numb to any feeling. You don’t always know they’ve stopped being effective until you become debilitated by depression again. Trying to explain how you feel to other people is pointless, because although people who have never suffered through chronic depression say they understand, they really don’t. They couldn’t possibly.
What people who don’t suffer from depression should do is recognize that depression is a genuine mental illness. It can be mild or chronic. It’s not a mood swing. It’s not about being sad all of the time. Depression affects the entire body not just the mind or spirit. There are around 16.1 million adults aged 18 years or older in the U.S. who had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the year 2015 alone, which represented 6.7 percent of all American adults. Rates of youth depression increased from 8.5% in 2011 to 11.1% in 2014. Do you honestly believe that such individuals fell into depression because they don’t have any friends or just need to get out of the house?
