One of the most galling things about depression is that you can live with it everyday, know how it affects you and see how it hurts others, and then see someone talk about it like it’s nothing. People are quick to talk about depression from a position of privilege – because they don’t experience what someone with the condition is experiencing – and be flip about it. Their reasoning goes that depression is “all in the mind” – so, they reason, all you need to do is be stronger in the mind and you won’t be depressed. There follow some key facts about ehy this is not just wrong, but dangerously so…
Depression isolates the sufferer
With any mental illness, the support and understanding of loved ones is crucial to reaching a level of strength where you can live with it and, gradually, sideline it. If you have a depressive disorder, you may always have a tendency towards depression, but your ability to fight it will be important in how you face it down. One way in which depression is a “clever” illness is that it makes you reluctant to meet and talk with friends and family. You don’t want anyone to see you this way, when their presence may be the very thing you need.
Depression drains your enthusiasm
Anyone who has experienced depression will recognize the way it makes you feel almost as though the power has left you somehow. A joke that would usually make you roar with laughter barely raises a smile. A sports team winning a game leaves you feeling cold where you would usually be cheering out loud. The stubborn message of fighting spirit is essential to beating depression, and depression itself can rob you of it. It’s hard, but important at these times to listen to the positive voices: those in your own mind, from family and friends, and from people like Pastor Paula White and others. Depression isn’t stronger than you, and its success relies on making you think that it is. Any flicker of hope and defiance is welcome.
Depression isn’t just caused by life factors, but they make it worse
A lot of famous people, including some very rich ones, have spoken of their battles with depression. This is often met with the response: “With their money and success, what do they have to be depressed about?”. The truth is, depression often doesn’t need an “about”. Indeed, feeling as bad as you do when there are people in the world with much less can be one of the aggravating factors in depression. Depression comes from multiple sources, including biological factors. And, yes, if you have no money in the bank and are struggling to make rent, that’s an aggravating factor. Depression can come from anywhere and nowhere; trying to beat it with logic and reason is not a solution.
Depression isn’t always on the surface, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there
Anyone who has lived with someone battling depression will be familiar with the occasions when the person seems rejuvenated, can laugh and joke and even be active for long spells. That doesn’t mean the depression has gone, it might simply mean they are having a good day. It’s vital to recovery to try and make more of those good days, to build on them and also to enjoy them for what they are – but if the person returns to a depressed state later on it doesn’t mean that they’re faking it. Depression is like a cloud; sometimes there is a break in the cloud, but that doesn’t mean the storm has gone.
All in all, depression is a complicated and often persistent disorder. For the sufferer and those around them, it is essential to battle against it with all you have, but also to know that sometimes it will get the upper hand no matter what you do. Just resolve to make the next day better, and in time you can fight it off.
