Hello..My name is Depression

Depression. A commonly mistaken illn male depression ess that gets a lot of stick.

Many people believe that depression is an excuse for individuals to be lazy or negative for long periods of time. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the truth.

In reality, depression is a serious illness that at its severity, it can cause a person to attempt or commit suicide if not treated appropriately.

Being depressed is commonly mistaken for depression, although the two do intertwine. Being depressed (from both personal experience and knowledge) is momentarily, such as the feeling of anger.

For a moment, you are down, but you are able to get back into the normal habits of life without the need of any intervention. Depression is often triggered by negative experiences or setbacks such as family loss, job loss, poverty, relationship breakdown , childhood trauma or the feelings of inadequacy. How people respond or react to their experiences with depression varies.

Depression often takes you to a place of loneliness, anxiety, stress, worry and worthlessness even when they have large group of friends or family members around them. I cannot speak for everyone and how their depression starts, but it often involves lack of self worth or not wanting to exist. It is not necessarily in the same form of being suicidal, yet within yourself you just don’t want to exist. The beginning stages of depression isn’t traumatic because you may believe you are just going through a phase which will eventually end. This is what we call being depressed. Depression, on the other hand, is like a sinking hole that gets deeper and deeper from the seclusion of family, friends and lack of motivation to get out. Depression makes you indifferent , you no longer care for the things that once made you happy and ultimately, you become numb.

How people respond to depression are all different but here are some of the ways I found via Mental Health Foundation:

Tiredness and loss of energy.
Sadness that doesn’t go away.
Loss of self-confidence and self-esteem.
Difficulty concentrating.
Not being able to enjoy things that are usually pleasurable or interesting.
Feeling anxious all the time.
Avoiding other people, sometimes even your close friends.
Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
Sleeping problems – difficulties in getting off to sleep or waking up much earlier than usual.
Very strong feelings of guilt or worthlessness.
Finding it hard to function at work/college/school.
Loss of appetite.
Loss of sex drive and/or sexual problems.
Physical aches and pains.
Thinking about suicide and death.
Self-harm

A lot of people often wonder how can someone stay low for months or years because of one traumatic experience. No two person’s are alike and how we each deal with our personal situations varies. You may be in a place now where you are going through this or you have a close family or friend.

To the person suffering in silence, please speak up. I know you may not feel as though you can trust anyone but you have to tell someone. If it is calling an anonymous line then do so. One major thing I learnt whilst going through my depressions was that in the moments I spoke to someone, I knew I wasn’t alone. Even in the moments where I truly didn’t want to speak or hear another voice, I forced myself to because I knew that the suicidal thoughts would slowly turn into attempts.

If you know someone who is suffering, please don’t let them suffer alone. Some phrases that may help this individual are ”How may I help you?”, ”How are you doing today?” ”How are you feeling?” “Is there anything I can do to support you?” BUT PLEASE, pretty please refrain from the ”Don’t worry, you’ll be fine”, “I’m sure you’ve got this”, “There are people out there who are going through worse” “Be grateful that you’re still alive”. Comments such as these are highly condescending and will probably push that individual away from speaking to you any further. So be MINDFUL!

This isn’t everything to do with depression, but I hope this helps some of you out there.If you want anymore information, please visit these websites below which discusses in more depth about depression and any other mental health topics.

I have also added a video clip of a UK rap artist named Stormzy who discusses dealing with depression during a certain period. Please feel free to inbox me any questions or personal stories you may want to share.

Time to Change

Mental Health Choice NHS

ReThink Mental Health

If your suffering from any form of mental health not just depression please call