While most people assume that when someone is depressed they are just overly sad or upset/mad at the world that’s almost never really the case. The worst part of depression is the lack of feeling anything at all, to be completely honest. That lack of feeling anything is something that out of all the people with depression most face and can resonate with when truly speaking and opening up with one another.
Depression can take away so much from a person, whether you’re able to see that or not. It doesn’t just make someone sit at home and cry. Sometimes it makes them lie in bed wondering if existing is even an option for them anymore unable to escape the numb within and other times it forces them to put a smile on their faces and go to work all the while wanting to break down and scream to high heavens just to try and release some of whatever is going on in their minds.
Depression might not be something you can see or touch but most people forget that for many it is also not something you can feel. The lack of feeling is in its self how you know that what you’re facing is depression. Sure, that might sound a bit dramatic but if you’ve faced this kind of demon you know exactly how real it is.
When you’re depressed rather than feeling things as you should be you’re only able to think back and remember the moments in your past where you were able to feel. Things that once brought you joy don’t matter to you at all anymore and you don’t often even have the energy to engage in those things whether you want to or not.
This kind of mental illness can hide itself or it can make its presence known. You can ignore it sometimes and other times you won’t even be able to blink without it beating you down. It is like nothing else and all the while even not like itself depending on who you’re asking.
A blog post on PsychCentral I recently came across got me thinking about this in a lot of ways and as follows really spoke to me:
Depression is fundamentally a uniquely personal experience which is often lonely and bleak. It rarely makes sense. Every choice you make seems like the worst choice ever and withdrawing from the world seems like the best option. These are exactly the reasons why getting support is important. Don’t wait. Do it now.
All of that is true, depression doesn’t make sense, no sense at all actually. It comes into a person’s life and kicks everything out of whack. It makes getting help feel impossible and leaves those affected either forced to try to move through life in the hopes that it will get better, shutting down, or being fortunate enough to find help and gain support to get better. There is a very deep lack of clarity within this mental illness in itself that makes it quite dangerous.
In this world we live in mental health needs to be brought to the forefront and people need to be educated. For more information on depression please check out the video below. Things might feel complicated and inescapable, but they are something you can overcome, no matter who you are or how you’re feeling (or not feeling).
Sources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007
https://psychcentral.com/blog/depression-is-different-for-everyone/