Depression Awareness

Depression is a hard topic to talk about in general. People who suffer from depression most of the time have another mental illness or disorder along with it.

"350 million people worldwide suffer from depression."

Most people say that depression is just depression and that there is no difference between the types of depression. Well, to tell you the truth, there is. There is:

• Major depression
• Persistent depressive disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
• Psychotic depression
• Peripartum (postpartum) depression
• "Situational" depression, and many more, but that is just to name a few.

People all around the world will experience some sort of depression in their lives. It affects their lifestyles and also the way they think. I do struggle a lot with depression, so this subject comes from a personal part of me. Depression takes over your thoughts, your life, and it feels like you are drowning and no one around can see or help you. That is why people are scared to come out and tell the people around them that they have depression because they fear they will be judged and not helped. I even fear that people will treat me differently and label me as the depressed kid. But I will tell you this. You are not alone. I too suffer from depression and many other mental illnesses.

Depression is hard to handle because you feel as though you are physically and emotionally drained. A good way to explain it is that you have no motivation in order to do anything you need to do. All you want to do is sit around and not do anything—maybe at the most listen to music or watch TV. Many sufferers tend to sleep a lot more when they are depressed. They change how they act because depression is something that takes over your life and you don’t know what to do to change it. There is a difference in between people of how they act. Different people act differently depending on the type of depression.

At times, depression can change your whole personality. For example, at school, I used to be this social person who was always trying to find the best in things or the positive, including trying to find the silver lining. Last year when the depression hit me hard, I pulled away from a lot of people. I didn’t want to talk to them. I have zero self-esteem to help me through the day. All of my thoughts were dark and things that people that knew me would say aren’t true, but my mind would be certain that it was true. The longer the depression lasted, the more I felt like I didn’t matter and that I had no reason to live. I couldn’t tell anyone I had depression because I would be labeled as the goth or emo kid that no one likes. The depression started to eat away at my used-to-be bright and shining personality. My mind was dead set on me not being good enough and just a waste of time. After about a year of having depression really bad, I found myself making plans to kill myself. To this day, I still struggle with depression. It is one of my demons that I live with. That is my experience with depression.

It’s not something to joke about or something to laugh at and make fun of someone who has depression. Depression is a struggle to live with. You are constantly feeling like you are having to fight your brain to find the actual truth in the world. That is why depression is such a hard mental disorder to live with.

If you need to talk, share your story, need the support, or just to read other people's experiences, look at my website my description or email me at [email protected].

~Natalie Christensen