Day five of the Happiness Diaries and this post is going to be about a subject that certain people feel uncomfortable talking about, a subject people ignore and put it down to 'a bad day' and a subject that needs more attention. The subject I'm going to be talking about today is Depression.
A common misconception of 'Depression' is when someone is sad because they had a fight with their girlfriend or boyfriend, they didn't get the job they wanted or they just felt sad. Now this emotion some people think of as Depression is just the natural human emotion of sadness. Now real depression is nothing like that, anyone can have Depression, the happiest person you know could have it, the person you speak to everyday who seems to have their life in order could have it and this is why it needs to be talked about more because the most ordinary person in the world could get this disease and be suffering alone. Now, I know a lot about this illness because I have it. I know the pain of people who have it or the people who are no longer with their family or their friends because they committed suicide, I've been to those dark places and I've tried to harm myself and I know it's a very serious problem that can't be put down to 'Oh, you're just having a bad day, you'll feel better if you got out of bed'. This issue that many people don't see as an issue is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds, every 30 seconds someone somewhere takes their own life because of Depression and it's happening every single day. This needs to stop.
The stigma of Depression in society is ignorance, it doesn't understand how people feel, what people go through, it pushes the problem under the rug and leaves people who suffer from this sickness on their own. We live in a society where if someone breaks their arm, everyone runs to sign their cast and sends them get well soon cards and we live in a society where is someone says they are have Depression, everyone looks the other way, they are segregated from people they thought were their friends, they are not taken seriously, told to 'Pull yourself together, push past this, you're not depressed you're just lazy' and made to feel stupid and incompetent, people who have depression, because of society and it's ignorant view, are left feeling like the illness, the sickness that they have is not worth of being deemed as an illness. You wouldn't blame someone who broke their arm for doing it on purpose,saying it's their fault, so why should you put blame and shame on people who are Depressed.
We need to be honest, we need to speak up and accept others and accept ourselves. We need to join together and fight against the reason why you're best friend won't come out with you, why she can't even get out of bed, why she can't eat, drink or sleep. We need to make the illness that effects 17 million people a year not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength, that the people who suffer this disease have woken up in the morning alive, we should celebrate that courage and help them along their way to beat this.
If you're going through Depression, you're ok, you're not weak, you're not unworthy, you're sick and it's an issue not an identity! It's a part of life and it might drag you down to the darkest places imaginable but being dragged down means you can be pulled back up. Pain shouldn't define you, it should give you hope and faith that things will get better, you won't always feel like this and this message needs to be passed on and as a society we need to speak up whether we have Depression ourselves or we know someone who is suffering, we need to have the confidence and the pride in ourselves to admit it...
My name is Grace Harris and I suffer from Depression.
We need to admit it so we can get help and get back to living life. But we also need to admit that we need help from others, and these others need to identify this problem and get rid of this ignorance and open their eyes to this sickness and join together and help.
Accept yourself for who you are and don't be ashamed to have Depression. Tell someone so we can stand strong together.
If you are suffering from Depression, feeling suicidal or just need someone to talk to, here are helpful and amazing organisations that will help you.
Also if any of you do need someone to talk to my tumblr ask box is always open if you click here.
I hope you liked this post and there will be another tomorrow.
