I have depression. I have been struggling pretty heavily with it and have been on Prozac for close to a year. I thought due to the untimely death of Robin Williams, this would be a timely topic to discuss. I had another controversial topic to discuss since it's my two-year anniversary of first declaring this week, but it'll have to wait. Depression myths are more important to debunk. Here are five myths about depression and what I have done to debunk them:
Myth 1: Depression is all about sadness: There are such things as seasonal depression, anger, hypo-mania, racing thoughts, and addiction in depression. I have encountered all of these in the past year in at least small doses. I have also encountered much sadness and have experienced many manic times in some of this spot. These are somewhat linked to my anxiety piece, but understanding that this can be used in many forms of depression helps people understand better that they are not alone. Sadness is just a part of depression and as my families experience can attest to, it is not all of it.
Myth 2: Depression is just a phase: Absolutely not! Once you are diagnosed with clinical depression, depression almost always has a chance of sneaking up again. Even after I was on the antidepressant, there have been times of depression and times of hurt, pain, mania, and implicit anger. Depression doesn't stay once and for all. Once someone is depressed, it can come back again. What you can do when it creeps up is either get help or make a plan. I am generally depressed on my breaks but have been keeping occupied enough this break to combat it. Whether or not I'm able to over my longer winter break remains to be seen, but I have a plan for if it happens because I know it can.
Myth 3: All psychological? No it has much deeper effects. While depression has some medical imbalances, there is much more than what people actually think is going on. Many people with depression see therapists, see people to balance medication, see spiritual counsel, find hobbies, and spend time using a sounding board. This is what I've done. Even more don't realize that they have depression until later, sometimes too late. People with depression can self-medicate and often do so. Depression knows no bounds in who it can effect, and regardless of what anybody tells you, it is a chemical imbalance often or hereditary but certainly not psychological only.
Myth 4: Depression is a lazy condition for loners: People with depression are often social people who have a hard time reacting in some situations or they are semi-social people who sometimes like to reflect. People with depression often are busy to keep their mind occupied or they work through problems with people. Sometimes people with depression are lazy or anti-social, but that isn't always the case. 1 in 20 people deal with clinical depression (maybe more) and all of these people are different. If you meet one person with clinical depression, you've met 1 person and chances are everyone has. If you are depressed temporarily it is different than clinical depression and there are many people with clinical depression who are social to many degrees.
Myth 5: People with depression almost always have a hard time working. This is an unfortunate generalization for the public. Many people with depression have a hard time working but some are able to keep a job that they enjoy and look forward to going to every time. I have held a job for over 7 years with a few heavy-duty volunteer jobs on the side for most of the time. When someone is like: you have continued to work hard, you are almost always happy, you have a lot of energy and genuine interest in people and work and exercise, you don't seem like you have depression, it seems shameful to me because they are marginalizing depression to fit a box. With a condition that has affected roughly 15-20 million people clinically in America alone, you can't just do that. Depression is something that affects everyone differently. Many people can work with it due to medication and therapy while some it's too much of an impact on them to where they can't work and have to stay at home often due to stress. Just like you can't judge a book by it's cover, you can't put a condition as prevalent in a box.
Hope that this cleared up some issues. It is a tough thing to talk about, but if you or a loved one has depression, remember that you and them are not alone. There are at least 15 million Americans with it and no two of them are alike. The results of what happens when you talk about it with them might surprise you and you can make a difference.
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