Clinical depression

Why I just can’t “snap out of it”

I have been diagnosed with clinical depression (amongst other things) for a few years now. I have tried every single form of therapy one could possibly imagine. I’ve had to take a break from school, which eventually resulted in me going from a grade A- student to being a high school drop out. Does that sound like a decision one would deliberately make?

The first thing that is a massive problem in the way society deals with depression is that people just throw the term around. So let me be clear, depression is NOT the same as sadness. Anyone who has ever dealt with depression will tell you this. Like with many things, ignorance is the problem here.

A very common thing people say to someone that’s depressed is “you don’t have the right to be depressed, there are people starving in the world, people with no roof above their head”. I know that these people really think this helps, but no, no it does not. Rationally we KNOW there are worse things in the world, we realise that there are people with no food, no water, nowhere to live, people with terminal illness. But reminding us of that only makes us feel even more guilty than we already do. The thing with depression is that you feel “sad” (by lack of a more fitting term) for no logical reason. You feel tired, empty, numb. Everything seems black and there is no light switch to make that ever so present darkness go away. I realise that it is very hard to understand if you’ve never had to deal with it yourself.

One advice to everyone who has someone close to them that is depressed: listen. Listen if they want you to, don’t try to point out reasons why they shouldn’t be feeling like this. Let them know that you’re there for them and not to judge. Tell them that you realise you can’t understand what they are feeling, but that you are really trying to do so.

What can we do as a nation? One thing: educate ourselves. Rase awareness, talk about these issues. Because that’s the only way to make the stigma around depression, and mental illness in general, go away. I believe we’ve already come a long way with this and we’re defiantly heading in the right direction, but there is still a very long way to go.