DEPRESSION: What it seems like vs what it actually is
“I didn’t get to go to the movies with my friend, uh I feel so depressed!”, Ravi said. Is this what depression is? Not being able to go to the movies?
To many people, depression feels like similar to being sad. Well, it can’t be similar because sadness means being unhappy and depression means a feeling of of severe despondency and dejection. Hence, two different words with two completely different meanings.
The fact that depression is just seen as a phase by a major part of our society is horrifying. Comments like, “You’ll get over it” or “It’s just a phase, it’ll pass” is just like rubbing salt in the wound. Isn’t it obvious? That it’s not someone’s choice or a hobby to sit idle all day and do nothing.
Depression is a highly stigmatized disorder in society today. Patients suffering with depression are often viewed as being weak, and are thus often made ‘social lepers’. This leads sufferers to remain silent about their plight and refuse to get help, for fear of being stigmatized. This makes the situation even worse.
If I put it in simple words, depression is not getting up from your bed for days because you just don’t feel like it or you don’t have the strength for it. Even if you succeed in getting out from your bed, it’s being in your own world while talking to someone because it feels hard to just even listen. It’s not wanting to look good or even comb your hair. It’s going without food for the whole day or eating too much to fill some kind of void inside you that you feel. It’s pretending to be completely fine for the whole day and then breaking into tears when there is no one near you. It’s having insomnia or sleeping too much to escape reality because to be honest, sleeping always takes you to another place where you decide what happens. It’s a feeling of wanting to change but not being able to do so because you feel helpless, because you cannot identify what’s wrong with you.
Depression doesn’t need a reason to creep in on you. Sometimes, you have a reason and sometimes you don’t. It doesn’t just hit the ‘kids with bad upbringings’. You can have a very privileged background with parents who love you unconditionally, parents who give you anything and everything you could want. But some bad things can happen, planting a seed for you to carry for life.
It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be weak. You’re not bulletproof, you’re human. You’re capable of getting hurt. Feel the emptiness. Figure it out. Savor each tear. Stop pretending. Unmask yourself. Breakdown if you are tired. Break. Ask for help if you want to. It’s not a phase. It’s something we go through and can be cured.
