I Am Fine And I Don 't Know From Afar

“It gets better”, is always a cliché saying for someone with depression to hear. The constant reminder that it can just “go away”, but it doesn’t. It stays with you as long as you’re alive. When people say that they have a broken arm, everyone flocks to them, wanting to put their signature onto the cast. If you say you have depression, they run the other way. People don’t want to be around somebody, who is stereotyped to self-harm, always cry, and look sad. Depression isn’t always that case. It’s this feeling of constant sadness that you always mask over with a bright smile, broken eyes, and the daily “I’m fine”’s.

All of the sudden, you’re being plagued with self-doubt; and you start to think that you have to be strong all the time. You begin to think that you’re not allowed to cry, or to admit that you’re not okay. Well I'm here to tell you that It's okay to NOT be okay! We are all human, and we all experience heartache, exhaustion, doubt, and many more at one point in our lives. Not everyone may be able to give you great advice or lend a helping hand in what you may be going through. However, everyone has the ability to listen, and just hear you out, because many times that's what you need. You need someone to set your thoughts straight, perhaps someone to relate to. For those of you who are struggling with mental illness and/or grief, dealing with this pressure to always seem happy can be even more challenging. Sometimes when you are feeling down, you put on a mask to hide the darkness that lies behind the smile. It feels as though a cloud is hanging over your head; and those are the days you push people away the most. Well let me tell you why you do that; you do that simply because it is easier to try to forget about what is going on and not bother others with your

“Recent data estimate the overall prevalence of depression at about 11.1% of the American population, or nearly 35 million individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). A predictive models suggest that up to 50% of the population will experience at least one episode of depression during their lives” (Life Extension, 2014). Depression has negatively affected the lives of many individuals throughout the world. Look around you there may even be someone close to you that is demonstrating signs of its stifling affects. Depression does not discriminate with its suffocating

There is an illness like none other, that sweeps across nations but is not contagious. It withdraws any and all feelings of all from from every area of life. Many experience it after a specific situation that elicits extreme sadness, loss, or pain. Other’s feel it for no apparent reason and are left seemingly to fend for themselves in the only dark abyss that they know. This malady is known as depression affects many people of all kinds every singly year. If the world knew how depression truly affects its victims, it would realize it’s not merely a mood or emotion one experiences, but rather a true and physical disease.

Anxiety and depression are two very different, though just as harmful disorders. When you have one, you generally have the other It’s a vicious cycle, but luckily, there are proven ways to break it. Help is an

When an individual has unipolar depression, several friends and family members try to surround and support the person who is struggling. Although this is a noble desire, friends and family have a tendency to provide the support the wrong way by trying to convince the person with the diagnosis that their cognitive distortions are wrong. Unfortunately, painting the situation in a lighthearted manner for a person with depression can be construed as dismissive or naive. Ultimately, the person with depression remain feeling down, and feels unable to be honest with the person, which leads to a false front or simple avoidance.

Remember that people may be scared to tell you they have been abused. This might be because:

That unexplainable feeling that touches every emotion. The action that creates something new inside, skydiving for the first time or getting your driver’s license. Imagine all these feelings lost in time and having no happiness while your mind is surrounded by a shroud of lonesome and self-hatred. Depression affects everyone, it does not matter what race, ethnicity, and genes have been proven to not have an affect. This illness shows the biggest increase in mental disorder compared to others. 18 million people have been affected, or are still experiencing Depression, this amount is more than cancer, and almost as much as heart attacks. There is a one in ten chance of people to become depressed in the U.S. I want to help the people close to me as I notice changes in them. My friends and loved ones do not deserve this conflict, and I will not let it lead to other deeper, and worse problems. I have found many different topics in my articles, and after reading these I have chose to talk about how to help those who are sheltered by Depression. Famous writers and organizations have detailed information based on evidence and experience. By knowing this information, they have begun to set up ways to help, based on the most efficient increase in happier people. With this information I hope any reader can help the cause also.

Depression is a mental illness that affects more than society shows. Society has this “don 't ask, don 't tell” policy on depression. Depression, which is viewed as a weakness, something that many people say, “you can just get over.” However, just like any serious illness, depression, could be life threatening and takes time to overcome. The American Psychiatric Association characterizes depression as a “serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.” (“What Is

When someone says they’re sick, people usually think the person has the flu or chickenpox. A neighbor or family friend might bring over some chicken soup to help cure their loved ones ailments, but another type of disease people are diagnosed yearly with, are mental illnesses. Mental illnesses are a huge stigma in America’s society. The Mental health stigma is caused by the lack of knowledge society has towards them. Depression is one mental illness that effects millions of Americans and puts a lot of stress on a the person diagnosed and their family. The stigma created by society about the illness causes many people feel like outcasts and not want to seek help. There are many factors that can lead to someone to be depressed such as abuse,

On Memorial Day 2013, my emotions started off happily, I was spending the weekend with my friends at the shore. Those happy emotions quickly faded into confusion and sadness. My confusion after being raped was derived from having no education on rape, and then wondering how a human could do that to another human. Sadness was only natural to feel, but I would not show it that weekend. My true sadness was masked with a fake smile and fake laughter that weekend. Masking my sadness transitioned into irritability when I finally got home. After six long months of masking my sadness, anger, and confusion with fake happiness, I spoke up.

It becomes even more taxing when you have been on both sides of the fence. Moving forward, I plan to actively see counsel in an effort to work through what I have suppressed. I will keep in consideration that there are millions of people that are dealing with trauma and as a result, I will keep this in mind when engaging with other people. It is important to understand that trauma and crisis has a lot to do with how people operate daily. It effects their emotions and their beliefs. It often shatters their perspective and forces those affected to question their stance on everything. For some people it even forces them to question the very core of their being. As a result, it is important to consider that some people and their actions shouldn’t be taken personally. When engaging with these people, it is important to handle them with

Individuals with a history of abuse during their childhood are twice as likely to have recurrent episodes of depression in adulthood, according to many scientists. The individuals are also less

Throughout life we all experience situations that may alter our mental health or make us feel like there is no hope in the world. One of the most common experiences we all go through is feeling great sadness or not feeling like we are the best version of ourselves. Even though we all may go through similar life transitions and the ups and downs that get brought along with such transitions, there is still extreme stigma around depression and mental health in general. So much so, that we very rarely talk about our mental health with each other and instead seek advice from the professionals in the medical field. As we grow older we may experience things that we did not think about while we were young, such as losing a loved one due to death or

Since depression is so common, people view it as merely being down. Some people even cast harsh judgement upon others for their bouts with depression. Citing that their issues are something they need to “deal with.” Consequently, this social stigma is why numerous people often become worse with their depression. The fear of revealing their issues, causes their depression to become much worse than it ever needed to be. Hiding depression will only cause it to become worse until eventually the person will reach a breaking point, where either the person will reveal their tormented mind to somebody in a cry for help, or they will take the other much more fatal option. In conclusion, depression is a terribly harmful psychological issue, looked upon by society as a social stigma. This idea that depression is not that terrible is ultimately the result of why a countless number people are no longer around today. Furthermore, they were too afraid to reveal their issues, since society only viewed it as a social