In a perfect world, none of us will have ever experienced depression.
But, that's not reality.
Unfortunately, according to the ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association in America)
- Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population. (Source: National Institute of Mental Health)
- Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only about one-third of those suffering receive treatment.
- It's not uncommon for someone with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression or vice versa. Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
There are many forms of anxiety that branch off one another, and depression goes hand in hand with many of these. Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are examples of this.
Did you know that women are twice as likely to suffer from almost all of these disorders?
Rape is the most likely trigger of P.T.S.D., affecting 7.7 million people or about 3.5% of the population. Yet, we still can't get it together when it comes to agreeing on a unified healthcare system, one where people affected by these disorders actually get the help they need, instead of self-medicating to numb the pain.
This is a poem I wrote a couple of months back.
I was depressed, and I didn't reach out for help.
That was my mistake, However, I was too proud to admit how depressed and stressed out I was.
Sometimes, we have to learn to ask for help. No matter how proud you may be, or independent you are, no one deserves to suffer through depression or anxiety alone.
My chenille duvet covers me
Consumes me
It has swallowed me up
Again…
and let me escape
To a world where the bills don’t exist
My homework is finished
The dishes are done
The cats are fed
My son goes to school without a fight
My chenille duvet hides my reality
The reality…
that
The bills still aren’t paid
The dishes are still there
The homework keeps piling up
The cats are at the foot of my bed, begging to be fed...again
My son has yet again skipped school and come home, not knowing that i am under my duvet
My chenille duvet allows me to feel no pain
It allows me to forget
Even…
if for a little while
Underneath my chenille duvet, the world is silent
My feet are warm
My mind stops racing
Deep….
Dark….
anxious thoughts
My heart stops beating as if ravaged through my chest
I can breathe
Every day gets a little bit harder to leave my duvet
My old ragged gray soft duvet
I long for you during the day
On the days when I am in class and don’t have my homework to hand in, because I am so tired
On the days I get a call from my sons school asking where he is, when i know i dropped him off
On the days I get home, and the dishes are still there
On the days I get home from a 12 hour day, realizing I forgot to buy cat food again
On the days I come home and cringe going up the stairs as i pray they didn’t turn my electric off again
On the days I told the landlord I would have his rent
But my check didn’t come
Again...
On the days I have to get up, and pretend I am the happiest fucking person
When all I want to do, is break down and cry
And have someone else care…
For once
My gray soft fuzzy duvet, I miss you
Why can’t you console me all the time?
I don’t want you to leave me
I need you to stay and make it all go away
