When people try to understand depression and if they think it is a real or not, I simply ask them if they have ever had mono before. Mono is short for mononucleosis and is a virus transmitted through saliva. Depression is as real as having been diagnosed with mono except depression typically does not go away overtime like a virus would. I compare depression to mono because most people who have had mono before know that the worst part about it is the overall weakness and fatigue that you feel for weeks until the virus is gone!

I personally have had mono before and about 5 years ago I was clinically diagnosed with depression. I don't remember how my depression started because contrary to popular belief depression usually has nothing to do with a traumatic event. All through HS I did everything right from my grades, to sports, to my social life but my senior year I started to feel different even though I still continued to excel. When I would get home from school I'd take naps that would last for hours and I started to dislike things that had once made me feel so good, like sports. I thought I was just experiencing "senioritis" because I was ready to be done and move onto college but once the summer came I still felt unmotivated and getting out of bed became a chore.

The summer after my senior year of HS things went even further downhill because despite going to work I would sleep whole days at a time, my body always seemed to ache of fatigue, I continually felt irritable, and I was having thoughts that a successful girl my age shouldn't have had. Therefore, I sought out help!

Acting and behaving the way I was always made me feel guilty and ashamed. Before seeking out help I felt hopeless but even worse than that, I felt like my family thought I was completely lazy and useless. As my depression came on and symptoms really began to show, all I could think was that I had mono again! The mental and physical fatigue that I felt all seemed the same and it was like a mono that would not go away.

Mono and depression symptoms are not completely the same which lead me to seek out help and I'm glad that I did! At first getting help for something like depression felt silly to me because I used to think it was just how people sought out attention or made themselves feel by purposefully thinking pessimistically. However, after being clinically diagnosed with depression myself, I know that it is nothing you plan for and should be taken very seriously! Without the help that I have received over the years and continue to receive, who knows where I'd be now. I am one of those outgoing and smart girls who looks like she has everything together but behind closes doors everything changes so please never assume and know that it is okay to seek out help!