Here is a scenario:

It's the middle of the school year. A lot has already happened and now all you can feel is emptiness. This persistent sad mood. You feel hopeless and you have started to lose interest in you hobbies and activities. You've been having difficulties sleeping for the past couple of weeks and now you don't want to get out of bed anymore. You've seen these symptoms before but never thought that it could happen to you when you were just fine a couple months ago. You've seen all the commercials of actors who couldn't possibly feel like you. Then insets the suicidal thoughts and you just realized that it can happen to you. You are living with depression.

It has been proven by the American Psychological Association or APA that depression is the most common mental disorder. While depression is treatable, it can be hard to live with. I would know. I suffer from depression. As well as "an estimated 15.7 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States... This number represents 6.7 percent of all U.S. adults" (nimh.nih.gov).

I started to experience depression in about the seventh or eighth grade, and it only got worse when freshman year came around. I always had people telling me that they thought my age was too young to be on antidepressants like they were a bad thing. Like having a mental illness was a bad thing. That didn't make living with my depression any easier. That is just the society we live in today, though. They would rather act like mental illnesses don't exist than admit they need help. When all a mental illness is defined as "...disorders generally characterized by dysregulation of mood, thought, and/or behavior, as recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition, of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV)" (cdc.gov).

It can be difficult living with depression, especially if you aren't getting the treatment you need but I'm here to tell you it can and will get better. I never went and saw a counselor outside of school. I only ever talked to my in school psychologist and my guidance counselor. If you are experiencing signs and symptoms of depression, it is important to talk to someone you trust and feel comfortable with. It is also okay to feel the need to tell that person every time something major happens. There were numerous days where I'd sit in my guidance counselor's office for an hour at a time.

I know that depression can feel like drowning, and that you are in this deep, dark place you won't ever get out of, or that it'll consume you but I promise you it won't. Some days will be better than others, but you will get through this.The most important thing to remember is that it can and will get better. You are not only. Not everyone or everything is against you. Don't give up the fight, because there is always something worth fighting for.