Normally I ignore the back and forth ramblings that flood my Facebook feed. But recently, one has caught my attention, and I felt the need to state my opinion. This video was appearing so often on my feed that I couldn't ignore it. A YouTuber called Prince Ea posted a video about depression called "YOU ARE NOT DEPRESSED, STOP IT!" If you don't know who he is, his videos consist of inspirational speeches and life advice. This is the only video of his I have seen, but he has a large following who love his work. In this video he talked about how we shouldn't identify as depressed because depression is something that comes and goes, and that its best just to wait through the bad times. This caused a lot of outrage, mainly from people who suffer from depression. Many other YouTubers created reaction videos explaining how depression shouldn't just be waved away and that it's people like Prince Ea that lead to untreated depression and its consequences. This of course caused outrage among Prince Ea's fans.

When I first saw the video, I turned it off because after the first few sentences it seemed very much like nonsense coming from someone who has no knowledge of the subject. When I finally watched the full video, I still wasn't a fan, but I could tell his heart was in the right place. There are definitely benefits to not letting a mental illness define who you are. The best way to fight something like that is to know that you are stronger and that it doesn't completely control you. I noticed he had another video on his own depression, so obviously he's not as inexperienced as I believed. But while this outlook may have helped him, I can understand the negative reactions people had to it.

There's a lot of stigma surrounding depression. Some people don't understand it, others romanticize it. Many think it involves having a few bad days or having a negative outlook on life, which is not true. It's not a mood, it's an actual disorder, a chemical imbalance in the brain that makes it so you can't absorb the little chemicals that make you happy. Some people feel depressed constantly, while others can feel fine for a while and then slip into a sudden depression. Unfortunately, the way Prince Ea described it made it sound like he didn't consider depression an actual illness. Whether or not this was his intention, I can't help but be a bit frustrated with such an idea.

Before I was diagnosed with depression, I was angry. I felt something I had no words for, and it made me hate the world. When someone finally told me I was depressed, I felt as if some of the burden was lifted off my shoulders. It made sense in my mind: some people can't drink milk, some can't have children, and some have chemical imbalances. This simple explanation gave me hope that there wasn't something terribly wrong with me, it was simply a small imperfection with many different treatments. I didn't let it define me, I let it define my feelings. I accepted the fact that it was a part of me and I used that acceptance to seek help. And this wasn't easy. Because of all the stigma, accepting yourself while depressed is not easy. If I had seen Prince Ea's video when I was at my most depressed, I would have hated myself that much more. And if I had read the comments section, I might have done something even worse.

I'm sure lots of people are inspired by this video, and that's great. If that kind of thing works for you then you're one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately most people need more than inspirational words to lift themselves out of a depression. And we shouldn't blame them for that. While I didn't love Prince Ea's message, he had the right intentions. Although the comments showed some of his fans we taking it too much to heart. Depressed people are labeled as lazy and good-for-nothings who just want pity. A common comparison I hear often is between depression and cancer. After all, you would never tell a person sick with cancer to deal with it, and then call them weak for seeking help from medication. I like to think about it on a smaller scale. I think of depression like lactose intolerance. An unfortunate genetic pairing that causes some people mere annoyance and others a lot of pain. Just because some people can tolerate a small amount of lactose doesn't mean we should bash those who would get really sick from the same amount.

All in all, I'm not a fan of Prince Ea's video. While I doubt this was the intention, I think it's very closed-minded and can give off the wrong idea to those who don't understand depression. But I also think people are getting overly worked up. Share his video because it inspired you, not because you want to send a message. Share the response videos because you want people to know your opinion, not to bash someone else's. Or don't participate at all. If you ask me, we should go back to using Facebook for its one true purpose: cat videos.