If you tell someone you had to go to the hospital because you broke your arm, you are wished well and sent flowers, candy, and love. If you tell someone you had to go to the hospital because you were so depressed that you quit eating and considered killing yourself, you are told to stop being such a baby and to get over yourself. Why do we hold mental illness to a different standard than physical illness?

My name is Ashley. I'm 21 years old, and I was recently released from a week-long hospital stay for depression, anxiety, PTSD, self-harm and suicidal tendencies.

My daily battle with mental illness varies from day to day. Some days, I can make it through the day with a genuine smile. Other days, I have to work extremely hard to convince myself that I need to eat food.

The bad days are the worst. It's even more difficult because of the stigma on mental illness today. Personally, it feels like there is nobody to talk to because a lot of people don't understand the battle. The few people that do understand are there, but when I'm in a depressive state I feel more like a burden than someone trying to take advantage of her support system. It's in those moments that I start to collapse. I know I'm not alone in these circumstances. Many people who experience depression have these same feelings. Eventually, the thoughts of being alone and feeling like there is nobody else start to cycle and turn into a dangerous tornado of negativity.

Usually, the really bad days are triggered by some kind of event. Bad news, an episode of a TV show that triggers something in your past, or something as minor as stubbing your toe. But living with depression means there isn't always a reason. Sometimes, you just wake up sad. Sad is the easiest way to describe it to those who don't understand, but saying "sad" implies that distracting yourself or doing something pleasurable to you will make it all go away. Depression is much deeper than that. More often than not, there's nothing you can do except wait out the episode and use multiple coping mechanisms to keep yourself from falling into the above-mentioned tornado of negativity.

Just like a broken arm, there are medications that can help ease the effects of living with depression. However, unlike a broken arm, these medications simply help the effects - they do not end them. There is no cure for depression. There are coping mechanisms to make living with depression easier as well as medication. This is one of the most difficult things to explain to people. They think you can take a pill every day for a couple of months and be completely cured. But that's not the case. Depression is a lifelong battle for those that suffer with it.

Using the broken arm again, you'll have to go to the hospital to get the help you need. Depression and mental illness, in general, is exactly the same. Sometimes, you need to go to the hospital to get help with your illness. This might be a 72-hour hold in the E.R. to make sure you're not a danger to yourself or others, but sometimes you might have to be admitted. This is extremely important. If you get in a car wreck and have to have surgery, you'll be admitted to the hospital for a number of days until you are able to function on your own. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE HEALED.

Often times, after a surgery, you are sent home with pain medication to manage your symptoms because a hospital stay is unnecessary. This is EXACTLY the same with mental illness. You'll be admitted until the staff feels you have the tools and medication to take care of yourself outside of the hospital. These hospital stays include therapy groups, which mirror physical therapy for someone coming out of a major surgery. You are exercised and given tools to help with your recovery. You are also given medication to help manage the effects of your illness, be that a physical injury or a mental injury.

Part of the problem with the world today is that we don't take mental illness as seriously as we should. This article has focused on depression as that is the battle that I can most closely relate to since I fight with it every single day. But there are so many more mental illnesses that we need to take serious. Visual and auditory hallucinations, often called Schizophrenia, are just as debilitating as depression, sometimes more so. The majority of society will look at someone like this and automatically deem them "crazy".

In all reality, there is a chemical imbalance in their brain, just like someone who has depression or anxiety, that causes them to see and hear things that aren't there. This can be helped with medication and therapy. I personally know several people after my hospital stay that have auditory hallucinations. When one of them was released from the hospital, his auditory hallucinations were almost completely gone. Just like depression, these cannot be completely cured but can be alleviated with the right combination of medication, therapy, and personal coping skills.

Mental illness is a serious problem and needs to be seen as such. People with depression aren't just "sad". People who see and hear things that aren't there aren't "crazy". People who need things to be done a certain way (OCD) aren't just "neat freaks". Mental illness isn't something to be laughed at. Mental illness isn't made up. If we took mental illness as seriously as we take physical illnesses, we could offer so much more help to those that need it.

So why do we hold mental illness to a different standard than physical illness? It's simple - we don't understand all the aspects of it. There isn't as much information about it because we haven't truly recognized it as something to be taken seriously until very recently.

We need to end the stigma on mental illness. We need to stop deeming people "crazy" when they have mental illness. We need to start supporting our friends who have mental illness. We need to accept mental illness as a legitimate illness and treat it as such.

My name is Ashley. I'm 21 years old, and every day I battle with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and agoraphobia (social anxiety). I accept my mental illness and those close to me accept my mental illness as well. I do what I am supposed to do in order to manage my illness and every day I live is another day that I've survived my battle.

Help me #EndTheStigma on mental illness.