Mental illness is one of those topics that people try to skirt around. People who struggle with mental illness often do not like to talk about their mental illnesses because of the fact that it is a subject that's treated like taboo. I know that so far, all of my articles that I have written have been about mental illness in different forms, and there is a reason behind that. Mental illness is one of those topics that people are just not informed nearly enough about. The general public knows that it exists, but how could they possibly understand how it feels to be mentally ill? That right there is why people do not like to discuss their mental illness.
Personally, I never discuss my depression for one main reason. People don't understand it. When people hear "I'm depressed" many times the response is "Oh yeah I've felt depressed before, when my dog died". Yes, when something bad happens you feel depressed. But the depression that many of us struggle with that people don't understand is so different. The depression that many mentally ill people struggle with is feeling sad even on your good days. You could have the most perfect life, but still feel completely hopeless. Everything could be just fine in your life but if you are depressed it all cancels out in that horrible feeling. That's what one of the worst parts of depression is. Every one thinks that they've felt depression and that they have felt that sense of hopelessness, but in reality, it's a completely different feeling. It's feeling like you just don't have the energy to get up in the morning. You feel like you don't have the vitality to move or to function. It's a terrible feeling and quite frankly, even though loss is a really terrible feeling, it is nothing like the temporary pain of losing a pet or a family member. It is a whole different kind of pain. People don't understand that depression is actually a chemical imbalance in the brain that people can't help, and sometimes it isn't even initiated by anything. It just exists.
Another reason why people do not like talking about depression is because a lot of times, when people say that they are depressed it really weirds people out. They start acting weird and they start treating you like you're...almost not a person. They start treating you completely different even if they don't mean to. And the reason why that happens is because people don't always understand how it feels. They don't know how to respond so they respond in the worst way. Personally, I always hated that when I told people about my depression they would automatically jump to the pity and the needing to smother me all of the time and honestly that made me feel worse. However, the worst kind of feeling, which I have been lucky enough to not feel, is when people say, "well, you just have to get up and make yourself feel better" or "mental illness is just made up" or "you don't have it that bad" or "it could always be worse". I've been lucky enough to never have people say these things to me, but I know people who really never tell anyone how they're feeling simply because of the fact that people respond that way or at least they're afraid of them saying that. Here's the facts: they might not have it that bad, it could always be worse, but if they have a mental illness, a chemical imbalance in the brain, it does. not. matter. They are still going to feel the same horrible feelings. And guess what? They can't help it. You can't just "make yourself feel better". It just doesn't work that way. What makes you the most angry is when people say that mental illness is made up because there is literal physical proof to show that it exists and it is terrible.
My final point, is that a lot of people who struggle with depression fear that people won't believe them. Mental illness isn't a physical thing that you can see with the naked eye, so it IS really difficult to be able to know.
It is really important to understand that people who suffer with mental illness do not speak out because they are so afraid of the things that I mentioned. Mental illness just isn't talked about enough. People don't speak out because of the sheer fact that they think that they aren't going to be understood. It's terrible, but it's a fact.
