There will be some people who will absolutely hate this article.

I pose the question: When is it okay talk about depression? When is it “acceptable” to have depression?

DISCLAIMER: Let’s get this out of the way- this article is directed towards the AUTHORS of the articles I’m about to talk about. This is in no way directed at those who have experienced depression or mental illness. You are validated in your experience, no matter for what background or if you don’t even have a “background”- you are valid and everything you have been through are valid. Keep this in mind while reading. If you happen to be an author for some various writing outlet, and you identify as a writer with what I’m about to talk about- I would apologize, but I’m not sorry and you should probably think about what you’re actually writing about.

So. Mental health has always been a more controversial topic to write or talk about. Lately, it’s been growing in the article universe with more people brave enough to share their stories or authors who talk about symptoms and sharing resources. I love this. I love seeing people becoming more open with talking about mental illness. This stigma of silence accompanying depression has made it so more are suffering in fear or discomfort about speaking up. The only way we can break this stigma is to keep talking and writing and sharing.

However, with the more voice this movement is gaining- we also risk contributing to another stigma. I completely think giving depression a voice is worth the risk and I will always believe that, but we need to be aware of the risk and the new stigma slowly getting put together.

I am lucky. I got lucky handling mental illness because, while I was still scared of speaking up and scared of getting help for years- I’m a white female and this makes it so much more easier for me to get the help I need, while still remaining “acceptable” in terms of society. The articles we’re hearing about with authors choosing their subjects echo each other in terms of content. It describes depression in terms of a beautiful girl "too sad to get out of bed" who's quiet, shy- has issues with relationships. Yes, these all can be outputs of having depression or anxiety but this is barely a scrape on the actuality of mental illness. Authors keep it light- so as not too dark it upset readers and it keeping it light makes their writing more relatable. Yet in doing so, it makes it easy for people who are just sad a few times a month to say "yes- I totally have depression" and that minimizes what depression actually is- thus diminishing the seriousness of it for those experiencing and onlookers.

Authors want to seem controversial and daring yet keeping sticking to the same theme as to not ACTUALLY be controversial, because if they were- their articles wouldn’t receive all around positive feedback. Readers do not like to read about the UGLY ugly. They like stories they can relate a teensy bit to, which is why the vast majority of young characters having mental illness/depression in literature are also white teen females who just have a "touch" of what the illness actually is. By constantly writing about the same people, we are giving depression a face. This is how we learned to accept depression as a society, so now we only truly sympathize with that given face.

People don’t like to talk about the uncomfortable. Would you read an entire article about someone who has depression as a result of sexual abuse? Or someone who has depression out of nothing at all? That happens, and we aren’t very accepting or validating with those individuals at all. We can’t accept that people can have a pretty “good” life and still be sad. Why haven’t I read a single article about a person of color having mental illness? Why haven’t I read an article about mental illness in minority communities? Why haven't I read an article about not showering for days or weeks? I’ll tell you why- because we’re constantly writing about the same things.

Reading the same articles again and again, I won’t lie- I’m fed up. I mean I’m already a white female and for me to say I can’t even see representation of what I’ve been through is crazy. What’s the point of giving something a voice if the voice only caters to one type? I’m NOT saying we should stop writing about anxiety and depression in a relatable manner but what does relatable mean when it's not reality? The ugly symptoms should have just as much air time as any other, no matter if they’re a tad uglier or more uncomfortable. We’re learning that the method to making something less uncomfortable or “taboo” is to keep talking, to normalize the problem so why are we stopping here, at the "light" symptoms? The romanticized ones? Why not keep digging- and keep forcing society to recognize the ugly, until it’s no longer referred to as ugly anymore.

I want articles about not changing for weeks. I want articles about losing friends, falling asleep on the bathroom floor because you're too tired to make the four foot crawl back to bed. I want articles about self harm. I want to see people who survived final self harm attempts and intentional overdoses. Scars are not here for your aesthetic purposes. If we think our scars are beautiful- they will be beautiful to US. Not to someone who's going to compare it to the beauty of suffering, because simply: there is no beauty in suffering. Show the uncomfortable. Talk about the ugly.

Authors- I challenge you to up your game and stop playing it safe. If you’re afraid of feedback, or how many “shares” you can get- are you actually passionate about what you’re writing about? Give everyone a voice. Write about what everyone else refuses to talk about. Stop contributing to the same problems you complain about. Start recognizing your writing isn’t controversial if it’s following a trend. Start actually causing conversation and don’t apologize for pissing people off. You’re not doing it right if you don’t make a few people angry along the way.