Any person who has suffered with any type of mental
health issues knows there is no glamour in feeling the way that you do. So, males
and females seeing photos of ‘Tumblr girls’ in black and white photos with
words written on the photo with ‘I want to die’ will understand how frustrating
this ‘dark art’ is.
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| (e.g) |
It’s not beautiful.
It’s not glamour’s.
It’s not a thrill.
So what is depression? This question is so difficult to
answer; we all feel sad from time to time to time and I don’t want to
discourage people... But people who suffer with depression experience sadness,
low mood intensely for a long time whether it’s months/weeks or years. It’s a
serious medical condition which doesn’t only effect you mentally but also
physically too.
So being depressed is just being sad then? No, even though feeling sad is a part of it. There are so many other
emotions involved: -
- Frustration
- Irritable
- Guilty
- Lacking in confidence
- Disappointed
- Indecisive
- Anxious
- Overwhelmed
You said clinical? What other types of depression are there?! Well each type is very different but there are quite a few different types:
-
- Dysthymic Disorder
- Bipolar
- Antenatal and Postnatal depression
- Psychotic Depression
- Melancholia
- Cyclothymic Disorder
- SAD
How can depression effect you physically? For a start, sleeping problems. Some nights I can sleep for 12 hours
and others I only sleep 4 leaving me irritable and moody but also run down.
Obviously a lack of sleep causes so many other problems and it then becomes a
cycle. Other things such as:-
- A Churning Gut
- Weight Gain or loss
- Headaches or muscle Pain
- Feeling sick or being sick
Ok, why can’t you just cheer up? Wouldn’t that be amazing if you
could? I think if it was a simple as that then we would all just switch this
flip where we could just smile and feel all fine and dandy. But sadly, you can’t.
It’s like you have this voice in the back of your head telling you that you can’t
be happy. For example: -
- ‘I’m a failure’
- ‘It’s my fault’
- ‘People would be better off without me’
- ‘I’m worthless’
Right so why don’t you just change your behaviour to feel differently
about yourself? It’s a difficult cycle. You’re not
getting enough sleep; the fact you’ve gained weight has bothered you. You feel
angry and irritated. You cannot enjoy activities once that you loved. It
becomes almost impossible to be able to concentrate. You end up withdrawing
from close family and friends and to feel like you can actually be sociable you
then depend on alcohol or drugs.
OK, why do you even feel this way? What caused it? There is no one single cause of depression. It just happens. For me,
personal factors such as my family history may have been a reason. But I will
never know. However, depression is linked in the brain and it’s not as simple
as a ‘chemical imbalance’. It’s complicated and there are a lot of causes such
as genetic vulnerability which may have caused depression.
What advice can you give? It’s very difficult to give advice
on depression because so many people deal with it differently. I try and focus
on the future and what I will be and what I want out of life. When I have an episode.
I can usually tell when they are coming because I go erratic and my eating goes
crazy. When it comes I tend to prepare myself and allow myself to have a few
sad days where I just sit in my pj’s and not do anything. Other days, I force
myself to go out – whether it’s just for a walk or to see a friend for an hour.
I try not to lose touch with reality.
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