Depression: Breaking the stigma.

         I have been depressed since childhood. Depression and some other mental disorders run in my family, and I have seen diseases like it effect the lives of people around me my entire life... and I'm mad about it. The stigma that surrounds mental health is not only annoying, it's completely false! Tweet this! It's also extremely damaging to people who suffer from mental illness and their loved ones. Here are some of the misconceptions I have faced as someone who deals with depression, and the reasons why they are so harmful.
    

• Depression is just laziness. Sometimes, I'll admit, I am really lazy out of no fault other than my own... but more often than not, I literally cannot get up off of the couch. Depression has physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue, listlessness, and loss of interest in the things you once loved doing. I have been creating music since I was 6 years old; it's my deepest passion, but depression takes that desire away for me for months at a time. I have an entire album of unfinished recordings that I could easily release, but once I start something, I often lose the desire to finish it and just...give up. 

• People who have emotional disorders are just too thin skinned. They bring it on themselves. There are environmental, situational, hormonal and genetic factors to depression. I do believe that I have the power to control what goes on in my mind, but it is a daily battle that not all people have to fight, and it isn't one that I would wish on anyone...so why would I wish it on myself?

• People with mental disorders are crazy. Mental illness doesn't make anyone crazy. You wouldn't say that someone with cancer, diabetes, or a broken leg is crazy, but that's because their sickness is physical and visible. 

• I can't defeat depression. This lie isn't one that others who don't experience depression believe, it's one that I believed. I am not helpless in my own healing, and if you are going through mental illness, you aren't either. Tweet This! You made it this far and you are still breathing; and that means that you are strong. 

• Therapy is for weak/crazy people. This stigma isn't only false, it's very harmful. If we think of therapy as something for "crazy" or weak people, we drive people who are suffering away from getting the help they need. I have spoken to countless friends, strangers and struggling people who recoiled at the suggestion of therapy or going to a doctor, and although this is sad, even I have been resistant to get help. I don't have the financial resources right now to begin, but as soon as I can, I will be pursuing some form of treatment or at least examination.

• My mental disorder is a part of me. Too many people I know and love just push their issues to the side because they've been dealing with them so long that it seems normal to them. Their normal is their sadness. They've grown so used to fighting that they've accepted it as a part of who they are. I wish I could get to every person out there who says they just have to "suck it up and deal with it" and just show them a taste of what freedom feels like.