Everyone’s got their burdens, but I think those with depression take the cake. One out of every 10 people in our country is diagnosed with depression, and I can’t help but wonder how many others are too embarrassed or proud to find out.
I know many of my loved ones are popping “happy pills.” It would be nice to find out what’s in the water that is apparently making modern humanity more and more depressed, but until then, antidepressants will have to work.
A poll reported that 56 percent of people think depression is a personal weakness. I’m in the 44 percent that don’t. I don’t have a chemical imbalance naturally, but I have been on medications for Attention Deficit Disorder that have messed with the chemicals in my body causing me to feel depressed.
Depression is a funny thing in that it isn’t funny at all. A person who is normally very light-hearted and humorous, when depressed, will become numb to optimism and humor. Furthermore, most people don’t want to be around a long face, and increased feelings of loneliness will lead to increased facial elongation.
If you lost your arm and struggle to tie your shoe using only your left hand, that’s still better than having two arms but absolutely no desire or motivation to put on your shoes to go anywhere in the first place.
After I realized that the medication was changing my thought patterns, I started noticing those thoughts. Instead of uplifting positive thoughts, they were negative and depressing. I noticed a constant desire to change something in order to make the pain of being present stop.
Most of the people I have met or know personally who suffer from some degree of depression are outstanding and admirable people, but they simply struggle to interpret their life in a way that is uplifting.
It looks bad to have something wrong, to need help. We all pretend we’re normal, and only a few people have problems. Reality check — we’re all crazy! Two-thirds of people who probably need some sort of treatment for depression, don’t seek it. Meanwhile, an estimated 80 percent of all people with depression who have received treatment significantly improve the quality of their lives.
Motivation by reason is the belief that doing something will bring to pass something “worth it.” Imagine a student with depression trying to study for a test despite the nagging feeling that passing or failing won’t mean anything. No wonder the economic cost of depression is estimated to be $30.4 billion per year.
Don’t just deal with depression if you think you struggle with it — consider confiding in someone. Most people live their life in anticipation of their real life that’s going to start one day. This is your life, so don’t let chemicals hamper your ability to enjoy it.
