One of the most common mental illnesses, awareness of the existence of depression is considerably widespread. Even just the word "depression" is thrown around carelessly everyday. Anyone can feel depressed, and it can last any amount of time- a day, a week, a month. But people with clinical depression struggle with this every day.
Depression has been one of my toughest battles since I was first diagnosed at age 13. I was confused. I didn’t feel normal. I always wondered why I didn’t function like the other kids. But I was never truly alone- many of my family members suffer from the same problem. Seeing as I was going to have to live with depression, I decided to educate myself on it.
An estimated 20% of Americans experience depression before they even reach adulthood.
During these times you may oversleep, develop insomnia, loose interests in things you once adored, feel worthless or guilty, lose concentration, and worst of all you may feel suicidal.
Many people believe that depression is an unbalance of certain brain chemicals. Most people get it genetically, or because of a stressful life event. Having depression does not mean you will never be happy, and it doesn’t make you “weird”. Going to therapy or taking medication doesn't make you weird either; it’s helped me and so many other people in this world.
Taking care of yourself is honestly one of the most important things you can do if you have depression, even though it can be incredibly hard (and boy do I know it is). It's incredibly important to keep yourself healthy, and it boosts your mood completely.
This is my first post about a mental illness and truthfully I want to touch on the topic of depression a lot more. However, next I plan on writing about PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Thank you for reading this!
And remember to cause a racket!
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