Depression effects everyone at one point in their lives. Whether it’s ongoing or spurts, depression is one of those hidden mental illnesses. Often times we are clueless to who is depressed and who isn’t because we have all learned to hide it. I have been severally depressed for years. Depression hit me at a very young age, I come from a split family with a father who only cared about hurting my mom and in the long run it hurt his daughters. I am not really sure he ever really cared for his children. Then before the age of 10 my little brother passed away due to a house fire. I turned to food to help me cope.
I managed to go on with my days, I often thought suicide, but I couldn’t do that to my family.
Things started getting better for me, I was still depressed almost daily due to my weight issues. Having struggled with my weight since the passing of my brother it has been super hard to lose and keep it off. I have tried so many things, but with everything I have gone through as a child it all followed me into adulthood. I know in order to be happy again and not be so depressed is learn to accept the things that have happened and move forward. But I am some what stuck.
Five years ago I was hit with even more things to be depressed about, I have tried to “overcome” it all, but I honestly don’t think there is away to overcome depression. I think there are many ways to cope, I tend to drown myself in things to do just so that I don’t have to think about the hell I have endured throughout my life. Maybe one day I will talk more about it in the open.
What are some ways you manage depression?
About Jammie Morey
Gutsy post! I recently wrote and published a dog rescue memoir(Lance: A Spirit Unbroken). In it I reveal the connection between the abused dog and his rescuer–me. I had stalled on being so forthcoming but while writing the book,someone had said to me,”People are going to want to know about the kind of connection you had with the Lance.” I wrote a chapter about just that and then waffled about including it in the final product. Well, I did, and the world didn’t end. In fact, few readers commented on what I found to be such difficult revelations. Maybe part of that is because people tend to tap dance around mental health issues, maybe part of it is because feel more comfortable talking about a dog’s pain than a human’s. You,areright–mental illness, unlike so many physical impairments, is often easier to hide and there is an urgency in the mentally ill person to hide it. Physical illness can garners sympathy and understanding: mental illness can garner stigmatization and misunderstanding.Again, gutsy post!
I personally believe we all have a mental illness. The sad reality is, people with physical illness are not look down upon, those with a mental illness are considered crazy. Why would someone want to admit they have mental problems if we as people are going to put labels on them as being crazy? Also, those with physical illness seem to get cared for better, while those with mental illness are shoved aside and treated as if they are crazy. I hate the system.