Thoughts on depression
When you’re depressed, there’s a certain way you start to think. You convince yourself that everything’s normal, that the way you perceive things is normal. It’s a double-edged sword as far as coping mechanisms go – on the one hand, you buffer your self-esteem, but on the other hand, seeing the situation clearly makes you likely not get or want help for your condition. Before I became depressed (and I believe, at the time, I suffered clinical depression (major depressive disorder)), I didn’t understand. In high school, someone I knew confided in me that they were depressed – the whole shebang, coping with meds and a weekly therapist. To this person, I’m sure confiding in me must have been a big step. After I went through my own depression, I understood this. But at the time, I didn’t and couldn’t understand the significance of the confession. “Oh, okay. Are you alright?” I said, or something to that effect. Not in the judging, curt way of signaling that it was socially unacc...