I’ve known since I was a kid that I’m depressed. I even have infant photos of me, where I look like I just hate life. Other baby photos the baby is smiling, and interested in everything. Whereas I look like even though I’m too young to even have thoughts, I’m still giving off body language of “leave me alone”.
But when I started asking everyone I knew if they too were depressed, I haven’t gotten one single person to say that they’re happy. Everyone has said they’re depressed. So now I wonder if it’s a regional thing, or if everyone everywhere is depressed.
I have never been really depressed, even in bad times in my life I was able to see a better future. My mother has been diagnosed with depression when she was around 30 but when we look at any pictures from the past, other than her wedding, she always looked depressed.
As far as I understand it’s some chemical inballance in the body but our scientists weren’t able to pinpoint how to fix it (yet).
This makes me sad for my mom, but not depressed. My own life has been getting better and better, especially since covid started. I’m one of the lucky ones I guess.
Depressiom is a malfunction of the brain, just like diabetes is of the pancreas. It has both genetic and environmental triggers.
Some people are going to contact the disease early for no apparent reason. They fight it their entire lives.
Other people have strong environmental influences that trigger the disease. The right treatment can effectively stop or even reverse the progression of the disease. Other people are resistant to the treatment the the disease progresses unchecked.
Both diseases are deadly if not treated at all.
The hardest part for people suffering from depression is that the disease itself fights against treatment. All the things that people need to do to feel better are the last things a depress person wants to do: Set a regular sleep cycle, have a strong exercise routine, eat well balanced food, take your medication on time, avoid self-medicating with other drugs, attend therapy regularly, interact with supportive friends, engage in hobbies they enjoy, etc… aka a living hell and a daily battle requiring energy they don’t have. Oh and every part treatment takes time to have an effect as well. So at the beginning (2-5 years) they have to do all that work to still feel like shit at the end of the day.
Thank you for sharing your experience.