First Things First: Understanding Mental Illness & Depression

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, depression can be defined as: "Depression is a type of mental illness called a mood disorder. Mood disorders affect the way you feel, which also affects the way you think and act. With depression, you may feel ‘down,’ hopeless, or find that you can’t enjoy things you used to like. Many people who experience depression feel irritable or angry. And some people say that they feel ‘numb’ all the time."

More often than not, when explaining to people that I suffer from depression, I typically get responses such as: "What do you have to be depressed about?" or "You're too young to be depressed." In other words, some people find it very difficult to comprehend that an outgoing, bright, and 'happy' individual like myself could, or would, suffer from depression. 

I appreciate and understand why people, especially those who know me personally, could assume that my mood does not take the form of one that struggles, or is challenged on a daily basis because of "all that I have going for me". I agree that, yes I do have a lot of wonderful people and things in my life that make me happy, but unfortunately, it is not as simple as that. Nonetheless, fortunately enough, it can be treated. 

Mental Illnesses can reflect many of the forms that physical illnesses do, as they can dramatically change the way people feel, making it harder for them to go about their daily routine. We all experience the changing of moods whether we feel sad, down, energetic, content, fatigued, or irritable; we all feel something. But what differentiates that "something" from me, for example, contrary to another individual is that, typically, their moods don't last long, or nearly as long, allowing them to go about their daily lives. 

Within the last few years I feel as though I have really come to understand and experience the various effects of depression, besides the roller-coaster of moods. While I hate to admit it, my ignorance or lack of information (that sounds better) in regards to comprehending depression was of little importance when I was first diagnosed. Unfortunately, it wasn't until I regularly found myself feeling tired, low, suffering from chronic head aches and body pains, and engrained sense of hopelessness and loneliness, did I understand that there was much more at stake than my mood.

So, I sought professional help and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. It's not just about the idea of venting to someone for an hour about your problems; for me, anyways, it was about changing my thought process (aka cognitive therapy), while working on my ability to let go of some of the events in my life that dramatically held me back. Purge your emotions. Talk to someone. The weightlessness I feel after each session is unbeatable.