Myths about depression

A feeble attempt at providing 100% subjective and non-scientific explanations to some myths and misconceptions about depression.

#to be updated as and when I remember something



1. You depressed meh? I see you laugh like siao when we watch that funny movie leh.
Sorry to disappoint you. A depressed person may or may not lose the ability to laugh at funny things. I may laugh at funny things, then I may just go to the toilet and cry alone for being so fake and confused and wondering how I can laugh when I am being torn apart inside.
Maybe the person is putting up a brave front. Many depressed people are Oscars potential winners due to the need to put up a show to hide from stigma, intolerance and impatience towards their condition.
Maybe we are just enjoying your company. Thank you. Before we retreat back into our emo hole again. :(


2. Why you emo so long not okay one? Emo forever very fun is it.
If "depression" can go away by itself, then it isn't "depression". It would be a normal human experience of sadness in a usual life filled with ups and downs. Yes I am depressed. No, time won't magically heal ...


3. You don't look like the type who will be depressed.
I don't blame you. Even I, who have been depressed for over a decade, have a certain (warped) impression of what a mentally ill person should look/behave like. I am surprised by the 'type' of people I see in the clinic every time I visit my psychiatrist. It's really regardless of race, language or religion or size or shape or hairstyle or age or income level (It's a private clinic so I guess at least most people there are not that poor ...?)


4. There's nothing wrong with your life what..why so depressed?
I know. That's why I feel even worse. I blame myself for being so dumb and stupid and question myself - WHY AM I SO DOWN when there's nothing wrong?
There's something wrong - I'm sick - with depression. That's why. I think the word 'depressed' is severely over-used casually as well. Sigh.


5. It's all in your head.
You're so right. That's why I can't run and I can't hide. My brain follows me everywhere I go. Wherever I am, the thoughts haunt me. Whatever I do, I am condemning myself - for being slow, for being stupid, for being lousy, for being pathetic.
[That's why depression should be treated with both therapy and medicine (for severe cases). The thinking patterns and habitual thoughts are unhealthy and destructive - they need to be changed.]

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