Finding out that only eleven percent of Americans have issues with depression and mental health came as a shock to me. Based on the Top Hat we did in class, a lot of the class didn’t know anyone with a mental illness, which contrasts with what I would’ve assumed, based on my own experiences. This is because most of my closest friends, hometown, and in college have been diagnosed with depression, and are suffering with it still today.
Major depressive order can be defined as a serious medical illness that negatively affects the way you feel, think, and act. People can feel depressed, in fact, it’s normal to, just like it’s normal to feel anxious. However, for some people, these feelings control their lives. For people who have depression, it means they are constantly in the dark and feeling down to the point where you are unable to live life normally.
While I have been in depressive moods for periods of time, I myself do not have depression. My experience with depression comes from the six of my closest friends, at home and Penn State, who deal with this possessive mental illness everyday. With most of them, their depression has brought them to self harm as well as suicidal thoughts and attempts with some. While it is still there and felt greatly, taking medication, seeing a therapist, and having support from family and friends has helped them tremendously. On top of always being there for them and offering support, just simply having a great group of friends to surround themselves with has been the most beneficial in working towards curing their depression. While this was just a brief lesson on depression and other mental illnesses, it was still interesting to relate it to my experiences. Learning about this topic in class gave me a deeper understanding of my friend’s illnesses, but also my own feelings as well.
-Camryn Beers
This piece was very inspirational. I can relate to this too. Although I never experienced this feeling myself, I had a very close friend go through a similar experience. I remember trying to help and support her in the most ways I was able to. However, it was hard having to see her go through that, and not fully understanding what she was truly feeling during that time.
Reading your personal story with depression, and seeing how it can really affect somebody from a first person perspective is also so motivational. It is amazing to see how far you were able to overcome that struggle within your life. Depression affects millions across the United States and we all have our own different experiences. People think depression is one specific feeling when it actually is so much more than that. Being supportive for your friends or any close person around you is so important. You never know what anyones going through.