Most people can relate to what coming down with an illness feels like…achy all over, food tastes bland, sometimes your gut is very unhappy necessitating frequent visits to Dr. T, you feel depleted of energy, mentally slowed down, less focused, more moody. Your sleep is disrupted or feels less restorative, well ya you feel like crap, and when that alarm goes off in the am you yell to the person sleeping next to you ‘please just turn that damn thing off!’ Okay, that part may be just me. What if the illness never comes but the feeling of sickness last for weeks, months or even years? You may begin to be get seriously worried, and justifiably so, that the doctors just can’t find what is wrong with you. You do all the tests and procedures the doctors ordered and the results show nothing; a kind of weird feeling of relief followed by intensified worry. You begin to wonder, maybe I’m just exhausted and my body is telling me to slow down? Yet, no matter how long you sleep you still feel the same or worse. Your family tries to be supportive yet after a while even they get frustrated and tell you to just ‘suck it up’ and ‘snap out of it’. This is what many people with depression experience. Depression is like the uninvited guest that overstays their welcome by leaps and bounds, and tries to dominate your life. Different people experience depression in different ways and my example is by no means comprehensive, but it tries to emphasize the point that depression is not all that different from any other illness. It activates your immune system in similar ways and leads to feelings of sickness that have both mental and physical effects. Changing peoples’ perceptions about mental illness or any prejudice for that matter, starts at home with you and your family. Lead by example, and so will the next generation.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 03:09:23 +0000
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