This piece was very informative about depression to a person who has never had the misfortune to be faced with such a nebulous nemesis. I’m reposting because I learned about what I can do to help someone who is suffering from depression. Being aware of what someone who’s depressed is going through and also, seeing some simple things that can be done to ease their suffering is worth a lot.
In November 2012, I was diagnosed with depression. Depression is an illness which provokes a wide range of reactions in people, depending on their own experiences. It is, to me, something intangible- just when I think I’ve understood its impact on my life and those around me, it slips away and mutates into something else. Some days I am able to brush it aside, other days it lies on me like a hot, heavy, suffocating blanket, preventing me from doing anything and leaving me tearful with frustration. I think for sufferers and for those who deal with them, be it friends, family or colleagues, depression is the most frustrating illness of them all.
When I was diagnosed, my doctor suggested anti-depressants and that I be signed off work for a few months. I was, after some initial hesitation, happy to try the anti-depressants, but signing off work was an impossibility…
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Literal Lessons of Life 