Impressions Of Depression

As you grow up, you think it’s just a phase everyone goes through. You feel isolated when in the middle of a group of friends. You don’t feel like your real self because you’ve no idea who your real self is. All you are is a collection of misguided thoughts about what other people think of you. Thoughts which have been concocted out of thin air and that are based on no evidence whatsoever.

 Every move you're about to make in a social situation has you answering the questions: “What will people think if I say this or do that?” You never talk to anyone about how you’re feeling. You never get someone else’s perspective on why you might be thinking this way. The only solution, you think to yourself, is to bury these feelings deep down inside and hope they go away. “Once I get to college, everything will be better,” you tell yourself.

 And it does, for a while. Those old ways of thinking and feeling haven’t gone away. They come back stronger than ever. Those old, familiar feelings build and build slowly over time until an event derails you completely and sends you down a dark road from which there’s no coming back.

 This would be a familiar story to the many hundreds and thousands of young people who suffer from depression in Ireland. About 10% of adolescents aged between 13 and 19 have major depressive disorder (Source: independent.ie). That’s one of the cruel ironies about depression - you feel alone when you’re not. There are many other people out there who are feeling exactly the same as you and feeling that no one would understand.

What can you do?

The biggest step you can take to rise up out of a depressive episode is to talk to someone, anyone. Unfortunately, it’s also the hardest step to take because you’ve spent so long conditioning yourself against doing exactly that for fear of being thought of as weak. The strength you can find to carry on when you talk about your feelings out loud is worth the (perceived) risk.

 Talking to a family member or a friend can be a daunting prospect. But there are other people out there who can help too, such as The Samaritans (1850 60 90 90), who offer a 24/7, totally anonymous, non-judgemental listening service. Many other charities offer help and advice too, such as Aware (1890 303 302), 1Life (1800 247 100) and Pieta House (01 601 0000 / mary@pieta.ie).

 In today’s celebrity-obsessed world, it can also be a comfort when people in the public eye share their stories about fighting depression. Stephen Fry, who suffers from bipolar disorder, recently spoke about his attempted suicide last year (Source: Guardian.co.uk). By sharing his suffering with others, he helps to highlight the need for more social dialogue to remove the stigmas around mental illness.

As Bob Marley once said, “emancipate yourselves from mental slavery”.