a face for depression

Oh man, this hits close to home.

If you’ve ever known someone with depression, you know that they don’t always act rationally. You know that they occasionally become sad for no apparent reason, can’t articulate their emotions at all  well, and may hurt themselves in order to feel better (could there be a more oxymoronical action?).

You may not be able to understand why these funks hit them and may wonder why they don’t just make a change if they’re so unhappy. Since it seems like they can go into a funk with a flip of a switch, why can’t they just get OUT of it as fast? “Just do that Eeyore thing you just did, but in reverse…”

You might think they’re simply:

1. faking it.
2. trying to get attention/sympathy.
3. fishing for compliments.
4. lazy.
5. overly pessimistic.
6. melodramatic.
7. crazy.

And if you have thought any of those things, I STRONGLY urge you to check out Depression Comix. This gives a very honest face to this particular problem, especially in dealing with the unpredictable, often irrational thinking that goes along with it. And while, if you have such a person in your life, you may still not know WHY the funks have invisible triggers, you may be able to get a better handle on what they’re going through by seeing how the artist depicts it. Because I can tell you, he pretty much nailed it for me–I initially found some of the comics uncomfortable to read b/c he deals very frankly with certain aspects of depression that I still struggle with.

And I’ll admit that there probably are those out there who’re faking it, being lazy, melodramatic, etc.  But I’d hedge a guess that there are more who genuinely don’t know why they get that way, too–b/c it blind-sides them just that quickly–, and they hate going through it just as much as you hate watching them struggle with it.

This time of year is usually a breeding-ground for depression funks, so I urge you to be patient with the depressed people in your life. Have some compassion and try to give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re not acting like that for any of the excuses listed above. Read up on ways to help them and to tactfully deal with them while they’re in their funks–this will make things easier on the BOTH of you.

And for God’s sake, please don’t tell them to “just be happy” and then walk away all irritated because they’re OBVIOUSLY just not trying hard enough…

Trust me: they’re suffering more than you are when it comes to this.