Friday, July 08, 2011

when people find out that I have the depression, they seem to fall into one of the following categories -

1) People who have and/or understand depression - these people are the least judgmental, usually we just compare meds and move on to the next topic.

2) People who really have no clue what depression is and relate how when they get "sad", YouTube videos of kittens always cheer them up - if I'm in the mood to be educational, I'll explain how it's actually a chemical imbalance, blah blah blah. If I'm not in the mood, I'll just smile and nod.

3) People who panic a little and act like I'm a little glass swans, like I need to be handled with kid gloves lest I fall off of my shelf and shatter into 12,000 pieces - my Mormon friend does this, after I opened up to her about my recent pharmaceutical struggles, she goes out of her way to be extra sweet to me, going so far as to tell me I look "so pretty" (even when I know I don't) every time she sees me. I don't so much mind, she's trying.

and the best worst
4) People who looked shocked that I'm out in public and not trussed up like this


Mental Health is one of those hush-hush topics, but in the last few years, a few celebrities have "come out" as crazy (Catherine Zeta Jones, Ron Artest Metta World Peace, Owen Wilson) and people seem to be more open to the idea that just because someone has a couple of mental health issues, that person isn't irrevocably broken (which will hopefully result in more people identifying and working on any imbalances they may have), and that's really great, but I would seriously be thrilled if people could just understand that depressed is not the same as kind-of-bummed-they-discontinued-the-McRib

Labels: le crazy