Depression

So it has come to my attention to adress the mistakes people make regarding depression.

No, depression isn't prolonged or long-term sadness, it is emptiness. The absence in the mind. It is when you are not pre-occupied or you feel nothing. If emptiness felt empty, oh THAT would be paradise, not because it feels like paradise but because everything you feel is tolerable. And because you feel nothing, nothing is tolerable, there isn't anything to tolerate and there will be nothing negative. No boredom, no sadness, no anger, no misery, just nothing. THAT would be paradise.

But no, when you have depression and you are full of emptiness, you do not FEEL empty. You feel useless, purposeless, meaningless, you question your own existance.
Depression is when the void in your mind, your emotions is filled up by such things, worthlessness and loneliness. This is ironic, as loneliness is accompanied by uselessness and worthlessness for the full 6 years of depression you suffer.

But the person feels these things. Don't get me wrong, when you are depressed, you DO feel sad, you can feel incredibly sad, but it is different from normal sadness, it is depressed. A feeling as if there is something missing, a hole you need to fill, but you are too useless to fill it, so the negative thoughts come in and fill that gap.

Although strong, those feelings can be overcome, no, not overcome as they are just a teporary fill-in for the emptiness. However, don't be fooled, if nothing comes along to replace it, these 'temporary' feelings will stay there and develop and more serious thoughts such as suicidal thoughts may develop. So no, overcome is not the best word to use, 'replace' is an adequate word in this case.

So next time you see someone that is depressed, talk to them, cheer them up, talk about anything, it doesn't take much to replace those feelings,

Thank you Ada Chan,

Jonathan Cattermole