I have depression but I’m also like the woman. I understand how hard it is so I don’t mind hearing that your efforts are failing…but I wanna hear you’re at least TRYING.
Even if you’re not in bed and you’re trying your best to do the things you’re supposed to (going to work. studying, eating etc) and you tell someone close to you that you have difficulty doing everyday tasks, they’ll still tell you to fight. No matter what you say they think that you need to fight even more because they do not understand how strenuous even walking becomes. It’s as if they need “proof” that you’re fighting and then you may feel even worse for letting them down(especially if they’re your parents), blaming yourself even more for not being able to function “normally”, as if you’ve not been blaming yourself enough the whole time. Even an innocuous comment can send you into despair, as it’s added to the long list of negative things you obsess over each and every day.
I have told people that it’s even more devastating than Aunt Lucille telling the boy with Muscular Dystrophy:
“Now Billy, if you would just stop moping around in that wheelchair all the time and went outside to play basketball with the other kids, you’d feel much better.”
At least in Billy’s case, people can see the wheelchair.
I have depression and the ‘fight’ mentality works for me, on occasion, to get out of bed or do a discrete simple task. However, I have the sense to know that it definitely doesn’t work for everyone! And even for me, it definitely doesn’t work predictably/consistently. I think it’s a problem when people expect that what works for them, or what works for them sometimes, will work for everyone all the time. They try to present it as a surefire thing, and everyone is very disappointed with the not-so-surefire result.
fighting it never worked for me. though managing it worked to get through the worst bout. “pretend you’re a robot” i even had a sleep schedule that said no disturbances between 10pm and 6am. intrusive thought? not gonna fight you, but i don’t have time to negotiate until tomorrow morning.
won’t work for anyone. i might just be weird. but not fighting it, and just letting it slip past was a working survival strategy.
I did have someone say to me”It’s all in your head.” I looked at them and said”Yeah that’s kind of what a mental illness…in your head…and its hard to get away from your own head.” They then said.”Well…have you tried not to be sad?” I again looked at them and said”Oh my god! you mean all i have to do is try and be happy?! My god you have done it! you found the cure! Thank god…wait till the mental health organizations hear about your cure! No pills….no therapy….we can just all be happy! Now doctor will you be running around to cancer patients to just try not have tumors as well?!” They replied”Well you don’t have to be sarcastic..” I replied.”Yeah…I really really think I do..”
That…was really funny. The FIGHT thing is something I even wonder about myself, but ugh it is so wrongheaded and just…doesn’t work.
Punchline definitely works, though. Perfect deadpan humour.
sure packs a punch
get it
it’s like punching his head
At least she has resolve in her
250 http://t.co/sde7j7iM5U via @depressioncomix
There are so many tiresome ways in which this is true. As seen by both persons.
I have depression but I’m also like the woman. I understand how hard it is so I don’t mind hearing that your efforts are failing…but I wanna hear you’re at least TRYING.
But he’s already fighting… every minute of every day that he’s still alive, he’s fighting.
“This is all in your mind”. The whole world is just a representation in your mind. The only reality is what you have in your mind. That’s the problem.
Yup 🙂
“My brain is trying to kill me. Yet here I am, still breathing. I AM fighting.”
Nice :/
Of course it’s all in my mind. Where else, exactly, would my mental illness be?
Maina Melendez
Even if you’re not in bed and you’re trying your best to do the things you’re supposed to (going to work. studying, eating etc) and you tell someone close to you that you have difficulty doing everyday tasks, they’ll still tell you to fight. No matter what you say they think that you need to fight even more because they do not understand how strenuous even walking becomes.
It’s as if they need “proof” that you’re fighting and then you may feel even worse for letting them down(especially if they’re your parents), blaming yourself even more for not being able to function “normally”, as if you’ve not been blaming yourself enough the whole time. Even an innocuous comment can send you into despair, as it’s added to the long list of negative things you obsess over each and every day.
I have told people that it’s even more devastating than Aunt Lucille telling the boy with Muscular Dystrophy:
“Now Billy, if you would just stop moping around in that wheelchair all the time and went outside to play basketball with the other kids, you’d feel much better.”
At least in Billy’s case, people can see the wheelchair.
I have depression and the ‘fight’ mentality works for me, on occasion, to get out of bed or do a discrete simple task.
However, I have the sense to know that it definitely doesn’t work for everyone! And even for me, it definitely doesn’t work predictably/consistently.
I think it’s a problem when people expect that what works for them, or what works for them sometimes, will work for everyone all the time. They try to present it as a surefire thing, and everyone is very disappointed with the not-so-surefire result.
fighting it never worked for me.
though managing it worked to get through the worst bout.
“pretend you’re a robot”
i even had a sleep schedule that said no disturbances between 10pm and 6am.
intrusive thought? not gonna fight you, but i don’t have time to negotiate until tomorrow morning.
won’t work for anyone. i might just be weird.
but not fighting it, and just letting it slip past was a working survival strategy.
I did have someone say to me”It’s all in your head.”
I looked at them and said”Yeah that’s kind of what a mental illness…in your head…and its hard to get away from your own head.”
They then said.”Well…have you tried not to be sad?”
I again looked at them and said”Oh my god! you mean all i have to do is try and be happy?! My god you have done it! you found the cure! Thank god…wait till the mental health organizations hear about your cure! No pills….no therapy….we can just all be happy! Now doctor will you be running around to cancer patients to just try not have tumors as well?!”
They replied”Well you don’t have to be sarcastic..”
I replied.”Yeah…I really really think I do..”
I would have replied, “Oh! You’re being sarcastic! Now what you said makes sense!”