Disclaimer: I don't recommend reading this if you're depressed or think you might be. This is all pretty heavy handed stuff.
There's also a decent amount of whinging in this post, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.
While I may be a university student, depression is still a very real thing, especially among people in my age group. The Social Readjustment Scale measures how likely you are to be affected by mental illness and I scored 454. A major risk is considered above 300.
Everyone has issues. These could be anything from minor self-image problems to incredible cynicism. We all have them in one way shape or form and we all like to say, "You can get help. There's always someone willing to listen." However, that's not always true. For example, I'm depressed and I've got an appointment with a therapist lined up next week to try to sort everything out.
This kind of treatment, however basic, isn't available to everyone. Not everyone can afford a therapist and even if you can, finding one that will actually help you can be a challenge in of itself. Ironically, what got me thinking about depression was [a href=http://www.depressionquest.com/]Depression Quest[/a], a "choose-your-own-adventure" game about depression. I recommend playing through it and choosing the answers that you would actually pick instead of the ones that would help you the most. I played through it and began thinking, "These are some of the symptoms of depression? I've got a few of those myself." I talked to the healthcare clinic on campus and was diagnosed with depression.
So now, I'm hoping things will get a little better and I can't start to, well, feel again.
Here's the discussion portion: Do you know anyone that has dealt with depression? How did they get out of it? Are they still struggling with it?
If you do know anyone that is depressed, or if you are, best of luck. The world's a tough place, but maybe, just maybe, we'll make it out.
There's also a decent amount of whinging in this post, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.
While I may be a university student, depression is still a very real thing, especially among people in my age group. The Social Readjustment Scale measures how likely you are to be affected by mental illness and I scored 454. A major risk is considered above 300.
Everyone has issues. These could be anything from minor self-image problems to incredible cynicism. We all have them in one way shape or form and we all like to say, "You can get help. There's always someone willing to listen." However, that's not always true. For example, I'm depressed and I've got an appointment with a therapist lined up next week to try to sort everything out.
Hopefully, I can overcome my deep-seated trust issues due to a life of being stabbed in the back and become slightly more sociable than I am now. I want to become better friends with current ones and meet more people, but it's hard to do when I have no reason to see the good side in anyone and always suspect them of pitying me or merely putting up with me. I've gotten pretty bad lately and very little excites me. There's a lot more than that, I just don't want to put my life's story here.
This kind of treatment, however basic, isn't available to everyone. Not everyone can afford a therapist and even if you can, finding one that will actually help you can be a challenge in of itself. Ironically, what got me thinking about depression was [a href=http://www.depressionquest.com/]Depression Quest[/a], a "choose-your-own-adventure" game about depression. I recommend playing through it and choosing the answers that you would actually pick instead of the ones that would help you the most. I played through it and began thinking, "These are some of the symptoms of depression? I've got a few of those myself." I talked to the healthcare clinic on campus and was diagnosed with depression.
So now, I'm hoping things will get a little better and I can't start to, well, feel again.
Here's the discussion portion: Do you know anyone that has dealt with depression? How did they get out of it? Are they still struggling with it?
If you do know anyone that is depressed, or if you are, best of luck. The world's a tough place, but maybe, just maybe, we'll make it out.