Depression sneaks up on people. You will not see blood or a broken limb. Very gradually, the disease creeps up on you, dragging you down into a dark abyss of hopelessness.
The patient is not the only one afflicted with this illness. Family and friends are drawn into the cold grey world of the depressed, desperately trying to provide advice or support. However, they soon realize that they exist outside of an invisible barrier, which they are unable to penetrate.
The occasional state of melancholy becomes more frequent but you do not see it happening. The sun no longer shines brightly and you do not look forward to the day with joy in your heart. Getting out of bed in the morning is almost more than you can manage. Indeed, increasingly, you pull up the duvet and call in sick. You ask your spouse to take the children to school as you hunker under the blankets.
You excuse yourself from a variety of social occasions with the excuse that you are too tired, which you truly are. You do not have the energy to get up and get dressed but if you must you pull on a couple of items that cover your body. You do not take care to present a good appearance; you do not add a touch of perfume; you pull a brush or comb through your hair.
The house becomes your haven. You can slop around in your old garb. You need not face anyone nor do you need to respond to questions. You know that you are negative and never have a positive answer for anyone, but there are no positive answers within you.
You wear black, you feel sad, as if in continual mourning for your own life that simply drags on day after day. Holidays are not a time of joy and again you hear in your own head people saying that you are a misery. You know that you do not bring joy or good cheer but there is a void inside you and a complete hopelessness about the world and the future.
It is almost impossible to drag yourself out of depression. If you are really fortunate, someone will come to your rescue by taking you to a doctor who can provide the chemicals necessary to address the chemical imbalance in your brain. Somehow, the information that it is not your worthlessness that is responsible for your condition but something that can be defined as a chemical; something that is objective; something that is real for doctors.
But if you think that taking a medical drug will resolve everything at the wave of a wand, you are sadly disillusioned. You are warned that you have work to do to climb out of the pit of despair, but you know that the effort will be too great for you; that you are too tired to do it.
If you do not have someone watching over you, you will not escape, even while taking a handful of pills a day. You will need someone to visit you, to go out with you, to persuade you or even bully you very gently. It will take someone with a kind soul who will not accept a negative answer.
If you are very fortunate, you will receive guidance and support to take very small steps to build your confidence and happiness. You will walk to the corner shop, open the windows when you awake or wear a brightly colored outfit.
It is not easy, but you can beat depression if you accept that you need help.
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