This morning, after a long time, I used a social network again and scrolled half-heartedly.
There, I came across a post that reminded me of one of the reasons why I distance myself from these networks as much as possible.
To not fully replicate this mental fog, the core message was: „Depression doesn’t exist. You can have a depressive phase, but work on yourself and you are free.“
Having lived with this dark companion for over a decade now, I can say that this person and all who agreed with him have no idea what depression entails.
Of course, I am happy for those who told me how bad they felt for a while and that they managed to improve their mental state with regular exercise and writing down their problems. I would say these people had a bad phase in their life and found a way out of it.
But depression is not just a bad phase or sitting sad in a corner because something bad happened or you are overwhelmed with life. Depression is the brick in your backpack as you climb a mountain. It’s the key left in the ignition overnight, draining the battery. It’s the dripping tap that slowly floods your apartment while you are on a world trip.
Depression has many facets, which is why it can’t be identified as simply as a broken leg.