*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.
Depression is more than feeling sad. Though it is a common mental health illness, many people with depression feel like they are misunderstood. It can be hard for someone to express themselves, and someone suffering from mental illness may even feel uncomfortable telling the people closest to them how they are truly feeling.
Depression sufferers shared what it was like to be misunderstood, when Redditor u/PuppieWayne asked, "People who are going through depression, what do you wish your friends and family understand about you?"
10. "I wish I could tell them..."
"I wish I could tell them without them changing how they treat me"
"Yeah. When I eventually told my dad that I had thinking about killing myself and I was scared I was actually going to do it for once he changed into a completely different person."
9. "They never expect him to pretend to feel happy..."
Giphy"I saw this on the internet forever ago and it's always stuck with me:
'One awesome thing about Eeyore's friends, is that even though Eeyore seems to be clinically depressed, he still gets invited to participate in adventures and shenanigans with all of his friends. And they never expect him to pretend to feel happy, they just love him anyway, and they never leave him behind or ask him to change.'"
8. "It's because of how I feel..."
"That I don't feel the way I do due to a poor sleep schedule, I have a poor sleep schedule because of how I feel"
7. "A sad, lonely, irritated person..."
"A simple 'hey, are you ok' goes a very long way with me."
"That moment when you've been depressed for so long people stopped asking you if you're okay because at this point you're always sad and angry. And you realize that to others the 'normal' you is a sad, lonely, irritated person. And that hurts you even more"
6. "When this happens PLEASE don't say..."
"Sometimes my mood just changes. One day I'll seem like I'm okay, in a good mood, but the next I may be unmotivated, mentally exhausted. when this happens PLEASE don't say 'but you were just fine yesterday why so you keep changing your mood?' i don't know"
5. "I'm not lazy..."
Giphy"I'm not lazy. I am literally unable to motivate myself to do anything. I have no goal or purpose but it's not that I'm not working towards one. I wish more than anything I could have one."
4. "There is always a disconnect..."
"I consider myself pretty decent with words, but no matter how many times I try and describe how I feel to someone, there is always a disconnect. My parents don't have the empathy bone for mental health problems, and my friends have their own issues that I don't wanna pile on."
3. "It's much deeper than that..."
"The anger that goes with it... sometimes I cannot explain why I am as angry as I am. I cannot explain why sometimes I get so angry I scream and yell over small things, when really it's much deeper than that. Most of the time I am just angry at myself."
2. "Understand my point of view..."
"Understand my point of view instead of looking at others. Understand why I'm always quiet and angry and irritable. I wish they knew I was feeling sad. My heart hurts"
"I wish they'd understand..."
"My family used to always make fun of me for not showering and wearing loose clothes.
I just wish they'd understand how difficult the smallest tasks were to me, and how hurtful some of the things they said were, not because what they said was brutal but because of how fragile I was at the time."
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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