How to Explain Depression/Anxiety to a Non Believer

[blondguy]

Hello Everyone! and any new posters too!

Having had depression and anxiety for over 30 years explaining the illness whether to a boss, partner or family member can be difficult. I have seen numerous people post desperate to find a way to explain it to people that just don't understand. Even worse is explaining depression to
ignorant people that think we should just 'snap out of it' and 'move forward'

I have a couple that have worked

• In Business When I have had a boss that has a closed mind I have told them 'its like claustrophobia without the closed in spaces'
• Family Member non believer. I have explained it as 'Diabetes of the Brain' as there is a chemical link. 'Invisible Crutches' also works

A Community Champion on the forums mentioned to copy the info under 'The Facts' (or Supporting Someone with depression) print it and provide a copy to the person that is trying but cant understand depression. A fabulous idea!

Lastly we have the people that tell us to 'snap out of it' and wont listen or even try to understand....I find communicating the following to them can 'wake them up'..............

'Depression is a serious illness........just like diabetes or heart disease

Expecting positive thinking to cure depression is like expecting a person with diabetes to lower their blood sugar level by thinking happy thoughts'

The name (noun) of this illness 'depression' is a failure of the english language as we know it. The illness is badly named, inaccurate and gives no justice to the severity of the illness and its symptoms.

There are many people that read the Beyond Blue Forums and choose not to post which is fine. There are also many people on the forums that may find your advice beneficial too! If you have any ways of 'Explaining depression' when people give you that 'there is really nothing wrong with you look' please do share any knowledge or advice so we can help others find some peace in their lives

Thankyou for reading my post 🙂

Kind Thoughts

Paul

[blondguy]

Hello Everyone and thankyou for reading too

Tony WK ....thankyou for your wisdom/input on this one and no you arent being too staunch on this at all...I hear you loud and clear and thankyou for taking the time to help out here with your experience

Tony WK mentioned "Some cant extend their mind and I'm not in this world to persuade them to. By being so staunch it has eliminated many from my life to make way for others more deserving" I am with you Tony...life is way too short to accommodate the people that cant see the 'broken bones' in our brain.

Hi SM

You are a gift to the forums and thankyou for posting here too 🙂 You have written a great post..I find it disturbing when a rugby/football player pulls a hamstring and makes the news. It is good to see many 'high profile' people saying that they have depression or are taking some time off due to needing some time out as they are doing it tough too....including a very senior member of Victoria Police....It takes guts to say so and they should be commended for saying what is actually going on..They are a driving force to stop the stigma of mental health

SM mentioned " Some non-believers can go out of their way to make you feel like you arejust making excuses. Then you end up trying to explain why you are explaining and can even start to doubt your own explanation. Not anymore"

Moon....Bless your heart.....You have been on the forums for so long and thankyou so much for your take on this topic....You have so much strength to continually share your wisdom/experience on the forums...

Moon mentioned "responses I have had include "Everyone experiences loss and pain at sometime". or...."there's nothing much you can do...it's just life". "Plenty of people worse off than you" Moon...the people saying this to you would withdraw their 'armchair' advice in a heartbeat if they experienced 1% of what you and I do...seriously

Geoff.....I hear you loud and clear about 'the old buggers' that preached to us when we were kids...If these people experienced what we have they would rather deny their illness than even discuss it for a moment.

Thankyou everyone for speaking from the heart and trying so hard to 'Stop the Stigma' associated with mental health issues

My Best as Always

Paul

[Sad_Mushroom]

Morning Paul and all,

I had a thought.

When I was at my worst I could go from shy and withdrawn to a 'violent cyclone' in 2 seconds flat. No one questioned the violent cyclone. It was clear to see that something was seriously wrong with me.

Do you think it's so hard for people to understand depression/anxiety because it's silent?

People assume it's "not that bad" because they have all felt sad or nervous at some point and don't realise the difference between sad and depression or nervous and anxiety. Yet, when they see a violent cyclone they are so quick to understand the difference between being cranky and 'losing the plot completely'.

I know they still don't understand the loss of control but they don't "doubt" that it is something beyond control and a serious mental health issue. People don't question it's 'validity'.

SM

[blondguy]

Hey SM

I used to have the anger as well back in the 1980's and yes I agree that people can see that something is wrong but through ignorance they tend to make up their own minds.

Most of this I feel is due to the stigma involving mental illness as well as our condition being 'invisible'

They cant see broken bones so therefore they 'presume' we have an attitude problem or are whinging

Its chemically based (to me) which makes it a partially physiological illness anyway

I hope you have a good day SM

My Kind thoughts

Paul