Thanks for posting this! I suppose from the outside I look like one of these "normal" people you speak of. I have a job, I'm married, have 2 kids, blah blah blah. And many days I'm happy now. And I also have a mental illness (depression and anxiety) I think there are far more people who suffer than any of us realize. I know when I told many of the people in my life that I suffer from depression they did not have any idea about it. I, like many of us, am a good actor I suppose. So you never know who is suffering from this illness. I think there are many people who have it also but have no idea they do.

Anyhow, I always get interested in this conversation of what is "normal". I personally feel there are enough of us who suffer from MI that it is fair to say we are somewhere in the realm of normal. I certainly don't think we are abnormal because we suffer.

It took me a long time to be able to come out to so many in my life about my depression. I can now say there are multiple people in all areas of my life (work, home, socially) who know about my illness that I feel just a little bit less alone. I also know that I was not ready to take this step until I was 42, and had worked very hard on these things for over 20 years. So many people I told about my illness have told me about their own struggles, or someone in their family having depression, or a friend/family member who has committed suicide. Nearly everyone is touched by this illness in my opinion, it's just still taboo to talk about it for some reason. I hope that changes someday. Having the illness out there doesn't mean I don't still have my depressive and anxious symptoms at times, it just makes me feel a little less alone and like I am pretending to be someone else when I do. I feel compassion for you *freak* (I feel weird typing that, because i don't think you are a freak ) I hope you are feeling better soon and thanks for bringing up this great topic.