I know I'm new, and I'm posting a lot, but I've been bottled up for a few weeks. I would like to rant a bit about the way people tend to perceive people with depression, and to grumble a bit about the 'get over it' attitude.

I get really frustrated with my family and friends who have such a hard time understanding that this way I feel is not voluntary; and that it's a disease. Even my husband succumbs to that attitude sometimes; asking me why I 'dwell on those bad things'. It really hurts my feelings that I get dismissed so quickly as being a whiner or whatever because of this oppressive sadness i have to fight every day.

I want credit damnit! How would these people cope with constant self-censure, an imposing sense of hopelessness and low-grade sadness day after day? With images of suicide and all those 'lovely' things; how would *they* cope? It's A LOT to deal with. A LOT, and I think it takes a lot more strength for people with depression to function in this world than it does for those for whom normalcy comes naturally.

I'm not weak! None of us are, and I'm tired of the insensitive remarks, and the dismissive and belittling attitudes people have against mental illness. We can't help it, and heck if we're doing our best to cope with it. We fill ourselves with medications, subject our most private humiliations to therapists, and try like hell to get by.

I tend to laugh stuff off when they're said, but inside it totally hurts.

ARGH!

Give me a break!

>>rant over<<