I think it is hard in general for people to understand. My wife had a hard time understanding till I took her to one of my appointments. I don't like the word mental illness. Just the word mental in front of it puts thoughts of doubt in people's minds. The problem is you can't see it on some X-ray or scan. You can't have blood test or what ever to see what is going on. I mean do you ever hear someone say to someone with cancer to suck it up and it will get better? It is very hard for people to understand what is going on when they have never been through it. To me it is no different then trying to understand what someone is going through if they had cancer. I had a friend ask me how do I know that I am just feeling blue and that I should be able to snap out of it. I said to him have you ever wanted to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger? That you did not want to die but rather just have the pain go away. I said that is how I know it is an illness. The best advice I could give you that has helped me is this. People may not understand. Don't try making them understand. Tell your parents what you are going through and that you need help. Tell them the truth of how you feel. Tell them that you want to get better. Let them know that you are not choosing to get up everyday and suffer from this illness. Open up to them. Once I started doing that the healing began. Be honest to them and I bet they will start to understand on their own.