The truth about depression is that it is a disease, not a choice. Depression victims don’t “decide” to be depressed, any more than cancer victims “decide” to have cancer. On the contrary, depression stems from causes that exist outside the scope of individual human will. If you’re a depression sufferer, it’s not your fault. You haven’t done anything wrong, or evinced any sort of personal weakness. The most vexing thing about depression, in fact, is precisely the extent to which depression victims cannot control the way they feel.

The obvious corollary here is that no one can beat depression without help. You wouldn’t expect a cancer patient to beat cancer outside of an oncology clinic. The same is true about depression and depression victims. If you’re going to get better, it’s going to be because you muster the courage to seek the assistance you need from a caregiver you can trust. For your own sake, for the sake of the people who care about you…don’t wait another day to finally do just that.

Filed under: Depression Treatment, Depression on May 9th, 2008