Dear Past Self,
You have a certain idea about what “depression” looks like. You imagine someone dressed in black and staring at the floor, or maybe someone binge drinking alone in a messy apartment. You think of depression as something other, something that doesn’t happen to people you know, people you care about. This isn’t your fault—your whole life, the 1990’s/early 2000’s media has portrayed depression as something distant, something extreme, something easily recognizable that doesn’t affect most people (when they talk about it at all, which is also rare).
Media Portrayal of Depression
In reality, Past Self, depression actually does affect most people: even those who don’t struggle with depression likely have a friend or family member that does:
Reality
Moreover, Past Self, despite what you’ve been led to believe, depression does not all look the same. It comes in thousands of different forms.
Sometimes, depression can look like having fun.
Sometimes, depression can look like apathy:
