Hi everyone!
I've decided to write a blog series about depression. Over the past few years, and more severely in the past year, depression has had a profoundly devastating effect on my life. It is an often misunderstood phenomenon which, for those who don't suffer with it, can be very difficult to understand what is going on, and what they can do to help. Don't feel bad though, those who do suffer with depression have a hard enough time figuring out what's going on with them, let alone try to explain it to someone else!
I want to write this series for two main reasons:
1. I want to help advise those who either think they have depression, or those who definitively know and are trying to deal with it.
2. I want to help the family, friends and associates of sufferers, to have a better understanding of the condition through discussing my own experience.
I don't plan on doing a scientific analysis of the illness, although I'm sure it will creep in there. I want to be frank and deal with it in a pragmatic way, so that awareness is given, and advice on what we can all do to deal with it together. I also warn you, it will get very personal, but I feel it needs to be in order to be truly helpful.
In this series I will go over areas such as: 'Am I depressed? How do I find out?', 'What it can feel like', 'How can I help someone who is depressed?', 'Things not to do/say to someone who is depressed', 'David's story with depression and anxiety', and many more areas. If there are any specific things you want addressed, I am more than happy to discuss them.
Remember I will just be talking from my own experience, it won't necessarily be applicable to every person, as depression is very individual.
I hope you all will find this series useful, please share this with friends and family who might need it.
