Thank you for sharing. I think the worse thing is: "I get sad too. You just have to get over it." It is important to remember that someone that doesn't suffer from depression has no clue about the depths of that suffering. Touch that emptiness and it takes everything to survive. One doesn't easily forget that. When I hear "sad", I just know that person has no clue. In a way, they are very very lucky to not have a clue. Some don't learn or understand till they have gone through it. Better for them if they never understand. Thank you.

I find it very frustrating to have the majority of people around have realky no idea what depression really is, what bipolar really is, what ulcerative colitis really is, what C-PSTD really is, anxiety attacks, etc....
And many misuse these medical terms all the time.
What's hard about that is, when "they" talk to eaxh other, they are on the same playing field so these words all are understood and a surface level rather than the true medical level, so when someone like yourself said "I'm depressed " it has no depth of meaning to them. And the truth is, I don't know if it's possible to get people to understand who have not been there. For me, trying, just causes hard feelings on my part and misunderstanding on theirs.

I always bottle it up inside, this is literally the first time ive tried to help myseld about it. I always feel like i need to put others happiness before mine. Idk if anyone else feels this way but. People who i tell that i have depression to or should i say my mother tells always ask me if im suicidal. I kinda dont like that they automatically assume I'm suicidal. Im not suicidal really but I've thought it would be better if i wasn't born alot.

thatonekid, when I went to modern day psychiatry visits, they were obsessed w suicidal-ality. Like they were putting the idea into progress heads as an option, when its never been an option for me, as an out for depression. When I was NOT suicidal they acted like, well what are you doing here then.

How do you know that they aren't depressed? Just because they're depression isn't like yours doesn't mean they don't deal with Depression. I've been BiPolar w/Severe Suicidal Depression for 28 years, yet I've raised 2 Children, Gotten 3 University Degrees and a Paralegal Certificate, Worked my whole life, had a 25 yr. marriage and am now enjoying being single for the last 6 yrs. I've been in therapy for 28 yrs., literally went to therapy every month for 28 yrs, been on psych meds for 28 yrs., been inpatient for 5 suicide attempts, the longest was for 3.5 months because that was the last time and I finally did 3 cycles of ECT because I was done, at the end, done.....and it gave me my life back. Now just because I have an elevated IQ and can do all those things in and around my Depression and Manic phases....am I not allowed to say, I'm depressed if i'm not at the point where I've got a bottle of pills in one hand and a knife to my wrist?

Nobody has the right to judge any other persons depression. You don't know what that person's going through in their life, you don't know what goes on behind the closed doors of their homes. Do you know how absolutely tiring it gets to log onto this site at times and see the same, "I want to die" subject line on every post, its like every single person just gives up the minute they get down and it's not even worth it to fight for life. But its not my right to judge them, even though I'm trained to deal with them in a medical capacity, it's not my right to tell them whether there "depressed enough, or too much".

Being depressed does not mean being suicidal. Depression is so much bigger and wider and much more difficult than that, it encompasses so much more and so many more levels than just being suicidal. Nobody should judge another's depth of depression.