Mental Health an inside perspective of depression
This is a slightly modified version of a post I made on Facebook. I've just taken out a few names etc to make it more anonymous, since it's going on Tumblr. The death of Robin Williams has taken over Facebook and other social networks. People saying how much they loved him, how he was a part of their childhood growing up, how sad it is that he apparently committed suicide after a battle with depression, and how terrible a disease depression is and how important it is for people to seek help. Whilst all this is a good thing we need to remember that Robin is dead and it's take the death of a gifted performer to bring it to world wide attention. I do, as I'm sure many of you are aware have problems with depression, anxiety and some mood swings. I have days when all I want to do when I look at my life is curl up and cry. I have days where I long for contact with friends my own age, to do things like going for coffee or wandering around shops. (I see my mum, but at her age and with her health issues, I doubt galavanting across the country to places is not something she can do). There is a big difference in 'getting out of the house' on your own and doing it to meet a friend. I know I've got a lot of friends on Facebook and most of you are probably reading this, so please don't think it's aimed at trying to make you feel guilty or anything because it's not, it's just an attempt to highlight the problem of depression and my experience with it. If it wasn't for Facebook and my ballet classes, I would probably talk to no one. Some people may say "well why don't you make the first move" or "you haven't spoken for x number of years why start bothering them now". When you have problems with depression and anxiety it's hard to make that first move, people have their own lives and commitments so it is hard to fit things in. I'm single (I am asexual and feel no sexual attraction to people and have always been like this) I have no children, I'm off work under medical orders because of the depression and mood swings etc so money is a big issue sometimes for going out places. I don't drink alcohol (don't like the taste of it) don't like night clubs or bars etc ( for lots of reasons, such as it seems to be the norm for people to go out and hook up etc which is not what I'm interested in), so from all this it's hard to fit in to people's lives. I have said if it wasn't for ballet class I probably wouldn't go out that much and this is not just me these are the issues that affect people with mental health issues across the world. Mental health issues go unseen, there is no blood test or scan that can say you have depression, or bipolar disorder or anxiety. Many sufferers do go to their doctor to seek help, but there are just as many who don't. they just go on with their lives, hiding it from others, putting on a brave face being too scared or ashamed to actually tell people how they feel. Even in this day and age there is still a stigma with mental health issues, say those words and people automatically think of Norman Bates, but it's not true and we do need to break down this stigma and negative opinion of mental health. There's an old saying about the tears of a clown, on the outside smiling but on the inside no one knows the tears that may be falling. In the case of Robin Williams this is more than apt. So in the Words of this great comedian who brought joy to many This is Mork signing off Nanu Nanu.
