What Major Depression Feels Like

Desperately fighting one’s way through encased granite like a vein of ore, enclosed, pressed, nearly stagnant…

Trapped in a tiny, one-person submersible, power lost, umbilical cord snapped, sinking slowly, steadily into utter darkness, the inevitability of imminent crushing the only future …

Tether malfunction, oxygen level low, space suit soon to be a tomb, drifting off into ice cold, silent outer space …

Eremacausis, slow burning rusting stagnation …

Living under a wet weighted blanket of heavy fog …

Despair, hopelessness …

It is impossible to just “get over it,” “think positively,” “focus on the good,” “count your blessings,” and so on. That works for those blue feelings that are a normal part of life, but they do nothing in the face of true clinical depression.

According to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), 15.5% of U.S. adults experience major depression in any given year. (https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-conditions/depression/)

It can be deadly.

It is also highly treatable. It takes a team.

1.    A thorough checkup from your physician, who may want to consult a neurologist.

2.    Medication prescribed and monitored by a good psychiatrist. (Psychiatrists are medical doctors.)

3.    Long-term in-depth psychotherapy with an experienced psychologist. (psychologists have Ph.D. or Psy.D. degrees)

4.    A supportive, caring community, such as can often be found in a local faith-community and/or mental health support groups.

To the depressed person:

·      You will get through this.

·      This horrible state you’re in is temporary.

If you or a loved one is in crisis, call or text 988 or text TALK to 741741

LGBTQ+ Crisis Hotline: 1-877-330-6366