Depression. This one single word has such power and has such a large meaning to so many people. Why? Because everyone has heard of it, and others have either experienced or have seen someone experience depression. And, even if you haven't yet, you probably will at some point in your life.

Our parents grew up in a time when, the voices of those who were suffering from depression were repressed (remember at that point in time, the number of people suffering from depression was severely less than there are now, and so it was talked about less). This meant that the people who needed help often didn't know that they could be helped and that there was a name for what they were feeling. I am sure that, if those people could see what an open society we are now, they would be happy that young people like them were getting help.

I say open society because we are massively open about our mental health, and in particular, the words we use. This is good, because it means that there is an open forum for people who need help, to access it easily.

However, this vocabulary (mental health, anxiety, bipolar, suicidal, depression, and others) is being openly displayed on public places on social media. I personally know a friend (whose name I won't mention) who is twelve, and she had been reading, and watching videos of people talking about mental health, and in particular, depression. She then told me that she took a quiz that told her she had depression. She also started to tell her friends this, it eventually got back to her parents and they took her to a counseling session. She didn't have depression (as her counselor had told her), she had simply tried to fit in with, what she saw as, the 'norm' on the social media platform she was on.

I think that this is detrimental to our society, not only because it increases the number of young people who use those words, and may not understand their implications. But also because the topic of depression is a terribly sensitive topic, and I myself have been affected by it, and seeing people who clearly don't have depression pretending they have because of something some random, unnamed person on social media does or has told them they have it, can be incredibly hurtful. 

Depression is a serious subject. Some people can't even get out of bed in the mornings, some people hurt themselves, and others die from it; we need to stop using 'I have depression' as the new 'I'm having a bad day,' and we need to start treating it with caution. Depression is no less serious than anorexia, and yet you don't hear people saying 'Oh, I didn't eat breakfast this morning, so I must have anorexia', so please don't act like depression is just another 'norm'.

I am aware that the amount of people with diagnosed depression, has risen dramatically, (and COVID hasn't helped!) but that doesn't mean that now everyone has it. On January 30th The World Health Organization said "Globally, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression. Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease." But just because of this, it doesn't mean you have to add the numbers.

I wrote this because it is a sensitive topic, my ex-girlfriend, and one of my best friends, is still struggling with depression, and it hurts to know that she struggles with it when other people use the same words her doctors use for her, but they use them briefly and casually. I do realize that some people reading this may have been through a similar situation, or worse, and I am absolutely not saying that people who have depression are liars. I am, however, asking that the casual mentions of 'I'm depressed, 'I have depression,' or 'Today I'm so depressed' stop because you don't know who you are talking to, or what they are feeling.