Another way of looking at depression

[Faith No More]

OK, question for those suffering.

How many times have you been told, or by how many people, to just suck it up? Your problem is imaginary. You are a malingerer. You are using this as manipulation. You could make yourself better if you'd just try.

Although I don't suffer, and don't believe a stitch of what I typed, I've heard these things said many times. It shows how misunderstood depression (actually all mental illness) really is.

Thoughts?

Too many times to count. Depression is one of those things that you can never understand unless you experience it, but nearly everyone seems to think they can offer advice on it. People seem to believe that the reason they haven't experienced it is because of something they've personally done or that they don't suffer from the same character flaw. Most of the time the advice seems to be well-meaning and not malicious, but when you try to tell the person that it's not that simple, it never seems to sink in.

And like abaris said, the advice just ends up making you feel worse, because it leaves you feeling like no one can understand what you're going through and you're all alone.