“Mistaking sadness for depression is like confusing a pimple with cancer. People who are sad get over it, the biggest cause of suicide especially among men under 30 is depression; something you can’t just shake off; the reason being is because it’s too painful to be in a body that can’t find any reason to go on living; it’s agony not sadness. I’ve interviewed people with cancer who also have depression. They say the cancer is easier to deal with because they get sympathy and support, with depression they feel abandoned and made to feel they are being self-indulgent. ”
-Ruby Wax
I’ve always admired Ruby Wax for her candour and clarity when it comes to discourse on depression.
A lot of people are confused about depression and sadness; clinical depression and situational depression. From my experience, a lot of people don’t know because they don’t want to know. They don’t want to listen. The moment your mouth starts pronouncing ‘deep…’ before you could finish the word, they go into full gear to preach to you about what they think they know, when they ent walk a step in your shoes.
Thank you Ruby Wax and to all our other friends for speaking out when it is still so hard to get others to listen without judging, stigmatising and empathising.
Gentle hugs and love to all 🙂
