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Depression is one of the biggest issues that the world population is facing today. Researchers say that every other person has a mental illness of one form or the other.
The thing that makes it such big the problem is that medicines alone are not sufficient to cure it.
A depressed person or a person who has mental illness seeks help from his/her fellow humans. Friends, family, colleagues are a sure shot cure for anyone’s depression.
It is imperative to keep it in mind as to what are the things that one should never say to a depressed
person. So read on!
Never Say These Things To Someone Who Has Mental Illness
1. “Try and stay positive”
You should stay rest assured that the majority of people who are going through mental illness or a mood disorder try to look at the bright side. They try to stay active. Only if it was that easy.
What a person is going through during a mental breakdown cannot be changed just by thinking positively. The thing is that mental illness is not just a frame of mind. It is nothing but a chemical imbalance.
Telling them to stay active is just like telling them that hey, stop thinking negatively. That is the last thing that anyone going through a mental breakdown would like to hear.
2. “Only if you get off your anti-depressants, and you will start feeling better.”
Various reasons attribute to this problem. An antidepressant may not have worked for you and might
have made you feel worse, but the same antidepressant can be a lifesaving change for someone else.
Although a birth control pill might as well have added to your depression, that same pill might also be helping another person. Getting off those pills might have helped you, but that might not similarly help the other person.
The second problem with saying this is that by asking people to get off their medication, they might feel ashamed for getting medical attention. You’re making them feel that they’re doing something wrong by taking those drugs.
All that they need to know is that they’re not doing anything wrong at all and they have the right to use whatever ways they can to fight it.
3. “Yeah I’ve had similar problems; I just didn’t let them control me.”
When you say that we have had similar problems, believe it or not, but most of the time you are wrong.
You might think that problems do not control you, but that is the thing about mental illness. It does try to control you. Mental illness wraps itself onto every thought of yours.
It affects you every day, your every relationship, and every function of the brain. Getting better from mental illness is not that simple. If it was that simple, depression would not have been a global issue.
People having depression are not allowing the problems to take on their minds. They do not choose to be taken down by the monster. If they had a choice, they wouldn’t have let it control them.
4. “Children are starving in Africa, think about how good you have it.”
Oh, they are very much aware that they are not suffering from the worst problem of humankind.
Patients don’t feel beautiful about the starving children either, and they are grateful for that roof over their heads and a full pantry.
However, the problems that others are facing do not make their life easy. They have a right to feel and express pain.
They say poison fights poison. But trust me, problems on the other side of the world wouldn’t affect a patient’s state of mind.
5. “Have you tried to exercise or eating healthier?”
Depression or no depression, living a healthy lifestyle is always a great idea. However, a person who is having suicidal thoughts has an entirely non-trivial mindset.
Exercising is good for anyone, but that might not be just the thing that a person who is suffering from mental illness needs. It might as well make them think that they are not living a healthy lifestyle.
6. “You seem great, are you cured?”
Mental illness is a poison that has no antidote. You might think that when a person feels happy, he is not having any mental problems.
But a mental depression is just like a dormant demon. It can always strike back and hit hard.
Secondly, people with mental illness tend to get pretty good at a little thing called acting. Those who smile a lot, and laugh a lot, are many times the loneliest inside.
Someone can be a complete wreck at home and put on a mask when they go outside.
You never know what is happening behind closed doors.
