The Stigma of Depression

Let’s face it, we all get a little depressed from time to time. Perhaps you label it down-in-the-dumps, melancholy, the blues or just not feeling yourself. Either way there is a huge yellow flag that pops up in our mind and cautions us not to mention it.

I know from being in health-care that the intake question;”Are you feeling depressed” is an immediate red flag in your chart if you answer yes, so why would you want to put the stigma on yourself?

Being depressed or sad doesn’t mean you’re suicidal, but placing so much heavy judgement on depression keeps people from talking and reaching out to get help. To realize they are not alone and many feel the same way. We need to remove this double-standard that can possibly be the reason some escalate to suicide. If a person is unable to express their sadness due to these stigmas, they have no choice but to bottle it up inside! And the more well-known you are in your work, social life, community, then greater the fear of shame and judgement.

Someone like Robin Williams, famous and well-known for making people laugh, may have potentially ruined his career disclosing his depression. Instead, he ended his life!

This juxtaposition needs to be ratified. In a society of political correctness, how can we have “Suicide Prevention” campaigns while we shame, label or stigmatize the human emotional condition of depression! If we don’t allow people to express their difficult emotions than we can’t see possible suicide coming until it’s too late.