Thanks for your reply Densam.
I hope your family will understand eventually- support from family is very important, but friends can be just as good. It is great that you have someone you feel you trust enough to talk to.
I don't feel I can really tell any of the people in my class- it would probably be spread round the entire school within a few days.A while ago I did tell one of my friends, I tried to explain how hard it was to keep going and how depressed I felt. She felt really awkward about it and couldn't understand how I was feeling. We never really spoke about it again.
Oh well, hope you have better luck than me and that you feel happier today :)Thanx
Hi Kill me
I had a long discussion with an old friend of mine yesterday. He is quite liberal and understands that some people suffer from depression. I must admit the last few days I have really been battling. There are many things that have gone wrong and I really need someone who understands. He could not believe it when I told him what my family said about my depression. It was a shocker for me as well, but sometimes you just have to move on. Thanks for your reply and I hope you are gradually getting better.
Hi Densam, I agree with what you said about the general attitude towards depression in South africa. I myself used to live in South Africa but we had to move because our medical aid wouldn't recognise ME (condition which has been linked to depression)and we couldn't afford the medication for my Mum.
There have been some cases of depression on the one side of my family and some of my relatives talk about it as if it was a disgrace. I haven't yet told my family that I have clinical depression, only my parents- and they didn't take me seriously.
Hi Everyone
I have read many messages where the main theme is that some people tend not to understand depression. It is especially worrying for me, being from South Africa, that our medical aids (medical schemes paying for medication) have now decided to exclude Depression from the conditions that they are obliged to pay for. It is also worrying that people on the street and many of our families look down on people with depression and put them in state homes to care for, or send them to villages where they are not seen.
Could some of you, from the First World Countries, tell me what your support groups have done to increase knowledge and understanding of depression (and other mental illnesses) and whether it has helped? I am at a stage where I think the only way to beat depression is to fight for the rights of people living with depression and other mental illnesses.
