Words

Social Media can be a great thing . It really has changed the world in many ways, making it a more connected place. It can be a great way of keeping in touch with people, learning from like- minded people and sometimes making new friends/connections. If you suffer from depression or anxiety sometimes the constant stream of photos and status showing other peoples seemingly "perfect" lives can leave you feeling flat or alien like. You are left feeling like your own life is some how inadequate and everybody else's life is better than your own. It can be very hard to remember that like anything in life, you never truly know what is going on behind those pictures or status updates, but  depending on your mindset it can be easy to take it as gospel. Sometimes you read comments and opinions that  may not mirror your own values and  it can either make you feel excluded or it can make you angry, upset or distressed . I can take or leave social media, I know there are times that I need to switch  off from it but equally there are  times when I can loose myself in it. I personally will always be an " Instagram " girl as I love looking at some of the amazing photo's and creations on there.

The purpose of this blog post is a Twitter statement that I read last week, that frankly horrified me. I am not going to give that person the satisfaction of quoting their tweet or naming them (as quite frankly it appeared to me they enjoyed the controversy they created as it was boosting their profile -  yet another downfall of the use of social media) but I was shocked and appalled by what I felt was quite a dangerous thing to say. We are very correctly all entitled to our own opinion on things but something really upset me about this. You see this person who has some publicity through their sporting role, randomly put a tweet out to say how Depression simply "was not a real thing". That all that was required to get over depression was a life style change. More damaging was their opinion that you simply needed to "man up" and get on with life. This was to me, so damaging and in the midst of all the good work that so many have been working hard to achieve to break down stigma around mental health. What was encouraging was the amount of people that stood up to this person and pointed out facts about depression which quite frankly are from medically qualified people who know their stuff and were very clear about how real it was. What was really scary was the people who counter argued who agreed with the opinion that depression was'nt real,  and in  was a made up illness by Pharmaceutical companies to make money. That somehow these people were wallowing in self pity and needed to "get a grip".

So I felt it important to put out a few facts about Depression. When I was doing my post grad , we were all told the importance about using and citing credible sources in our work. So for this post I have made sure I have included where every possible credible sources and also I speak from my own experience, as a person who suffers with depression and anxiety. I have learnt much from the health professionals who have supported me through the years so that I can indeed learn to manage my own mental health.

NHS Choices  explains fully all about Clinical Depression. It is a very real illness and to quote them telling somebody to "pull themselves" together is simply not helpful. Many people will experience depression in a number of ways. Some people may not even want to get out of bed , some people may not be able to sleep. Some people will feel they can't face going to work, others may absorb themselves in their job and eventually burn out. Some people may feel so low they can't face eating, others will over eat as it brings them comfort. We are all different and we all experience things very differently. However what every person going through a dark time will tell you is that it is very, very real. You may  need help to face it, you may  need help to recover and you will need understanding and compassion from everybody as you slowly do what you need to do to start to feel better and sometimes you have to learn to live with it. There will be times you are alright  and feel you can take on the world, but other times you will just want to shut the door and hide under the duvet - depression can often sneak back up on you when you least expect it

So let's tackle this nonsense about meds... when you have a chest infection or when you have some other health issue you may need treatment in the form of medication . I am Asthmatic -  no one would every dream of telling me not to take my prevention  inhaler every morning and night, as somebody invented Asthma to make the people that make the inhalers rich would they? Sometimes you need these drugs just to get you on an even keel to make our mind "re-set" to start us on the road to recovery 

Anti-depresssents contain chemicals called neurotransmitters that help improve our mood. Sometimes these are also used to treat other conditions such as PTSD and Anxiety. Please don't take my word for it, this is sometime our NHS advise to help people

Lifestyle change can help. I have made so many over the last eight years.  So for example I run when I can, I go to yoga,  I don't drink Alcohol (a natural depressant and it makes me feel lousy the next day), I have a dog (he enforces the exercise thing and just having him close reassures me)  I have tried talking therapy, I have tried Cognitive behavioral therapy. , I try and practice mindfulness. I basically try my very best to function the best I can, to enjoy my life the best I can  and not be a burden on the people who look after me.  What is very clear to me though was when I first stated suffering with this was how very real it is and I used to feel embarrassed about mentioning this. It has got easier over time, (I am older now and just say it these days)   but that post last week brought it all back, the shame I felt over how I was feeling and reading some of the comments really upset me, as I worried if other people felt like that then what hope do we every have of breaking down the stigma completely?

I am not a Royalist at all but this week Prince William came to Liverpool. I don't mind Harry and William :) I am a big fan of everything they are doing to support the work around helping remove all the preconceptions about Mental Health. He opened up The Life Rooms in Walton which has all sorts of courses and facilities to help the community and those having issues with their mental health. This really did make me feel that we are winning the battle on breaking down stigma. What also made me happy was the he visited Merseyside Dogs Home to see what work they were doing with matching dogs to people as therapy dogs to provide them with help to recovery

Picture from Merseyside Dogs Home Twitter feed

He even spoke about how his own Dog Lupo helps bring him a lot of comfort.

I feel that if we have enough people speaking out and feeling they can be honest about their experiences without people saying unhelpful things, then in the future, no one will every have to feel ashamed to admit they have depression and we will not longer feel they have to fight to explain why it is very real

If you are reading this and feeling low, then please believe me when I say, somebody will always listen and somebody will always care.

If you need help you can always contact your GP but in an emergency  the following organisations

Mind 

The Samartians  can help offer immediate support

You can also self refer to Talk Liverpool 

Heads Together is Harry, William and Kate's initiative to break down the stigma attached to Mental Health Issues