In my experience with
depression, it seems there are a large number of people who are unable to understand the
emotional war that this
mental illness can bring on. This can include
close friends. Instead of showing
compassion toward someone whose life is a
suicidal nightmare, these people would rather have you put on a
plastic happy mask and pretend you live in happy land. That way, they don't have to feel bad about ignoring your
devastating mental state. These people often think that just because their lives aren't full of emotional
trauma that everyone else must be equally
content and that anyone who's not is some kind of inferior
wacko. More often than not, treating a depressed friend like
shit is not the correct way to help them out of their
problems. Sure, they may be receiving
professional help, but this does not mean that you as a friend should simply not
care about their problems. Be kind to them, support them; they need you now more than ever. Yelling at and belittling a depressed
friend does not help their
low self-esteem.
Happy land is a myth, an idea that comes up more often that we would like to admit. When people are sad or upset, isn't most of our day about hiding that from others? God forbid the clients know that something is bothering me. Can't let my friends think I'm some kind of weirdo because I'm upset. Gotta hide my pain from my ex-girlfriend or she'll think she can still have an effect on me. So we pretend that everything is ok. Like the rich housewife who spends all day straightening the room that no one's allowed to go into so that everyone thinks she has a perfect family. Just one of the many lies society forces the insecure to perpertuate in our dealings with one another.