Preface

In writing about the issue of depression, my purpose is not meant to reassure the world that everything will be ok. There is a pervasive expectation for people, especially young people, to be happy all the time when this is neither a realistic expectation nor a healthy ideal. Everyone seems to think that mental issues are something to fix. In fact, such issues can allow one to grow. A young person with depression is still a normal teenager. If you take medication for depression, you are still fundamentally the same person. As a teenager with depression, I have often heard other people tell me what I need. What if a depressed teenager already knows what they need? And that need is to lay down and close your eyes for a moment instead of getting out and socializing. There is no one size fits all approach to this. Every depressed person needs something different and there is no quick fix. A human being deserves to feel sadness, whether the cause is a bad test grade or the chemical reality of depression. Depression has no physical form. Often a depressed person is indistinguishable from their happy peers. This book is not meant to tell a depressed person what to do to get better. Neither you nor I know how every depressed person feels or what they should do. This book is meant to be part of a larger conversation about the reality of depression as it is experienced by myself and people I know, to bring to light an issue that has been hidden due to stigma and shame.