Severe Depression Isn’t Anything You Can Explain Very Well

Today we were met with some shocking news from the entertainment industry. Robin Williams has killed himself at the age of 63.

It’s shocking, it’s sad. Some of us don’t understand or comprehend how someone so funny could be so sad that he would take his own life.

As someone who suffered from depression for years I can tell you that it’s a demon that you don’t want to deal with.  Some of us, like myself, learn to fight that demon and conquer him, and some of us like Mr. Williams, aren’t strong enough to fight and in the end the demon gets the best of us.

For people who have never been to the point of no return you don’t, and will not, ever understand what severe depression is about.

Let me try to explain it to you.  It’s difficult to explain if you’ve never been through it, but I will try.

You may look at someone who is depressed on the outside as happy go lucky and funny and beautiful, famous, loaded with money, etc. What you don’t see is what their mind is going through.  The horror movie that is playing in their mind.  The despair, the heartache, the feeling of their heart dropping down into the pit of  their stomach.  Their soul giving up and wanting to leave their body.  Life isn’t worth living for them.  Nobody understands them because they can’t explain how they feel.  If you can’t explain how you feel then how will anyone understand you.  They suffer, and they suffer, and they keep living day by day feeling alone. So alone.  The feeling of being so alone makes them feel even more depressed.

The pain is extreme.  It’s not a physical pain, but a pain that can’t be explained.  The pain of nothingness.  They are nothing.  They are not worthy.  They would be better off dead.  Everyone around them would benefit more if you were dead.

Then the numbness sets in.  This is the point were the demon has control and they really have to fight.  I fought because of my children.  I had young children at the time and didn’t want to hurt them, I wanted to get help.  This made me win the demon.  I got help, I succeeded, and to this day am a different person.

If you allow the numbness to set in and you feel you have nothing to fight for then more than likely the demon will win.  I don’t know what was going on in Mr. Williams life when he decided to take his own life, but it apparently was so bad that he just didn’t want to try any longer.

Remember to be kind to one another.  Talk to your family and friends.  You are human and you know if there is something wrong.  Don’t be afraid to ask someone if they’re ok and let them know if they need to talk you are there for them.  Be aware of the signs.  Sometimes there are signs, sometimes there aren’t.

Here are some signs of severe depression: