I found this study interesting because I do believe the thing that has pushed me from mild anxiety or depression into a worse state is not believing I could do anything. Not having any hope, in other words. These folks sound something very similar:
It’s not just saying I believe you when someone tells you they are struggling with depression or anxiety. It’s all of the subtle ways we show them that we don’t believe them. The “But you don’t look”, the “you’ll be fine”, the toxic positivity, the refusal to change your own behavior in supportive ways, etc., do just as much damage. They send the message that we don’t believe what you just said is serious enough to warrant doing anything differently.
Is that the message you want to send someone who trusted you enough to admit they are struggling with you? That their struggles aren’t valid enough for you to do anything differently?
Getting kids help as early as possible gives them a much better chance to have less depression and fewer effects as adults. Imagine how many people might have been able to develop mentally healthy strategies instead of devolving into worse conditions if it was common for kids to have access to mental health resources?
Please, don’t ignore signs of depression and mental health struggles in kids. Yes, they can be resilient, but the research clearly shows that they aren’t as resilient as we think they are, and waiting to get access to help is doing more damage.
In this case, it is better to be safe. The worst thing that happens is a kid gets some time to talk to a therapist who determines that it’s not depression but something else. This is not a bad thing, even if the stigma surrounding it says it is.
Numb is exactly the word I would use to describe what I felt. I didn’t look sad, and I didn’t cry. I didn’t talk about my negative emotions. I simply felt nothing. I had lost the ability to feel sad, happy, hopeful, angry, etc. Nothing made any difference, and nothing mattered.
Often we describe depression as sadness, and our media depictions are of people looking and acting sad. We can’t forget that there are also times when depression doesn’t look like that, it might look like numbness, and it might look like anger and irritation.
