The problem with telling the truth about your depression is the fallout afterwards.
Depressed people don’t tell the truth because:
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People with depression can’t get life insurance.
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People with depression can lose their jobs either once the illness is discovered or when they have to take time off for the invisible illness that makes them bedridden for weeks on end.
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They aren’t offered jobs or opportunities because they are deemed unreliable or unstable even if they haven’t shown any signs of either.
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Friendships wane when you stop attending social events because people don’t understand when you say you can’t go because you’re anxious/stressed/depressed.
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Relationships can fall apart when the vulnerability is exposed.
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It’s near impossible to get a rental property if you reveal a mental illness.
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It’s near impossible to get Centrelink benefits for depression. Same goes for Workcover or income protection.
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Their opinions or solutions to a problem are dismissed because of their illness.
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Their emotions are attributed to their illness and subsequently dismissed.
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If they treat their illness with medication, it’s seen as ‘the easy way out’.
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They are told they have no coping skills, despite the fact that many have faced extreme physical and psychological horrors and still manage to get up most days.
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People tell men to ‘nut up’ and women to ‘stop being so emotional.’
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People avoid them in social and professional situations.
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People will gossip about them and their ‘craziness’.
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People dismiss their revelation because ‘they don’t seem depressed.’
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People make it about them and their experiences.
And yet the question is still being asked, why didn’t he/she tell anyone?
It’s pretty fucking simple.
Telling someone to tell the truth and then punishing them for their courage is a dog act.
Being punished for telling the truth is the act of a narcissist. I guess the world is turning into one giant, narcissistic, reality star.