Blog 12: Mental Illness

Have you ever known someone with a mental illness? How did/does the illness impact his/her life? What have you learned about this mental illness just from knowing them?


I have known a woman, a friend of mine, who suffers from depression. Although she is recently married with a child, its seems like nothing is ever good enough. She is actually a really funny outgoing girl but the more you get to know her, the more you find out how unhappy she is. Its like she puts on a happy face at work and then after words you realize there was something weird about it. Like she forced it. So one day I asked her, are you ok? Is there something going on? And she told me that she was unhappy at home. When she described her life to me, I didn't see what the big deal was. But then she said she had to go to the doctor to get medication... for depression. She has been suffering from it since high school where is was really bad. She said the medication changed the way she acted and felt and that she didn't like it but that she knew she needed it.


Sometimes I try to give her advice on how to put her self in another persons shoes, or I try to help her see that situation is not as bad as it seems and she just cannot change the way she thinks. Its bad. End of story. Thats how she views things. I think the best thing I can do is to not get mad at her or give up on her. I want to always help her see the bright side and to know that sometimes intentions or acts of kindness are just that... kind! I think depression affects a lot of people. And What makes me so willing to help and be nice and calm with her is that I personally know what it felt like to not want to get out of bed. I knew what it felt like to literally stop feeling anything but sad... and angry. It was terrible because you end up pushing away the people you love and you don't even know you are doing anything wrong. All you know is that YOU feel sad and that it must be your life and the people in it. A to someone depressed... it seems as though no one understands how you feel. So I know what it is like to feel like this, to live with it. If you know someone, even if you aren't good friends, take a chance to ask them how their day was and to make them laugh. Sometimes its the little things that make you realize how unhappy you've been and how you want to change. I encourage everyone to extend a hand out and care... really care about the people in your life. No matter how close they are to you... everyone needs to know there are people out there who really care. 


Sara Abbasi