Great letter isn’t it?? I am one of those with Hep C that has read it for years. I heard it was started about Fibro though it doesn’t much matter. It does apply to ALL diseases. I just wanted to pop on and clarify that the name is BEK Oberin not Ben.

I can not tell you how much this letter has helped me….It is as if I needed to send it to myself as I have never given a voice to my illness.

I have to add a bit of my experience. In the past 5 yrs. I have gone through many changes. A craniotomy for aneurisms, being thrown on the floor 6 weeks after the surgery by my husband (ex husband now) who was taking drugs. At that time my children were 10,12,& 14.
I moved over 200 miles away from my home since I couldn’t afford the payments on the house and he did not contribute. I thank God for my kids, they helped me just by being there. It was a fight, I can tell you that. They also went through major changes. Their father has been forced by the court to pay the child support. He never calls the children, nor does he visit them. I am two parents in one. I work for the state and I am going for my masters in education. My bachelor’s degree is in Behavioral Science/Psychology and I understand the signs and symptoms of depression. My heart goes out to all who suffer from this disease. I have been forced to roll with the punches and set goals for myself and my family. Please don’t assume that I am a totally healthy individual. I’ve suffered from anxiety attacks for many years. It’s as if each cell in your body takes a sharp left.
When I look at my kids, and see that they are doing well, I realize that this is a gift from God. I thank Him each day for my life.
I sincerely wish you the best.

This letter is exactly what I needed. Now I am convinced that this is a serious illness and it’s not just in my head and I’m not going crazy.

Thank you for your words. They explain so well this hell that I live in. Every day is a struggle. Every day. Thank you again

I also have suffered with depression for most of my life. And very few friends and/or family understand that I can’t just “pick myself up and get on with life”. If only it were that easy! I’ve tried explaining, but I usually get ” you need to be stronger” or “I’m a strong person and that will never happen to me”. I compare depression to cancer but much worse! Worse? Because of the personallity flaw, the social stigma! With cancer you can talk about it openly, even go on walks that support you.

This letter has really affirmed and inspired me. I have been fighting severe depression for many years now. It’s a constant, daily struggle. I have tried explaining repeatedly that I can’t help the way I feel. It’s an illness and people just do not understand! Thanks so much for this article. Hopefully soon, just maybe, they will get it. Thank you again…

I am sooooo glad you wrote this letter! I have been suspected of a personality disorder, a malingerer, (faking it), anti-social, crazy, you name it. I don’t go around advertising my condition, sometimes I try to explain my behavior and condition to people I thought might understand but was just met with an odd blank stare and maybe a short reply of “OH?” When I am having a good day I try to get out of the house and accomplish a weeks worth of things I was too tired to do earlier in the week. When people see me out they assume I’m “fine” and I’m just full of it. They don’t see me on my bad days when EVERYTHING is a major effort.
Luckily and unfortunately I haven’t had this all my life. I KNOW how it feels to be “NORMAL” and that really bothers me because I know how I should be feeling. We sufferers are the hardest on ourselves, we could use a little understanding.
Thanks for helping the cause.

I’m so sick and tired of people telling me “I get the blues too” and my having to explain that depression is not “the blues” because the blues go away. I’ve had two friends ditch me, one because “you always bail” and she chose to do this when I was having my first (and I hope only) cancer scare. The other apparently thinks money fixes everything, which it does not.
This letter puts in a nutshell what people with depression go through. I only wish the spelling/usage errors had been corrected; we look loopy enough already. Thanks.

Thanks soooo much for posting this….I wish they all would just TRY and understand…

Thank-you so much .The comments really hurt and like others ,i have learned not to say anything or i get the stare or mean comments like just get out more like i haven;t tried it .Like i want to feel this way ?so your letter said many things i feel and i really thank you .I hope someday soon people will get it and show others with depression understanding and more compassion .Till then we need more people like you to say what you can and help us all .thank-you

Recently, I’ve had a bout with depression and it gets worse and worse everytime. I wanted to kill myself last week. When I tried to explain to the person who is the closest to me, they just couldn’t understand how I can feel the way I do about myself. I’ve tried counseling then I stopped b/c I thought I was getting better only to fall deeper into my hopelessness this time. I thank you for the letter. I am going to give a copy of it to my friends so they can stop thinking I am anti-social or being stuck up. Sometimes I don’t even want to leave my house. I am glad awareness is being raised more about depression b/c it is important.

Dear mentally well and unwell, depressed, and happy alike
I would also like to point you to the book of Job and his three, so called comforters, who were not the best comforters, but more akin to accusers. First of all, we should point out that Job was considered by God to be a blameless and upright man, a man Satan wanted God to destroy, in order to prove a point, that mankind only loves God because of the good things God gives them, in earthly wealth, and health. When Job is deprived of all his wealth, and health, everyone he knows, even his wife forsakes him. When his three friends see him for the first time they are in complete shock because of what they see. They sit with Job in dust and ashes fasting for seven days, saying nothing. Job then curses the day he is born and wishes God would get it over with, and crush him, so that he can finally rest in the sleep of death. Then Eliphaz the Temanite, is certain Job must have sinned, and that God was correcting him in some way, a good guess but it was wrong. Bildad the Shuhite, is certain it must have been his children’s sins that caused their death, and Job only need have a pure and upright heart, and seek God, and God would restore all back to him. It too, was a good guess but wrong. Then Zophar the Naamathite, tells Job that the affliction he is feeling now, is less than he deserves for thinking he (Job) did nothing to deserve what was happening to him. Zophar then advises Job, that if he would set his heart aright and stretch out his hands to God then would he be able to forget his misery, even though it remained, and eventually it would go away. This too was a nice guess, but wrong. Job then justified himself rather than God [even made himself out to be better than God], and his three comforters cease to answer Job in this light, because a fool is better off than one who is wise in his own conceit, and righteous in his own eyes (Pro 26:12). Job also concludes that there’s no point in being upright, because God afflicts the upright as he does the wicked. A forth person, standing by listening to the conversation named Elihu, then answers Job, and his three companions for not having wisdom, and for only finding fault. Elihu, points out that Job is without wisdom, for thinking that there is no point in doing what is good before God. He also points out that there are many things that God does that we mere humans just don’t understand, but it is always righteous in the end for the upright, and turns out for our good. God then answers Job with humbling questions, yet he never tells Job why he is being afflicted. In the end Job realizes and admits that he was wrong in his thinking, and says no more, and finally God tells Job’s three comforters that they did not speak correctly about God as Job did, and therefore Job’s prayer for them would God accept, only then would God forgive them of their sin. Now, the nice thing about being a Christian, is that we know, that our God, Jesus Christ, became a man, and has also gone through the same kind of afflictions and trouble as we do, and much more indeed than most of us, and perhaps less than others. Moreover we have, for example the book of Job, and the Bible that shows us the things that go on behind the seines, we know Satan the accuser is seeking to bring us down, and test us to the limit, without cause in situations like Job’s, but we also know that God can sick Satan on you, and us if we disobey or behave wickedly, and we get what we deserve. And So I leave you who are mentally well, and healthy in all respects, three even four verses from the Bible to chew on, but I leave them also for those poor in spirit for comfort:
Heb 12:6 AMP For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.
Luke 22:31-32 AMP Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the power and keeping of God], that he might sift [all of] you like grain, [Job 1:6-12; Amos 9:9.] 32 But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren.
1 Peter 2:20 AMP [After all] what kind of glory [is there in it] if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you take it patiently? But if you bear patiently with suffering [which results] when you do right and that is undeserved, it is acceptable and pleasing to God.
Isaiah 53:10 KJV Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

this is so beautiful, it made me cry. maybe now my friends and family will understand. thank you

well I don’t know about God and all that but I do know what it is like to be depressed but more so I suffer severe anxiety attacks. The result is the same and I want to say a HUGe thankyou to the writer and BN for posting. Danielle, I have hope it helps you

Thank you for the wonderful letter to those who consider themselves sane.
To:
Sean Rhoades
October 14, 2008 8:45 PM
http://www.unravelingtheword.info/ScripturesOfTheDay
Dear mentally well and unwell, depressed, and happy alike
I’m in greeting there somewhere.
Unless I totally misunderstood your response, I think that you should read the encyclical “God is Love ” by Pope Benedict XVI. It would give you a better perspective on God’s love for all of us which will, given the choices we make, allow us to spread His love to others. Keep in mind the two greatest Commandments: Love God totally and Love your neighbor as yourself. Suffering also allows other to love us and give people the opportunity to help the afflicted.
I can look upon my chronic depression for the last 21 years as a gift in that I am much more sensitive to the suffering of others, especially the emotional suffering that cannot be seen or measured. I was also told by a friend how she admired my endurance, to not give up, though many times I have considered ending it all. I almost succeeded the first time. My last thought was to God and it was up to him if I lived or died. Doctors say I should have died. That was twenty years ago. Guess I was supposed to live. Why????
Only God knows right now.

To Danielle and all other with depression and anxiety,
Dear all. I have the same situation. I pray every single day for God to take me. Literally, every day. I know it is matter of time when I will do it. I totally understand. Sommehow we are different and we will never be happy or real alive, actually we know more than others. the more you get closer to God the more you want to go to Him.
My relationships have pulled me apart with deceptions, betrayals, you name it. I am an ex model, and you might say why this is happening to you. You have it all. No I never had it, even for a second, I have never had anything good. What I had was a material world that other created, but you know it is not for me, or for us. I need more, and there is inside a voice that is calling for LOVE, LOVE LOVE LOVE.
To all of you, be gentle to the one that suffer alone and with silent and despair. Do not judge because we will put an end to this inner nightmare sooner or later and be judged as well by an Higher Power..

Re; Antonietta, That was very well put. I concur it is a daily struggle to stay afloat amid despair. I survive by realizing that I am not neccessarily here for my own benefit only. Sometimes I can give my suffering some meaning if I can help someone else through theirs. I wonder however…when people say “but, you have it all” What IT are they referring to? Beauty? What’s on the outside changes, for better or worse. Fame? That can quickly go to infamy given the right (or wrong) circumstances. Fortune? In these troubled times…no explanation needed. I came across an classified add the other day which read “Don’t die with the music still in you.” Those words speak volumes to me. It’s a reason to keep trying! IT could be that our gifts, whatever they are…are meant to be shared. God Bless (\o/)

I have been suffering with depression for ten years. Everyday there is something new be it good or bad. I have lost several relationships with friends, family, and co-workers. I know a lot of it is me, I am less tolerant of things then what I used to be. I know that many people do not know how to deal with someone with depression and they don’t try to find a way either. I know I hurt, I try to do wholisic things so I do not have to take medications, but what hurts the most is that my close family refuses to accept that I suffer from depression, the people who I need the most. That is what hurts the most.
For those of you that suffer, please don’t pray to go away, you are here for a purpose even though your pain is different from those with Cancer, Aids, etc. Pray instead for mercy, understanding, comfort and guidance. This is your life, there is someone who understands, pray that God directs you to that person and that person helps you. I love you and I never want God to take me away before me time, I want him to embrace me all the time.

I have had anxiety, panic attacks, and depression for the last 11 years. With out God in my life today, God only knows where I would be. I hide it very well. Its alot better than it was 4 years ago, only by the grace of God. I stay in church. That is where I find the peace I need and the Love Of God to carry me through day after day. satan is a liar!! He DOES NOT win!!! When I feel fearful, I read, out loud, Psalm 91 so satan can hear me, and the fear leaves. I heard Joyce Meyers say one time, “If you feel fearful, do it anyway”, and I have done just that…praying as I went. When you start to stand up to all of it, and rebuke satan, he HAS TO FLEE, that is what the Word of God says! Hang in there!!! God promises us a better place if we would love Him and trust Him!!! And I do!!! God Bless!!!!

As I sat and read the letters I was so struck by how much I feel the same way. On the outside I smile hold down a full time job and have a husband and child with Bipolar disorder. So many days I would just love to stay in bed never to get out. Part of my head says you can do it while the other part is so tired. Some days are so hard to stay in a good mood. My family does not beleive that any one can suffer from deppression or bipolar. I feel so lost and want so to be well. God does have a plan and I know we are here for a reason. I just wish he would show me. God Bless all of you we can make it.

a very close loved one has depression. sometimes i dont know what to say to him

I am astounded with the clarity and depth and simplicity of this passage, of the feelings our dearest friends struggle with, the things we take for granted. It may sound silly but I felt a spiritual quake upon reading this, giving insight to a world very much misunderstood even by its own dwellers. Thank you so much Theresa for all that you share.

I have been suffering with depression for 8 years and there are good and bad days. There are days that I want to run away and then there are days that I am happy and ok. The worst days are the hopeless ones or worthless ones. I am going to a depression class which has helped me to understand this sickness and help others to realize that you just can’t “snap out if it”.

It was just by chance that I read this letter and a lightning bolt came at me out of the blue. Depression for me is a daily given since I have a child with autism and cry for everything he is missing in life and is cheated of for whatever reason. Where is his perpose for being here. I can’t help blaming myself but for what? Some days for me a fine but most days, I can’t sleep at night because I fear for him, then I sleep all day. It has taken over my life.

I can really relate to you. I have experience all of these feelings. Being a prisoner in my own mind and body. I also have slept my days away with no energy or desire to even bathe. The guilt is immense and I yearn for those good days when I was inspired and full of optimism and hope. I want to live because I was meant to live. Breathing is a chore at times and I struggle to inhale oxygen to sustain me. Having people around helps a bit, but everyone seems to be in their own world and it’s true people don’t really like being hearing or being around depressed people. Even my prayer life is suffering. I try just praising God because in the past it has liberated me and I feel free, but even that takes so much effort and energy from by very being. I’m usually the person doing the encouraging and when life to me seems a blur and joyless, it really places me out of character. It’s as if someone else has invaded my body, soul and mind. This is turn, causes me much anxiety and sadness.
But, as you say a physical illness is apparent, but depression is emotional but cause extreme pain and sadness. The greatest relief is sometimes a good cry, but it alleviates the pressure on your heart. People look at it as a weakness and try to talk you out of feeling this way. You want to believe it, but somehow you just can’t. If only they could understand that it is what you want to do more than anything.
I am now considering going to therapy and seeking the advice of my doctor. THANKS FOR SHARING.

To hopeful7
I know exactly how you feel. I hate it with a passion. Its usually when satan knows Im in that state of mind set and thats when Im hit the hardest….you just want to crawl in a hole for weeks and stay there, at least that’s how it makes me feel. I don’t even have the energy to fight back. Praise is the best thing that we both can do at that moment. I have to make myself read the Word, that is where we will get out strength and satan knows that. I know we are going to be experiencing the GREATEST out pouring of God’s spirit SOON, and the devil is a liar!! Hold on with me!! It will SOON be all over!! God see’s and knows our hearts. He WILL set us free!!! Take courage!
It’s on its way!!!!
God Bless YOU!!!

Thank-you for this.
I am always misunderstood always told you’re lazy that’s why you’re depressed or just stop thinking so negatively if you went out more and thought positively you wouldn’t be this way.
put a smile on your face
Get out of your house.
Go for A walk
call a friend on the phone
UGHERS
Ok maybe these may help for people who are just feeling down
But I do not just feel down I’ve struggled with this for many years and now that i am actually seeking help for it the dr says you’re just lazy that’s why your depressed. Thing is I’m not lazy.
I have my high moments I live for those moments I hate feeling so darn low and I keep praying that Jesus will one day help me never to be depressed again.