Amen.

Tears.

Especially when she said: ”
Please understand that Depression and Anxiety is variable. It’s quite possible (for me, it’s common) that one day I am able to walk to the park and back, while the next day I just want to stay close to home and sleep.

Please don’t attack me when I’m ill by saying, “But you did it before!”, if you want me to do something then ask if I can. In a similar vein, I may need to cancel an invitation at the last minute, if this happens please do not take it personally. Please understand that “getting out and doing things” does not make me feel better.”

It is so frustrating for me that some days I CAN get out and do so much and others, I just want / need to hide out at home and even taking the trash out overwhelms me. And people around me don’t understand. That makes me feel even more like a loser.

Again, tears. This is a beautiful post.

Thank you for posting this. It is what I’ve always struggled to explain to my friends and family.

well said, but who here is likely to be comfortable forwarding this to those that need to read it? it’s too bad that we/I don’t communicate well.

Thanks for sharing these precious thoughts with me. I know this blog will help my friend who is depressed after loosing her mom to cancer and because of her depression, she has no lost her job. Once again, thank you for shedding light in a dark corner.

I think Xanax works great taking it along with an antidepressant. Right now I am currently taking 2 mg of Xanaz along with 20 mg of Celexa. I believe it has helped me out it so many ways. I used to have anxiety and panic attacks pretty much all day, or part of the day that I was awake. I haven’t felt this good about myself in a long time. Sometimes I would get a panic attack just from walking in a public place, such as a supermarket, and then came the heavy breathing and the nervous feeling out of nowhere.
Jhon Cruyff
Antianxiety-drugs.com

T,

Thanks for this post! I was just trying to explain this very thing to my 29 yr old son. About my NOT having the ability to snap out of it, that I certainly do not choose to feel this way. I do not delight in crying, feeling like giving up or contemplating taking too many pills and just giving up….
This time of the yr is hard on as I know it is you. I have held on tight, had my med’s increased, got off the pain mgt meds’s. I hurt physically like HELL with my disabilty (bad back) but the side effects, drug interactions if narcotics and crap with my mental med’s is just too much. I just wanted to let u know that as I sit here with my Happy Light on, enjoying todays warmer temps…here in Tx it is about 70 degrees. I am taking baby steps. I was able to accomplish getting grocery shopping done with the help of my son and his friend taking us since after my car accident I no longer have transportation. Baby steps, one thing a day! I feel like the character in What about Bob with Bill Murray. I have that movie, it makes me laugh because I can SO relate to him I guess.
Continue to hang in there with me my friend, I love you and your commitment to all of us who suffer from these horrible mental illnesses.

M.A.

Very, very well stated…

Appreciate the article and the posts; and of course can relate to them.

@Johnny, I don’t have the courage to forward the article to people that need to read – sigh.

YES! This is EXACTLY what MANY people who do not suffer from this illness need to hear! I have tried repeatedly to make some of those around me understand exactly what she is talking about – being able to go one day and not the next, noise I can sometimes handle and other times I feel like I’m going to fly into a million pieces if the tv is on and someone is talking as well…well written!

What wonderful and heartfelt words. You have said exactly what you need to help yourself. I have manic-depression can be so confusing to those we love, and painful to hear uneducated comments. This is where the stigma needs to end for us to get even better (if not for a moment more!)
I wish you well and hope you get the support you need. i have found website and books that help the”others” what to do and say to those of us who suffer mental illness.I will get a list and post that I have found useful. Please do what you need to do to help yourself and not feel the guilt imposed on us at times.
Janet O

I wrote this to you a few years back. Wow!!! What a remember when for me . I cried remembering those data and even though I still struggle with anxiety I function do much better . I dealt with some life issues and kept fighting for my life . I am in remission , I have peace and serenity most days and if i don’t I know what I need to do . Thank u for reporting this . If any of you are going thru what I have please get it touch with t. B .. She helped me so much . Read her blogs. Write cry , reach out . We can get through this together

I am so moved by this article and my heart goes to who wrote this. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

How wonderful to read something on a day that you thought to yourself, doesn’t anyone get where I am coming from and how I feel.
It always gives me hope when I read your site. I agree with everyone who posted.
We wish we could just shake everyone and say to them “please try to understand me!”
Even if we had the courage to say this to everyone who doesn’t suffer from this condition, would they really know what we were talking about? It has been many years for me before I could even talk about it to my friends who don’t experience this every day. What I want to know is if medication is our only hope, what do I do if I can’t afford my medication anymore? Then what?
I am in danger of losing my benefits.
What happens after that?

So well written and my appreciation from the author.

Thank you for posting this Therese

I am still amazed throughout my whole day today, flooded with so many remember whens of those days when I sent this to Therese where I felt like I wasnt going to be ok. I remember the pain as I wrote in the above letter about trying to get to my sons soccer game and people just not understanding that I just couldnt do it.
I am not completely free from anxiety but I have learned tools and have what I consider a wonderful life compared to back then. And more importantly I have stopped worrying about people who cannot accept me for who I am and that helped alot. My ex whom, basically I directed this letter to mostly was incapable of the love and support and understanding I needed and it made my anxiety worse. I got the strength to leave him and my life has been all about moving forward , surrounding myself with people who accept me the way I DO now.
If anyone wants to talk more, feel free to get in contact with Therese and she can fwd me your message through my email. Just dont want to openly post it here.
And for those of you still hurting, still struggling..I just want to say…its going to be ok..I promise you,…hang on…if I can get back to remission, so can you..I thought I was terminally unique and noone understood…If you feel the same..I am here to tell you…I get it….I really really get it…

Hugs
Sue

Thank you!

I am truly grateful for everything I’ve read both in the article and comments. This will be the 2012 “letter” I insert in every Christmas card I send out – if I’m able to.

I feel so truly honored and blessed by YOUR
growth and positive post.

Deep Felt Thank You for helping me to feel less isolated and alone. Bless You and Therese.

Thanks for sharing you thoughts..it helps to know that someone else feels like I do at times!

Thanks for taking the time to say what is in the hearts and minds of all thus afflicted. We should print this out to hand to family and friends when we cannot find it in ourselves to explain ourselves. Thanks for doing us this huge favor! and God bless you too!

Dear Therese (and Suzz),

Thank you for this post (and repost).

Initially I felt better reading it, but only a few minutes goes by before I remember that I bring my friends’ criticisms on myself. I keep thinking that if I tried harder to “measure up…”

Maybe some day it will be better. Thank you again.

This letter is a way to put it! For me 2011 was a rollercoaster ride beginning with my Mom’s death which caused me to go into somewhat of a depression. I already take meds for anxiety but some situations just take their toll, no matter what you take. I think the first half of the year was me in shock and the rest is me just trying to get back into the swing. And right now there are times when I wish I could sleep for about 50 years like Rip Van Winkle, and then just wake up and wa la…..life would be Golden again. But I realize that of course, it’s not realistic and I do thank God, my creator for every day. Lately it hasn’t been One Day At A Time, it’s been One Minute At A Time.

After reading this article – all I can say is – OH MY GOSH!!!!! meaning, my gosh, am I depressed? do I have anxity? Does not everyone of God’s children not feel most of the things this person has described in this open letter from her heart to the world? Yes, No, Maybe – who knows the mind is a wonderful computer, of which only God has the controling ‘mouse’. So many blessings to this person, and many prayers too. I’m pointing and clicking upon him for the strength, energy, desire, and excitement of his continued blessings.

I’ve suffering from a schizo-affective psychosis and I feel sometimes the same. I feel without strength, because of the side effects of the medication.

i live this life im scared bit i know god is taking care of me, people think im happy cause i laugh alot they dont understand most of the time its a nervous laugh im happy at home i am very flighty i get in by dark afraid nervouse worry about everything take things to extremes when i have attachs and shake all over it does not happen that often severly but it happens everyday i be quiet and try to control my self my brain never stops working it goes from one thing to something else in seconds so trying to have a conversation is hard i have been made fun of and everything just dwells on me i pray all the time i wish it was something i could show people im afraid i will be laughed at if i tell anyone the only people who know are my mom and my husband and i love them so very much they how tocalm me down or slow me down you dont fake something like this it makes me cry every day. im used to say im sorry forevery thing but i didnot do anything i just have to appollogise when thing go wrong it is not my attention to hurt noone feelin but my mind tells me there wrong ang trying to take advantage of me or i feel that they think im dirt under there feet. im really trying i have friends but have really distance myself from the world. im scared people just dont know i dont know i do not tell anyone afraid of being laughed at or saying things that will just upset me i really try i try to hard i love my family but i refuse to buy there love they only call when they want money im tired. i just dont know but im tired of being a doormat. thank you for listen to me go on but its hard

Just one more voice of thanks, Therese. One doesn’t have to use this exact letter to learn a lot from it about how to communicate what people with depression and anxiety go through. In my experience, some people simply can’t hear, but I see pieces of things in this piece that work for me with people who can and many new insights as well.

Reading your column more regularly has been one new years resolution that is working out well for me so far in 2012.

Thank you for posting this.

Most of my friends and family understand somewhat of what I go through, but I find I need to remind myself that each day might be different. Even though I’ve done things, there are still times when I just can’t. It can get me down as it’s been a little over a decade since I started therapy and meds.

This note was so heartfelt, and I want to say thanks again for the bravery to write out these feelings for us to read.

I’m still not giving up, and I will think of all of you as I continue to take each day and make it the best I can.

thank you for sharing. I totally relate to you expression of depression and anxiety. It is such a lonely and exhausting journey to live with. People that are well constantly mirror the difference of what it is to be normal and even breath differently, but we are human and do have feelings, even though we are so exhausted from trying all the time.

This letter was very well written and manages to say volumnes about how I feel at times and how others tend to look at “mental illness”. I have been in counciling for many years, my children have come to accept me for who I am, my friends/family just don’t understand. Hats off to you for putting it all out there is such a wonderful informative way!

Very well written. I think this is what others don’t understand. It is an illness against ourself and sometimes we need others to pull us out of it.

You have lots of courage to express yourself… Feeling stuck, I know feeling myself and those damn thoughts can work you up if we allow them…
Remember to be kind to you, not easy at times, but hopefully we can try each time…

Peace all around,

Depression is hard thing to live with, you just don’t get over it. I have been living with it most of my life and it is hard to keep that nagging voice in your head saying you can’t do it turned off. It can be done and most days I have to think of my children’s lives and go to work even though I would rather just stay in bed. Keep a good thought and believe it or not talk to yourself, tell yourself that you are a good person and deserve happiness, that is what I do to get through these horrible times. Best Wishes.

I’d like to thank this person profusely for being able to write how Depression and Anxiety feel. I have never been able to get it right when trying to tell my family that I can’t just snap out of it. This was beautifully written. Thanks for helping me put this into words.

I am 48 yr. old male and have suffered this very thing since I was 19. I get so tired and worn out sometimes. The you said are so true. And I think the worst thing anymore ever tried to do to “HELP” was to tell me. “Just get over it “. That makes me want to scream. Like if my legs were missing, that I could just will them to grow back. It’s very frustrating, indeed.

A good letter. Thank you

I would also add that we do try our best to not be depressed or anxious. In fact, it’s possible that “trying too hard” was the problem in the first place.

Secondly, when people say “well, I sometimes feel down but I just get on with it” – I would say that they are lucky to be able to. We’re clearly using the same words to talk about different experiences / degrees of suffering.

Hallelujah! This is a wonderful letter. There are more people than others think that wish the same thing.

Thank you for this. I needed someone else to voice it for me. I used to be able to write. I can’t even do that anymore. When does it end?

I lost the most beautiful girl I was gonna marry and have a family and start a life with because of my anxiety/depression I wish she understood how hard it is to have your mind going a million different directions worrying about stuff normal people don’t even worry about. reacting before thinking first she just turned her back on me when I was trying to reach out for her help (she was comforting for me) a person who says they love you turns when your having a bad episode only makes you feel worse wish she would understand that . Were not crazy just have a harder time feeling or doing normal things. We still love and want love too and not be judged or abandoned by ones who say they care

I agree Jason… And when I wrote this I was with someone who just didn’t get it. I married this person and it made my anxiety worse to be with someone who could
Not understand . I eventually left him and today I have a wonderful loving caring fiancé who gets it… And because I have that love and support my symptoms are less … Funny how that works hang in there

God bless her. Its difficult to come out in the open and actually open your heart out to the world. I just hope that this heart-warming letter reaches millions and makes us more receptive and sensitive to people suffering from depression.