The book is finally finished and available to purchase. Here is a sneak peak.
I finally finished my autobiographical memoir on my journey with mental health. I’m working on figuring how to publish it, so here is a sneak peak of part of it :
Anxiety versus Stress and Depression versus Sadness
First off, this is a sensitive topic, but it needs to be touched on. Depression, or Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a mental health condition chemical imbalance in your brain where your brain doesn’t produce Serotonin, which is an essential chemical that helps stimulate the ability to feel happy or content. The medication that MDD is treated with Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors, which allows your brain to gain more serotonin. Now Major Depressive Disorder; this is a chemical and biological mental health disorder, whereas sadness, is not. When someone says, “I’m so depressed,” they really are just having a rough period of time or may be overwhelmed with sadness. That sadness will linger and eventually become a faint memory. Actual depression is when you experience long bouts of deep sadness and may feel worthless or like there is no point in living. Depression makes you feel alone, out of place, and makes it hard to even get out of bed. It makes it hard to do almost anything, even simple activities of daily living. It makes it hard to sleep at night because the sad thoughts relentlessly linger in your mind. Being depressed means you may have no confidence in oneself and lack confidence. I, for one, experience all of these things. So, when someone who has no mental illness says they’re “depressed,” it really just beans they’ve been having or are having bouts of heavy momentary sadness. The difference is Major Depressive Disorder doesn’t go away, and can affect you more long term. Honestly, it’s a little frustrating because people throw the word “depressed” around way too lightly.
The same goes for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. When someone says, “Oh my god I’m getting anxiety about this test,”; it really just means they’re temporarily and highly stressed out. Stress will eventually calm down. With GAD, you experience overwhelming anxiety about nothing for no reason all the damn time. Everything scares you, because anxiety is rooted from fear. Sometimes I’m scared to get out of bed or leave my house or go to an activity. Sometimes I get insane social anxiety in crowds, and I don’t like crowded places either. Anxiety is more like consistent, heavy, and intense long-term stress that doesn’t go away. The term “anxiety,” is thrown around too lightly, and in the mental health world, one may become offended by such, even though no harm was intended. So, for yourself and others it’s important to carefully and mindfully use the terms “anxiety” and “depression” less lightly. It would mean a lot to those whom suffer from these conditions. So, Depression is heavier and longer than sadness essentially, and anxiety is non-stop intense stress. There’s a difference dude!
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