“Imagine if we obsessed about the things we love about ourselves?” Mental health disorders, including depression, are just the opposite. Whether you have a major depressive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, persistent depressive disorder or postpartum depression, your mood to take over our thoughts and emotions. Whether we are telling ourselves we are not good enough, not strong enough, not pretty enough or not successful enough, we often feel like we are losing the battle to depression. For those who do not have depression, it may be difficult to understand the gravity of the situation and to be able to truly empathize with those who are fighting the battles with depression. These insightful depression quotes provide inspiration for those battling depression and also provide awareness for those who may have a loved one with depression.
On what to never say to someone with depression
“Whenever someone tells me to ‘Just be happy,’ I want to yell, ‘Oh, hey, depression’s gone! Why didn’t I think of that?’ But usually I just roll my eyes instead.” –Anonymous
“Telling a depressed person to be happy is the same as telling a cancer patient to cure themselves.” -Dissentient
On mental pain versus physical pain
“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.”– Laurell K. Hamilton, Mistral’s Kiss
“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” – C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
“It’s my experience that people are a lot more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease just to make it easier on me and also on them.” – Jennifer Niven, All the Bright Places
“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” -Laurell K. Hamilton
On suicide as a means to end the pain
“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows…” -David Foster Wallace
On living with depression
“That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end.” -Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation
On feelings of worthlessness, one of the telltale signs of depression
“I don’t want to see anyone. I lie in the bedroom with the curtains drawn and nothingness washing over me like a sluggish wave. Whatever is happening to me is my own fault. I have done something wrong, something so huge I can’t even see it, something that’s drowning me. I am inadequate and stupid, without worth. I might as well be dead.” -Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye
On feelings of loneliness, one of the telltale signs of depression
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved”. -Mother Teresa
Here at Discovery Mood & Anxiety Program, we offer a full spectrum of care for depression using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal psychotherapy and other evidence-based methods. If you’re interested in learning more about our treatment programs or our family support options, please contact us today.