September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and throughout the last few weeks, Instagram has become flooded with empowering survival stories, raising social awareness on the illness. A new hashtag, #faceofdepression, is adding an essential layer of depth to the public conversation about hidden depression symptoms, and it's one we just can't ignore.
What do depressed people look like? What does someone with suicidal thoughts appear? What does depression feels like? Of course, many of us would probably picture a crumpled-up, crying shell of a person on a bathroom floor. However, the reality that #faceofdepression is trying to explain is that people who are struggling with feeling depressed often hide it in their everyday lives - meaning that they look like just about any other person you'd pass on the street.
One of the most touching contributions to the campaign was a video shared by Talinda Bentley, widow of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, showing him laughing and smiling just 36 hours before his tragic suicide. Don't take everything at 'face' value. If you think or know someone is showing the signs of depression, ask the hard questions before it's too late.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 if you or someone you know needs urgent treatment of depression. Call 1-800-273-8255 or go to their official website to live chat with a counselor.
#23
The face of depression. Sometimes it looks optimistic. Sometimes it doesn't. And having a smart, beautiful child doesn't mean those feelings don't exist or that they're not valid. She loves me on my good days and my bad days.
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47points
#24
I suffer from fybromyalgia, arthritis and anxiety. The years have been a struggle.
44points
#29
When people think about depression, they tend to have a very specific idea of how it manifests itself. I'm in the middle of a very real depressive episode and here I am at work with my plants and headphones
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32points
#30
I have been struggling with depression and anxiety for years and years. I started experiencing symptoms around 12 and wasn't diagnosed or treated until I was 25. (Early on docs told me I didn't seem depressed.) Once my kiddo was born, my postpartum depression fused with my everyday depression and I almost lost it. It was my dream to be a happy SAHP, and even though I stayed home for over a year, I felt worse and worse every day. It took all of my energy to make sure my baby was taken care of. I developed severe sleep apnea, gained a lot of weight, and couldn't function outside of my parental duties.
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30points
#31
Depressed since high'school, drop'out, one suicide attempt, severely agoraphobic. In my country having a mental illness means that "Your parents didn't beat you enough", or, "Your husband should throw you out of the house, maybe then you'll get a job". So I learned to smile even in my worst days.
30points
#32
30points
#33
28points
#34
GAD and depression for probably two decades. My childhood nickname was "smiley". My positive attitude gets remarked on often. My brain still fires weird regardless.
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26points
#35
I have suffered from depression for more than 2 thirds of my life. Think about that. Most of my life has been in pain and misery. Most of my life has been spent fighting my demons of suicidal ideation and convincing myself to stay, to keep fighting. There are days, even now, that I can draft my goodbye note in my head. There are days I can almost convince myself that my son and my family could be better off without me. Yet, this is no way makes me an unfit mother. One thing I never fail at for my son is loving him. Showing him he is loved. I know some of you say "you shouldn't have children if you are mentally ill" and to you I say: Eat a bag of dicks. My son saved my life. My son saves my life every day. I will not keep from him that I am sick when he is old enough to understand. I'd rather he see me battle my mind, than think even a fraction of my pain was caused by him.
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26points
#36
25points
#37
23points
#38
The last images we have of my eldest son's father. Mother's day 2012. We felt he was making improvements, but Jesse completed suicide June 12, 2012.
23points
#39
About three hours before a massive panic attack that ultimately ended in self harm.
20points
#40
When you put on your war face but inside is where the battle happens.
19points
