Metaphors

I've heard and seen a lot of fairly ridiculous metaphors for depression, primarily on commercials for antidepressants or other prescription medications. It seems like we're always seeking ways to explain how depression feels so that other people can understand what it's like. Listing off clinical symptoms seems cold in a way, but that might be better than calling depression a cloud. I've seen clouds, and they're fluffy and pretty, or stormy and terrifying (or awe-inspiring), but you can still see the world around them.

Or it's a completely nonsensical balloon.

Now, without getting on a soapbox and ranting about the pharmaceutical industry, I have to point out that, as many people who've suffered it might know, depression is not like a cloud at all. When you're in the midst of a depression, it's hard to see the world around you, and you certainly don't expect it to be gone the next day, like a cloud will be. In the darkest mires, there is nothing but the depression and loneliness. You can't see anything but darkness, you can't see a way out, and you probably think you wouldn't have the strength to get out even if you did see a tiny fissure in the walls of your prison.

In my last post I compared it to having a serial killer tie you up and throw you into a dark basement, and that's what I'm going to stick with. It's a lot more accurate, especially given that suicide has been ranked the tenth leading cause of death for all ages in 2010. See more facts from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). If you click the link, there are some pretty upsetting figures in there, so be warned.

Back to the serial killer's basement metaphor, when you get pitched down a flight of stairs, it tends to be quite painful and can cause some pretty serious injuries. Not everyone who is depressed attempts to hurt themselves, but there are a lot of indirect ways to injure yourself, too. Not taking care of your health certainly causes it to deteriorate and there are a multitude of ways to do it, from not exercising to eating unhealthy foods to using alcohol and drugs. Depression can often cause impairment to one's ability to work, making their job and school performance falter. '

Then there's the social aspect of how isolating severe depression can be: you withdraw from others and sometimes the more shallow people withdraw from you because you're "too depressing." I'm going to take a moment to point out that if someone stops hanging out with you for that reason, avoid them at all costs, because they are obviously bad for you.

After you've fallen down all those steps, you're on the floor, aching and injured and alone in the dark. You can't see anything or feel anything but your own pain and cold concrete. On top of that, you have no idea how long you'll be stuck down there, and it sure doesn't look like you'll be getting out before you die. I think this is a much more obvious reason for why people choose suicide when they're deeply depressed than a cloud or balloon or whatever silly cartoon the drug companies come up with next.

This is a lot worse than a black balloon.

I realize that it seems like an incredibly extreme metaphor, but having been in that basement, I don't think it is the least bit exaggerated. Neither do my fellows at the Depression-Bipolar Support Alliance, who agree that the cloud metaphor actually minimizes depression to the point of being offensive. The minimizing of depression and the pain it causes only makes it worse, so better we should stick with something more extreme and horrific than a cutesy cartoon.