I felt like a burdon to my family and a burdon to society. I felt like a failure at life. I was not a big believer in the whole mental illness thing. I had always believed, like so many others, that people dealing with depression and other forms of mental illness were frail, weak people seeking attention or a way not to deal with life. It took me a long time to accept that I was suffering from a mental illness and to come to terms with it.
Mental illness is just that.
Not a character flaw, nor a weakness, but a treatable illness. It can be hereditary or caused from past experiences, loss, or a combination of the two. It is nothing to be ashamed of and in the end, it can make you a stronger person. More than 17 Million people suffer from depression in the United States and 340 million people worldwide. One in six people experience a significant depressive episode during their life.