(Mis)understanding the melancholy

Wednesday was a peculiar day in the diabetes-blogosphere.  Usually a day for few words and many pictures (hence, the “Wordless Wednesday” theme), it seemed I read post after post about PWD’s dealing with depression and overall mental health challenges.  After reading Allison’s post on D’Mine, I was inspired to write this.

I’m pretty sure I don’t have any depression-related issues myself.  Although I questioned it a bit on Friday after a couple of rough weeks, I’m pretty sure it’s just the run-of-the-mill doldrums.  Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to explain how I would know if my discouragement was something more serious.   How does a person know if they are depressed?  I can only imagine it’s like how you know when you’ve fallen madly head-over-heels in love with someone: it’s hard to describe those feelings, but if it happens, you’ll definitely know.

When I read these blog entries, like the one I mentioned earlier – as well as this one and this one – and then I read the comments that follow, it exemplifies for me just how important it is to respect and care for one’s mental health as well as physical health.  I see the how burdensome and emotionally draining this can be, and even as a mere observer, it tears me up inside to read about such great people going through such difficulty.