By Chelsea Fisher
eSomethin Staff
Many people at this school suffer from depression and even more students still seem to have ignorant, and dangerous, misconceptions about depression. All of the following quotes are things that I have personally heard, read, or been told.
According to the Center for Mental Health Services, 1 in 8 adolescents have clinical depression. Depression is a mental condition that can cause severe loneliness, fear, and complete and utter sadness, causing the person it affects to feel lost and helpless. Depression can and has affected people of every age, nationality, gender, orientation, and race. While outside factors are often a cause of developing depression, living in a good area or going to a good school in no way makes a person immune. Depression is not just being sad. It causes extremes 
in anger, stress, or can even cause a complete numbness to the world.
Depression is often mistaken for feeling sad. When a person tries
to speak out or even ask for help, many people think it is just emotion.
DEPRESSION IS NOT AN EMOTION.
Depression is a serious medical condition caused by changes in hormones and brain chemistry. A lot people who suffer from depression have as much control over it as someone with cancer. An anonymous student, who has struggled with depression themselves, said “Depression is an actual sickness of the mind. When you think of
someone with depression you think of someone who’s sad but it’s really the dopamine levels in your mind. So when you see someone struggling with depression admire them because they are going through something that you are not.”
P
eople who are depressed, especially teenagers, are often told that they have no reason to be “sad.” If a student is not in AP classes, plays a sport, has an after school job, or participates in a club, they often hear that they “have it too easy” to be
depressed. Outside stressors such as bullies, other illnesses, home life, or any unhealthy relationships can lead to the development of 
depression; but sometimes it’s completely chemical, leaving no external explanation or reason.
One of the biggest ailments of depression is fatigue. With depression, a person will often wake up exhausted, go
through their day exhausted, and go to sleep exhausted. Sometimes 
sleeping is the problem to begin
with. A lot of times depression will not even let a person fall asleep, or it will wake them up with nightmares. Sufferers lose motivation to complete even the most basic tasks.
DEPRESSION IS NOT AN EMOTION. Having depression does not keep a person from enjoying certain things, it does not automatically make someone an introverted person, it does not always make it harder to interact with people. Depression
affects each person differently, some more socially than others.
Yes. It is all in your head. In your brain. The thing that keeps you living. The thing that regulates your hormones and emotions. The powerhouse of your body.
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