depression

 

''I don't know how to describe it but I have had a crippling depression for a while now. And the most noticeable thing aside from being sad and suffocated all the time, is the gradual loss of my skills in all areas of life. I used to be a smooth talker but my language skills have almost disappeared. Sometimes when I talk my mind suddenly blacks out and I have no idea what to say next, or totally forget what should I say. I struggle with basic math problems. I feel like I have lost all my critical abilities, I do not really have a belief or an opinion about anything, I don't discus anything anymore because I know very well that my mind does not work well and will struggle after a sentence or two''.

''At any given time, four to five percent of the population is depressed, or, more accurately, diagnosed as such. 1 Indeed, according to the Danish Health Authority more than 450.000 Danes bought anti-depressants in 2011, a figure, the writers state, which has almost doubled over the past decade (Flachs et al. 163ff.). This tendency can be observed all over the Western World. The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health estimates that nine point five percent of the adult American population – 18.8 million people – suffers from depression. 2 These numbers have led the World Health Organization to conclude that depression is the most common mental disorder and the prime cause of disability and suicide, affecting around 350 million people worldwide.3''

"When depressed it’s like there is rust on the gears in your mind. You can crank through to some degree if you push very hard, but sometimes you pause the cranking and the rust keeps you from starting again".