The Sydney Morning Herald reported “…less than half the population feeling comfortable around people suffering depression“.
Less than half of us?
Is it any wonder that people with depression don’t talk about it very much?
I am saddened that community attitudes towards mental illness are so negative that people with anxiety or depression can feel ashamed to admit how they feel. That needs to change. There is too much stigma around depression, lets talk about it more.
The newspaper states that a recent survey in Australia found “that during their lives 77 per cent of people… would experience, or be personally affected by someone who suffered from, a mental illness. More than a quarter of respondents claimed to be suffering some form of mental health problem, with depression and anxiety the most common conditions.”
Do more or less than 77% of people have freckles? Is depression more frequent than freckles? I claimed that depression was as normal as freckles, that’s why I talk about it here.
Depression is present and most of us are affected at some time.