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SparkLum — Depression Stamp
Published: 2011-02-22 15:35:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 38890; Favourites: 5476; Downloads: 1183
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Description
I saw this in the Group Description of #Depression-victims and asked if I could make it into a Stamp, and was given permission to do so.For
GIMP 2.6.11
Edit:
If you have something to say, please limit it to critique on the stamp itself, not the message behind it. I have no associating with the Group, I simply thought it was a nice statement and converted it into a stamp.
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Comments: 639
Actually it's generally just a hormonal imbalance, such as during puberty or just in general something messed up. The rest of the time it's just attention seeking o: I know because I was a little bit of both 8D
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...I guess I'll have to disagree with you. =/
Depression is not attention seeking, sorry. ><
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Yes, because attention seeking is an inherently bad thing.
Asking for help, is wanting attention. Speaking to someone, is wanting attention. To put it really simply, any interaction between humans, is attention seeking. It can be good.
God, there's such a stigma against people wanting attention, but it's a human need. We're social animals.
Attention seeking doesn't automatically make you a stupid kid. Everyone does it. Everyone needs to do it.
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Ah, I think the stigma is not necessarily in the seeking of attention, but the way in which the attention is sought, and what kind of attention... I suppose a lot of it has to do with the amount of deception involved. A genuinely depressed person reaching out for help or a well-adjusted person calling a friend on the phone to hang out so they're not lonely -- these aren't bad ways of getting attention. Lying about having a mental condition in order to get sympathy, or "acting out" is quite a different ball game.
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Agreed.
The problem is, the general stigma has stopped people recognising the distinction, and seeing any want or need in a negative light. Which I think contributes widely to the amount of deceptive methods employed. People don't want to be called out on it, because attention seeking is a bad thing.
Some people never learn how to get attention in a positive way, this isn't usually their fault, not to say it shouldn't be rectified. Makes me a little sad...
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There might be a degree of cultural influence in that. In Western society and especially in America, there's a certain amount of glorification of self-sufficiency and independence: the idea that you don't need other people to be successful. If you're unable to succeed on your own, somehow you're weak. Yet humans are inherently social creatures, and we need friends and family, and community for our emotional well-being. Recognizing that you have needs, and that it's normal to have needs, is being honest with yourself, NOT weakness. Alas this idea is entirely too prevalent to the point of lots of people walking around basically socially dysfunctional and hypersensitive to any perceived weakness. Things like "a real man doesn't cry." Yes they do, or they bottle it up and become dysfunctional. I mean, no wonder divorce rates are so high, if no one can show "vulnerability" to the people they are supposed to be closest to.
Some things in life take courage to do. Admitting you're wrong; fessing up to wronging someone; asking for help; saying what you really think and feel rather than what you think others think you should -- you open yourself to a lot of potential hurt and confrontation but it's the healthiest way of doing things. I kinda wish the idea of politeness wouldn't equate to social deception but rather to kindness, generosity, open-mindedness and honesty. There is such thing as being honest without being rude. Unfortunately the world just doesn't work that way. I suppose this all amounts to my way of saying, I can understand why a person would be too cowardly to seek attention in a positive way, but I won't go so far as to say that it isn't their fault. These people really need to learn to grow. Yes they might need help unlearning their dysfunctional ways but I won't pity a person who refuses to try.
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I totally agree with this.
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That's not what I said. I said, a lot of the time it is. But depression is actually a clinically recognised imbalance of hormones. Just, most people get all B'AWWW SADFACE. IM A DOWNER COS I HAVE DEPRESSION. And they don't o:
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I'm sorry, I didn't understand your point, at first. Now I read again your comment, and I understood what you meant.
I'm guess I'm a little too sensitive because of my friend... I'm worried about her, I can't contact her... and I understood it totally wrong. =/
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My grandpa died of depression, so I know first hand exactly what it looks like. He wasn't a downer all the time, he was actually a really funny, seemingly happy guy. But he never wanted to get out of bed or do anything and couldn't see the point of living. He didn't whine to anyone about it, which is why we didn't catch it till it was too late and he'd already drunk himself to death.
I myself went through a bout of "depression", but chances are it was just a hormonal imbalance caused by puberty. But I know I did dramatize it to much more than it really was, and I've seen many others who claim to have depression do the same thing on dA. The problem with it is, it's generally hard to tell if they're being srs and are just a whiner, or are just attention seeking.
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I think the people who are genuinely depressed are usually the ones who would never speak about it until you force them to or, like your uncle, sadly, go unnoticed until it's too late. I say usually because there are people who I think are strong enough to ask for help but, again, they'll try to keep it as low key as possible, I've never met someone like that who wants to shout their horribly depressed from the rooftops.
I agree with you saying that a lot of the 'depression' that goes on around DA is usually because of teenageness (god, i was like that too when I was a teenager) and a lot of it is attention seeking. It's hard to tell sometimes though, I agree.
(also I had a quick laugh at your sig, it's awesome 
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So basically we all have limits, eventually we all just break down and give up.
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Although this is a good stamp, I can't help but disagree a bit with the words "being strong for too long". I think true strenght is when you're able to tell others you need help, for it takes a lot of courage to open up to someone in our society and admit something so vulnerable.
Saying that you're strong for keeping silent about your problems is near to praising a life of not taking care of yourself. I remember when I suffered from depression, I admitted to my psychologist that I felt weak because I couldn't keep silent about my problems anymore, I was weak and I whined when I should in fact just shut up and deal with it like a strong person. And it was she who told me how strenght is to admit you want help, not to be silent about your pain.
But I see this stamp has been encouraging to many, so no matter the opinion, it is good if it can help someone.
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[butts in]
When I read the stamp, to me it seemed more about having endured too much shit and having to go forth with it, not about keeping quiet about the stuff you have to endure O: .
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No one knows true strength, like those surviving with depression!
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I still find it hard to believe. Why is it that depression equates to being strong for too long? Instead of being weak as usually believed... and stressed out by life?
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Okay, let's see if I can kind of help out with what the quote's kind of talking about:
Imagine that you're moving a heavy piece of furniture from downstairs on one side of a large house to the furthest point away from that in the upstairs. You're strong enough to move it by yourself at first, but as you go further along, the load becomes harder and harder to move. At some point you are physically unable to move the furniture any further. At this point you put down your load, and you're shaking, and you feel weak.
Now, when you started off carrying that load, you were no weaker overall than the person who carried the lamp upstairs instead, but now due to fatigue, you feel that you are.
This is kind of a metaphor for what's going on in this quote. It's not necessarily true that because you've put down the load (fallen into depression) you're weaker overall than everyone around you who's still going. Sure, some people are inherently weaker than others, but there are plenty of strong people who fall into depression because even though they are strong, they can't move that heavy piece of furniture where it needs to go in one shot. The quote is merely trying to encourage people with depression to remember that they were strong enough to pick up the heavy furniture in the beginning and that they will be strong enough to pick it back up after they let their muscles rest for a while.
(Oh, that was a little more than I'd meant to type... I'm sorry about that, and I really do hope that it's clarified the meaning. 
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While, I believe you mean well, you're metaphor doesn't hold up. You see when you put down the furniture because your physically weak, you can always rest for a moment or so until your strength returns so that you can lift the furniture again. Or you could always ask for support rather than tackle the task on your own.
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Or, alternately, you're moving the furniture along and suddenly you get low blood sugar because of the type 1 diabetes that runs in your family and so you need to take a break and have a snack. Often times depression is hereditary, and people become depressed not because they're weak but because they're just genetically predisposed for it.
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More or less. Now if you can tell that to the weaklings who accuses you of being weak whenever you cry after going to four rigorous classes for four nights in a row...
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Your metaphor was really good. Nice explanation. But the problem is the quote in the stamp doesn't make any actual grammatical sense, a decline in strength is an increase in weakness, being strong for too long literally equals becoming weak. So the stamp reads "Depression isn't being weak, it's becoming weak over time." Or "Depression isn't not being strong, it's loosing your strength over time." Which is exactly the point it's trying to refute.
Oh, and I do see that that's what the stamp is trying to say, which is kind of nice, but the way it's worded reduces it to gibberish. The way you have explained it is much better.
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I do agree that the wording is not as precise as it should be.
I wanted to actually mention how the wording could be improved, but I tend to not point out the error as much as improve upon what has already been said. It comes from a habit built into me from the years of English teachers who believe in peer reviewing.
Taking a stab at keeping it concise, though, I would say that something along the lines of, "Depression is not because you are weak, but because you've used your strength for too long," might be better.
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I agree, that is a very good metaphor.
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I'm fortunate enough to have never suffered from depression but someone who is close enough for me to consider a second sister has BDP and suffered terribly from it. It smashed the ignorance right out of me (i used to be the person who thought depression could be snapped out of just like that ). After it all, i realised just how strong you have to be to get through a single day. Aaanyway that was a kinda drawn out roundabout way of me saying that I think your metaphor was awesome!
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Yeah, I know what depression is like since I lived with it most of my life kind of on and off (more on than off unfortunately). I recently discovered that it was because of a vitamin D deficiency that runs on my mom's side of the family. (There are a wide variety of ways that different bodies respond to a lack of vitamin D, which is why we didn't know this until recently. A couple D_3 tablets a day was all I needed to not feel horribly depressed.)
I am in no way a weak girl (takes a lot of guts to tackle being a physics major, just as an example), but when I was depressed, I felt weak and worthless. Being outside of the depression now, I see a lot better how well this quote really does apply to depression.
And this is just MY kinda drawn out roundabout way of saying thank you. ^^
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I'm glad you're feeling better! Sometimes the causes of depression can be very surprising, my friend's dad suffered from it for a long time before he realised it was down to a thyroid gland. Also, just saying that you're a physics major makes me understand you're tough, another close friend of mine is doing a physics degree and from what I hear...well, you'd never catch me doing it
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That is one of the best descriptions i've ever read. I will remember this
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Thank you. ^^ I'm glad that the metaphor works out. I was kind of afraid that it might be too jumbled or something.
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I'm often depressed and usually think of it as a weakness...now thinking about it this stamp really makes sense.
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On a more humorous note for all attending: Depression was once described to me as Anger without enthusiasm.
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Sorry for the late comment.
That description is a good way to describe it! I get sooo irritable and often over the dumbest things. I hate that symptom.
People don't think irritability when they think of depression, but it's there. It's a symptom. It's in DSM-IV and symptom check-lists. It's just we usually lack the energy to show it.
Definitely no enthusiasm either.
Anger and sadness at everything in general and nothing in particular-- that's how I describe it.
I hope you're doing well.
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Amazing, I have depression and only just admitted it to myself, I am seeking professional help with it. This stamp is awesome as it fits in how I am right now.
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powerful. it's amazing how people that've never dealt with depression think we're weak or we should buck up and deal with it. what do they think we're already doing?
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............... i feel all mean cuz i thought it said DEPRESSION IS CUZ YOURE WEAK! and laughed real hard... my bad.
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I only wish that we could figure out how to be strong again...
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Anti-depressant medication.
I'm not saying that to be snarky. Depression is a real illness, and anti-depressants are a real treatment. It seems like a lot of people have the mentality that depression doesn't mean you're weak, but taking medication for it does.
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Don't feel like medication is an evil word. I'm already on it. My previous doctor toyed around with meds and tried to see what would work, but then decided she wasn't qualified for the job and sent me and my mother to find another person to work with. We're still trying to see what will work best.
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That's good. I just know a lot of people who seem to think medication IS evil and it's one of my pet peeves.
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Being depressed isn't being weak, jk-lol. I think that you have to be strong just to endure depression. It took me a long time to be able to see it in that way, though.
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I feel so weak. I've been completely stagnant for months in my life. I haven't made any moves to get a real job, save money, or get myself back to college... I feel like my strength has left me... like my God is watching me and yet has no compassion to save me... or even tell me how to save myself...
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