LETS ALL LAUGH AT PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION!!

cloud493

http://allpoetry.com/poems/by/MadManWithabox

This is my poetry, if anyone wants to read. Only if you want like. I'm vain about this, since english is the only thing I'm confident I'm even competent at.

starviewadams

MagicSean wrote: »

Perhaps you would benefit from a new social network to make new connections. You sound very much like someone I know who felt the same. He was introduced to a new social scene by a room mate and he has been extremely happy ever since. Some people can find the monotony of their current social connections to be a downer and it might benefit you to get out on your own a bit. There are tons of ways to do this.

Thanks for the reply.

I am going to 2 support groups at the moment plus a group therapy thing aswell.Lot's of supportive people in a similar position to myself,and I just can't seem to connect with anybody who I meet.Maybe it's the medication that I'm on or maybe I'm just naturally weird/unlikeable,I don't know.But meeting more new people if anything just ends up making me feel worse.

I've just come to the conclusion that I'm not meant to be happy in life,not everybody can be I suppose,this isn't Hollywood after all.I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people every year die sad and alone.Why should I be so special.

shannon_tek

How do you know when you have depression. Yes its said somewhere about emotions. But i feel i just dont know.
Like while 95% im generally positive and happy and full of life i then just suddenly become 'depressed' angry and just want to isolate myself from the world. Specially at night time which i still yet have to figure out why. But its very annoying. as a joke to someone i said im Bipolar. but they gave me a reaction i wasnt expecting, to see a doctor. While its not even covering 2% of seriousness in my eyes i dont know what to look for. Im not going to go to a doctor ive seen enough in my life i dont need anymore.

But like a stroke is there any signs to look for?

Duggy747

shannon_tek wrote: »

How do you know when you have depression. Yes its said somewhere about emotions. But i feel i just dont know.
Like while 95% im generally positive and happy and full of life i then just suddenly become 'depressed' angry and just want to isolate myself from the world. Specially at night time which i still yet have to figure out why. But its very annoying. as a joke to someone i said im Bipolar. but they gave me a reaction i wasnt expecting, to see a doctor. While its not even covering 2% of seriousness in my eyes i dont know what to look for. Im not going to go to a doctor ive seen enough in my life i dont need anymore.

Honestly, you shouldn't say something like that if you don't mean it or want the attention. Depression is an sickening plague in this country that too many people take for granted to the point where it's trivialised akin to the boy who cried wolf.

Depression isn't something that has common symptons. You could be hanging around a person who, to you, seems like the happiest person going but inside they're deeply troubled and in anguish. Many times these people will refuse to let anybody know how they really feel and will think they're just a burden on them if they open up to them, that they're somehow revealing too much of themselves to the outside world and that it's outside of their comfort zone.

Killer Pigeon

I hate being fat. I hate these moobs. My weight has been the main source of any depression I've had and it's been like that all my life. I can never remember a point where I was the same weight as others my age and I haven't really gotten used to my weight either. I often look back to when I was younger and think, god, the amount of exciting things I could have done or gotten involved in if it weren't for the fear of being looked down upon because of my weight.

I never go out without wearing a heavy jumper to hide these emasculating features (mainly the moobs). This is why I love winter, it gives me an excuse to wear heavy cloths outside. During the summer months, I rarely leave the house except when I need to.

All of this has led to quite a lot of social anxiety in my life. Usually, any depression I've ever had goes as follows:

1. I put myself (either directly or indirectly) in a position where I have to deal with other people (usually groups, not people on an individual basis). I begin to question my actions no matter how slight - "Did I make a show of myself?", "Did I make a good impression?", etc.. I can never look at pictures of myself with other people in them; they're painful, they remind me of my physical inadequacies compared with other people. I think too much about what society and people think of me.
   
2. I then avoid putting myself into circumstances where I have to deal with other people unless they're absolutely necessary (college, etc.). I don't really network too much, I have a very small group of acquaintances and an even smaller group of friends.
   
3. Then the bouts of depression start, they usually last about a week or two, and then I try to focus on other things. Usually I brainwash myself into thinking I'm someone that I'm not, just to give myself some confidence, but it eventually leads me back to where I started again.

There are some other things that have gotten me into the habit of isolating myself from other people; one of the big ones would be my sexuality - especially in school. However, I've more or less come to terms with that now.

Given all of this though I think I am capable of dealing with any bout of depression I've had quite well. I never really thought that I'd have to see anyone about my depression or get it diagnosed. Though I know that my way of dealing with it is really only a short term solution.

I once contemplated suicide about a year ago (nothing serious though), I thought about how I'd do it and that, but the thought didn't last too long. Strangely, being so isolated has given me the opportunity to think about life from a perspective that's not corrupted by society, and I don't mean to sound condescending saying that. Life is so much greater, so much more fragile and so much more precious than what society can ever make it out to be. While I think a lot about my flaws in the face of society (my appearance, etc.) and how others view me I could never push myself to go the whole way and quench my existence because of what others think of me.

In hindsight, the greatest irony of my life is that I yearn to be apart of society and I am so bound by what society thinks yet at same time I am a big critic of society.

nesf

Deleted User wrote: »

Sometimes I might feel absolutely exhausted, where I just can't be bothered to do anything, but I wouldn't feel any physical effects whatsoever.

Yeah I get that too where it's all I can do to sit down in a chair all day and just kill time with whatever distraction I can manage to concentrate on. It's not living, it really isn't.

DeVore

Great post Killer.

This time next year you could be not-fat. I'm not saying skinny, I'm saying you can get past the point of feeling its an issue. Not only that but light exercise will make you feel much better about yourself in my experience and will help with self confidence.

I've trained on and off all my life, here are some tips if you want them. You might be surprised by some of them

1. Its a marathon not a sprint. Everyone starts out full of great intentions..." I'm going to hit the gym every single day for an hour!!". Yeah, bollox. Two weeks later they aren't hitting the gym at all. Start out slow but determined. Make a plan you can stick to for the year.

1a. When I'm not in training for something specific, I go for about 30 minutes about every second day. I take the odd flight of stairs instead of a lift (unless it's more than 2 flights) and walk to the shops occasionally. I inject just a bit more exercise into my life then normal.

2. Here are the four words every personal trainer doesn't want me to put on boards. The dirty secret of weight loss: move more, eat less.
Your body is a company balance sheet. if it balances, your weight doesn't change. If you have an excess of goods inward, your going to need storage in a warehouse, ie fat. If sales are higher than expected, you're going to have to delve into those stores. A small tip in one direction is all that's needed. Then just sustain it till you where you want to be.

3 you don't need to starve yourself. In fact it's a bad idea. Your body is smart, it's was built to survive winters by recognising the reduction in food and will attempt to hoard what it's getting because it literally doesn't know when the next meal will arrive.
I cut out booze to a large degree, switch to 7up free which is the only sugar free drink I don't find nasty and cut back on the obviously sugar filled snacks, like gummy bears. That's it. Again, just make some small changes to your diet, nothing that's going to leave you craving food. You don't need to eat only celery sticks

3. be realistic about expectations. You say you are overweight, ok it's not a crime you know you can fix this and be shot of what you have already recognised as a big "thing" in your life. It won't happen over night. If you try to make it happen over night, you'll end up quitting because it's impossible. I won't happen in a month either. But imagine if next Xmas you weren't pulling on a big jumper. Next Christmas. Don't jump on the scales every day, weight fluctuates with water retention a lot and could be show an increase on any given day. Do it once a month.

4. Get ready for what look like set backs. Your weight loss might appear to stop, or weirder still, increase! If you are genuinely sticking to your guns, then two things might be happening in those cases. You might be gaining muscle, which is more dense than fat so while you look less fat, you actually weigh more. Secondly your body might be trying to keep its fat. Remember bodies don't give a sh/te about society and what we think of as beautiful. They want fat. Fat is like money in the bank. It makes it much less likely you will starve to death and so more likely you will get your genes into the next generation. Do rich people like to spend money? No. Nor does a body like to lose fat. So it will hit back and make you tired so you don't move so much. That's it's way of "balancing the budget" in it's favour. Since it can't eat more, it makes you move less.

5. The first month is the hardest. Followed by the second. It gets easier. Then it gets enjoyable. You won't believe me but it will. The reason I say start with 20-30 mins is because if you start out killing yourself you will never make it to month 2 and beyond. Eventually you will want to push it a bit further, especially when you see the results beginning to happen.

6. Do something you enjoy. If you can't stand cycling, don't say "I'm going to cycle every day". Find an exercise you actually find reasonable and don't hate and do that. Swimming is really good, I play table tennis, just find something that makes you move and do it. It doesn't even have to be traditional "exercise" just move more.
Just a year from now you can be a whole different person.

No one can change the start of their story, but we can all write new endings.

DeV

guitarzero

starviewadams wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

I am going to 2 support groups at the moment plus a group therapy thing aswell.Lot's of supportive people in a similar position to myself,and I just can't seem to connect with anybody who I meet.Maybe it's the medication that I'm on or maybe I'm just naturally weird/unlikeable,I don't know.But meeting more new people if anything just ends up making me feel worse.

I've just come to the conclusion that I'm not meant to be happy in life,not everybody can be I suppose,this isn't Hollywood after all.I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people every year die sad and alone.Why should I be so special.

Hey, I've been considering support/therapy groups too, where do you go and what takes place? I hold quite a lot of shame with regards to depression and i dont know how I'd feel about encountering folks Ive never met and being open about it. Being isolated in your depression can make it so much more heavier and I'd be keen enough on meeting others who can talk about it though.

Aoifums

I don't know what the hell I have. I'm a really anxious person and I have suffered periods of depression before. These range from a couple of months to a year and a half. Apart from the odd day here and there, I haven't had any black spots for nearly two years. Today just happens to be one of those days. Most of my friends have gone back down the country for Christmas or I just can't get in touch with them. Half of me is giggling because the first time I reach out for friends, I can't find any.
Fingers crossed that tomorrow will be better and I mean that in the literal sense, not that it will get better at an unknown time ahead of now.

the_dark_side

I have trid audio therapy called Hemi Sync through the Monroe Institute and self hypnosis both for acute depression and for quitting smoking. Helped a lot with depression and I managed to quit the smokes.

cynder

cloud493 wrote: »

http://allpoetry.com/poems/by/MadManWithabox

This is my poetry, if anyone wants to read. Only if you want like. I'm vain about this, since english is the only thing I'm confident I'm even competent at.

You have certainly found away to channel your emotions.

With the paintings i did i found that if i was in good humour they didn't come out that good, but when i was down i could get real detail into them. Keep it up!

I dont paint anymore, ive lost the passion i had years ago, instead i get lost in a good book...

Some very good stuff there...

cloud493

grindelwald wrote: »

You have certainly found away to channel your emotions.

With the paintings i did i found that if i was in good humour they didn't come out that good, but when i was down i could get real detail into them. Keep it up!

I dont paint anymore, ive lost the passion i had years ago, instead i get lost in a good book...

Some very good stuff there...

Thanks why not try the painting again? Might be just the thing.

Morag

guitarzero wrote: »

Hey, I've been considering support/therapy groups too, where do you go and what takes place? I hold quite a lot of shame with regards to depression and i dont know how I'd feel about encountering folks Ive never met and being open about it. Being isolated in your depression can make it so much more heavier and I'd be keen enough on meeting others who can talk about it though.

Aware run meetings all over the country.

www.Aware.ie

jammstarr

Sharrow wrote: »

Aware run meetings all over the country.

www.Aware.ie

Been to aware meetings before. The attendance can be hit and miss at times but even if it's just a chance to have a one to one chat with the runners it's worth popping along.

Killer Pigeon

Thanks for that post DeVore. I appreciate it, especially given your undoubtedly very busy schedule running this excellent site.

DeVore

Me?? I poke things and generally get in the way.

DeV.

Morag

Weight and depression is a right bollox.
Food can be a distraction and a comfort and when it takes all the will power you have to get up and moving not eating 6 packets of crips in a day is just about impossible. It's like drink the only way it to try not have those foods in the house, cos if there not there they won't get eaten and it's not like I am going to leave the house to get them.

It's also can be a very immediate awareness when you fall off the wagon or a indicator, at my most depssed I was my heaviest and hated it. Nothing fit me, I was very uncomfortable in my body, running up stairs wasn't something I could do with out being out of breath.

I have managed to loose 4 stone in total over the last 3 years but then again I've put on a stone again over that time and every time its when I have had a depressed period, lack of engry or lack or will power + wanting to distract myself leads to very unhealthy eating habits.

I fractured my coccyx in the middle of the summer, I had been trying the couch to 5k thing and have seen all the work I had done in the first 6 months of the year go down the drain. The enforced not being able to do much activity and sitting about means I slipped back into bad habits, but I am hoping to turn that around soon, but it can be a vicious cycle, you go throught a depressive period and end up putting on weight which gets you even more down and indulging in the types of behaviour which end up with more weight going on.

It's very hard to change your thinking so that a smoothies and a salad is treating yourself and being nice to yourself and your body rather then cake. You really have to want to not be that shape any more and work to wards making changes starting with small ones.

Hardest part is the first 6 weeks were your body craves the salt, sugars, msg and carbs that is has gotten used to, after that its trying to get used smaller portions but the body does adapt but we have to get our head and emotions in the right place to stick through it and to learn it's not the end of the word when you fall back and eat things you know you shouldn't and I know if I can loose that much then I can work on getting back into the good habits and start again.

DeVore

I've had your cooking, if I could produce food as good as that I'd need a crane to lift me!

Isnt it an amazingly self-propelling little bugger this thing... it causes its own causes. Being overweightness makes you depressed makes you unhappy makes you comfort eat makes you over weight. Vicious cycle. You're right Sharrow, the weakest link there is the eating because of unhappiness and not having those snacks in the house is a good idea.

KP, I hope you will try it out, seriously move more and eat a bit less. Its not rocket science, but it does take willpower but nothing thats easy is worth doing

DeV.

starviewadams

guitarzero wrote: »

Hey, I've been considering support/therapy groups too, where do you go and what takes place? I hold quite a lot of shame with regards to depression and i dont know how I'd feel about encountering folks Ive never met and being open about it. Being isolated in your depression can make it so much more heavier and I'd be keen enough on meeting others who can talk about it though.

I go to aware meetings and to a support group for people who've been through an anxiety group that I did a few years ago.

I only found out recently that aware also run a younger persons support group for people aged 18-27( (I'm 24) so I'm going to give that a try when it starts back up in January.

opinion guy

DeVore wrote: »

Me?? I poke things and generally get in the way.

DeV.

Don't underestimate the power of a well aimed poke

I'll hand over to God for to conclude.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbinE6bx8xM

cynder

grindelwald wrote: »

You have certainly found away to channel your emotions.

With the paintings i did i found that if i was in good humour they didn't come out that good, but when i was down i could get real detail into them. Keep it up!

I dont paint anymore, ive lost the passion i had years ago, instead i get lost in a good book...

Some very good stuff there...

I don't have time these days, have 3 kids and a husband, I enjoy my escape into books. I can relate to some of the poetry, as I suppose a lot of people can relate to self harm, self loathing and suicide, but also helping, being a hero, finding hope. If I was some sort of analyst I would be wondering what humour you were in when writing the poems, some are dark, very dark that I can relate to, but some have hopeful endings, that makes me think of you, your finding a way through and even though some endings end in death others end in hope.

I like 'how she felt' and can totally relate to that, I also liked 'let me hold your hand'
And 'the blade was once a stranger to me' , I also really enjoyed ' why we fight'. Thanks for sharing.... As you see I like the dark ones.

I haven't read the adult ones, yet.

saa

Ah Sharrow congrats, I got over the constant fear of the worst case scenario or someone thinking something bad about me now to tackle the fear of being hungry.

Does that make sense? I feel fantastic eating low carb, really enjoy my food when I am eating like that and everyone complains about "good food" psychically carbs and sugar make me feel terrible groggy, depressed, lazier, bleugh.. but I still do nooo.

cloud493

grindelwald wrote: »

I don't have time these days, have 3 kids and a husband, I enjoy my escape into books. I can relate to some of the poetry, as I suppose a lot of people can relate to self harm, self loathing and suicide, but also helping, being a hero, finding hope. If I was some sort of analyst I would be wondering what humour you were in when writing the poems, some are dark, very dark that I can relate to, but some have hopeful endings, that makes me think of you, your finding a way through and even though some endings end in death others end in hope.

I like 'how she felt' and can totally relate to that, I also liked 'let me hold your hand'
And 'the blade was once a stranger to me' , I also really enjoyed ' why we fight'. Thanks for sharing.... As you see I like the dark ones.

I haven't read the adult ones, yet.

Well some are better than others, thank you for the kind words

well, make some time? I don't doubt those are challenging responsibilities, but I'm sure your husband and your kids want you to be happy, and wouldn't mind if you took, a couple of hours of every week to do something to channel your bad emotions positively?

rebel without a clue

im going to brave it and go out new years eve. better than sitting in and watching a dvd and not bothered about the time i guess! anyways, im glad i saw this thread, its given me a bit of hope. could identify with some of the posters here. i really hope ye all have a good and bright new year. positive thoughts all the way! for a every dark cloud theres a silver lining! ok ill stop now............ just best wishes everyone.:)

DEFTLEFTHAND

Does anyone ever feel like they are teetering on the edge of a black hole at times? To explain I'm not that happy in life and I worry deeply about the future, but for the most part I can ignore these negative thoughts and be able to function perfectly normal with work etc.

Then out of the blue something can happen that triggers alot of dark emotion inside me, This trigger can be a very trivial matter like somebody passing a nasty remark towards me. It's almost as if its the straw that breaks the camels back and I descend into long periods of despair where I drink excessively. This has been happening multiple times a year since I was 16 (23 now). I've seen several people over the years in relation to this issue and the sessions have always gone well but I have never achieved any lasting success from them and the periods of deep depression return again.

DeVore

Yes, that could easily be me.

Like I said in the opening post, it can be something laughably trivial. But you are 23, and you are already learning about the "negative spiral" as I call it. Usually for me its something that makes me angry, often angry at myself and then it kicks into anger with a lot of things that have obviously been on my mind but I wasnt dealing with perhaps. Then it becomes an overwhelming sense of futility and apathy.

As I said, you are 23 and already you can see how it starts, thats good, thats a great step because it means you understand the problem for you and you can head it off at the pass. Now when I feel the anger coming I fight it, I back off whatever I was doing, and do something that brings me happiness or reminds me it isnt all dark. Balance.

When I started seeing that I could interfere with this thing, I started to realise I wasnt stuck with it. I could affect it, eventually I could come to some kind of control over it and while I still remain mindful of my emotional state, I can more or less live without concern about it. Sure, occasionally I hit a bump in the road and have to swerve a bit to get back on course but I'm able to see it for what it is. Me having taken my eye of the ball a bit too much.

Believe it or not, you are going great guns in terms of coming to terms with dealing with it. You see it for what it is, now you need to get in the game before the "descent" as you put it. When you feel that downward spiral, get up get out get fighting. Its hard but its the best time to head it off at the pass. Dont be a passenger in your own body.

DeV.

The Sweeper

Oh yes, the negative spiral. People have song lyrics they tie to it and for me it's in Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' - black flowers blossom.

Here's a for instance scenario for you.

Pre-Christmas, I moved house. Arrived in the house late November, came down with the flu basically and was off my feet and useless for nearly a solid fortnight. That brings us up to the end of the first week in December, where there are still boxes to be unpacked. Plus I have no job other than the work-at-home own business stuff I do, which is dormant.

So I spend two weeks unpacking remaining boxes and trying to get my business back up and running (a futile exercise in the run-up to Christmas given I'm not in the elf or reindeer business).

By now it's pretty much Christmas week and there are no decorations and no tree and no holiday spirit and every day is an effort - so we discuss it and give ourselves a free pass and don't put up a tree or decorations. We spend Christmas day in someone else's house and on returning home you'd be forgiven for thinking it's just another Sunday in our own place.

It's the second Christmas since my father died and it's worse than the first, because in the first we were all making an effort to ensure the First Christmas passed well and we all got through it. We made no such effort this time around and it showed.

Yesterday I realised I hadn't left the house on my own since 19th December. I leave the house sure enough, if OH is with me and he's driving but I haven't gotten in the car and gone anywhere by myself in 12 days. This is hermit territory and I know if I don't correct it, I could go weeks and weeks without leaving the house by myself. OH has a job which means he can be away for extended periods and sometimes I feel like I do better when he is away, because I have to leave the house. When he's home I can put off doing things until he appears and then ask him to come with me, intensifying the cycle where I go nowhere under my own steam. I'm an anxious driver (not a bad driver, just an anxious one) and the longer I spend not driving, the more that's exacerbated so I end up at home going 'I'd quite like to go to the beach with the dog but I'd have to drive 15 minutes and the traffic is quite busy so I'm going to stay here instead.'

I'm making no new years resolutions because I don't want the pressure of them (plus I'm sure they'll be crapped out within three weeks). I know well enough to be going very easy on the booze and avoiding cadging OH's smokes, so that's something. Coming up to Christmas I followed the Kate Fitzgerald saga on the Irish Times homepage on Facebook and started off angry and passionate about it and ended up frustrated and apathetic as I watched them just wait out the storm. Like Dev, that anger with one thing spreads to anger with a lot of things ('corporate entitlement, grrrr, blah blah' and then I have no job at the moment so GREAT) and eventually after all that build up I end up empty.

Right now this second, on the last day of 2011, I just cannot drum up the energy to care. I'm apathetic. I'm hollow. I have a job application to get in by 3rd January, exams to study for on 6th February, and work to do outside in the yard to finish cat-proofing my fences, and all I want to do is go back to bed.

I won't though. I'll just pick something and get on with it, hating every fuckin black second that I drag myself through a task I know I have to do. Sometimes fighting your depression feels like it's harder than letting yourself slide.

lynsalot

Dev thanks for the post. It struck me to read it because I've spent years battling depression.

But the first heading I read "Depression is not sadness" struck me right to the core. I have been attending Cognative Behavioural Therapy for 9 months now and its the first thing the therapist said. Depression is sadness. Although it is more than that.

With the help of the therapist I've figured out that my "depression" is caused by a series of events which saddened me and deepened my sense of loss. When I have a sense of loss I get depressed. It might be something as simple as recently enough my boyfriend moved in with me. I should've been happy. I spent the first 3 weeks in "nothing land" feeling depressed (Or what manifests itself as depression for me) But I very slowly began to realise what caused it. I am separated 2 years from a man who psychologically abused me for years. When he left I had to pick myself up and be responsible for an apartment, finances (Which I had no control over in the marriage) renting out a room and it took a long time for me to feel comfortable with doing it. I was empowered. What I didn't realise was that I was also becoming very happy with my own little routines and things being done "my way"

My boyfriend moving in puts pressure on me to live up to my own expectations with regards to cleaning, being on top of the game with dinners, organisation etc. Might sound silly but I slowly realised what I suffer with is actually anxiety.

Anyway through working with the CBT counsellor, I've managed to figure out a lot and those feelings of nothingness don't affect me anymore. It's allowed me to figure out whats actually wrong and address me. I never would've allowed myself to admit what the real problem was but now that I know what it is, I can work on it.

So why am I responding to your post? Well, although it may never have been true depression that I had (Which was diagnosed and treated with drugs and had detrimental affects on my worklife) I have found help through CBT and managed to get off duloxetine (Cymbalta) in the process.

I'm still going to counselling and will be for a while until I work it out but I've gone from seeing her once a week, to once every three weeks and its probably the best money I've ever spent on myself. Hopefully others can find a way that works for them.

DeVore

Aye, the "Depression is not Sadness!" bit was deliberately put in the section for people who dont get depression simply because so many people just say "well, cheer up!" like the person is just not happy.

It is triggered by a variety of things and sad events definitely are a trigger for many. If there's one thing this thread has taught us, its that no two people are identical in how it affects them. Its good we identify the commonalities but its also good that we identify the differences too so people know that it might not be exactly like that for them.


DeV.

Terry

DeVore wrote: »

People with mental health issues are intellectually sub-optimal

Wrong. Just plain wrong. In fact, I would hazard a guess that it has some correlation with high intelligence myself.
For my own part, last time I had it checked I had an iq above 150. (when I practised the tests I got that up to 180... so I wouldnt put too much stock in those tests ).
I'm 41 and pretty much retired. By any possible yardstick I've been successful and I'm bright. I have 7 honours in the leaving cert, a degree in pure mathematics, I studied 6 languages and have 11 honours in O-Levels which I sat in a single year (my "gap" year). Dumb, I aint. Lots of the people I know who have depression have it because they see TOO clearly rather than that they have poor intellects.

Without wishing to come across as arrogant or other words I'm drunk shut up (more on that later).

From Childhood, I was constantly told that I was very intelligent.
There was always some pressure attached to that, even though I sailed through school.

I get exactly where you are coming from with the 'people with mental illness are dumb' thing, but I'm going to come at that from a different angle.
I was depressed as a child, but didn't realise it. Instead I was somewhat of a bully towards those whom I perceived as dumb.
Not in a physical manner, but I had a tendency to put down my classmates because of their shortcomings.

I have since apologised to most of them, but still feel bad about my actions.

It wasn't until I went into 5th year that I began to feel the effects of the depression, and realised how ****ed in the head I was.

Anyway, that's another story for another day.

You're only 5 years older than me, but even in my teens depression was still taboo. Christ, it was still taboo in my 20's.
Even today most people won't acknowledge it. I was lucky enough to have really good friends who were extremely supportive when I finally told them I was depressed. However, I know this is rare, and not everyone has friends like that.

How can I help
If you suffer from depression you can help yourself by talking about it. You can also be honest with yourself and try to see what might be a trigger for you. For me, exercise seems to help. If I allow myself to mope about things like the economy or exactly how ****ing retarded our government is, I can feel the downward spiral coming on and I have learned to head that off at the pass. Diet I'm told, is important. My diet is a wreck but I'm working on it. (Yesterday's dinner was made entirely by Rowntrees I noticed... bold DeV!)

If you dont suffer from it then you can help by understanding it better. You can help by not making a big deal out of something that probably wouldnt be a big deal if we didn't make one out of it. Be supportive, listen and for God's sake dont say something like "yeah, when my cat died I was totally bummed out". I know you mean it well, but its like consoling a cancer suffer with the tale of how you once cut your finger.

What he said.
Seriously, talk about it, or listen to someone who wants to talk about it.

The sooner you address your problems, the faster you can get over it.

Listen to your friends. Just half an hour can really help them.

My breakthrough came when my sister (a pharmacist) once said to me, "Tom, you know it sounds like you might have a touch of depression". She said it like it was nothing, like I might have a bit of a head cold. A touch of depression?? WTF?? To me that was like saying "Hey, you might have a touch of Ebola!". How could she be so nonchalant about this huge massive overwhelming secret I've been hiding?!

It really is as simple as that, in my opinion.
It is just like a head cold.
A depressed person is not someone who is going to run amok and kill you. It's just someone who wants you to listen to their problems for half an hour or so. That 30 minutes can really help them.
Also, tell them to seek medical help. The pills really do help.
There are numerous types of pills, and everyone reacts differently to each type of medication.

The first meds your doctor prescribes may not work. If that happens, then go back and get something else.
Also, seek counselling. It really does help.

(To finish up on the drink thing from earlier; it just makes you more depressed.
Cannabis is not an answer. That is worse than drink. Other illegal drugs are just going to make you suicidal if you are even mildly depressed.