During COVID, Americans are reporting depression symptoms at three times the regular rate. It's because life is fucking terrifying right now - a deadly pandemic, huge number of jerks out there going maskless even though universal masking would end the damn thing,...

Then you got the politicization of trying not to die and kill others in a political climate that it can feel like not so much an election as an existential question held to public vote through an election whose veracity is constantly in question.

And also the climate isn't doing any better and the income gap only stretches and we're always an inch away from losing health insurance and facing financial ruin and/or death. There's new music from Semisonic but that doesn't cover the gap. It's tough out there...

And it's making more people wonder about what depression in the clinical sense really is. Like, what's the emotion of depression and what's Major Depressive Disorder? What's the mood and what's the THING?...

I want you to know that if you're sad and scared and angry through all this shit, that is a HEALTHY emotion. It really is sad and scary and enraging. So your receptor still works. In spite of all of this, your mind/brain/heart can still read the room...

Where you need to really pay attention is if shit is still getting done or not. Are you feeding yourself in healthy amounts of healthy things? Are you feeding others you're responsible for feeding? Are you showing up for school or work? If so, YAY and...

it's probably not really a disorder. If those functions are breaking down, I can't diagnose but yeah, that's an immediate problem. Get to a doctor, even just a general practitioner, because shit's derailed and you need rerailing...

If you're getting through all the functions but are still miserable, you could probably benefit from some help to feel more capable of dealing with the HORRIBLE SHIT SWARM. You may not have a disorder but you can do better. Talk to someone, read stuff, research...

(I can't get specific here because you need to find your own path.) (There are many paths.) (Mine won't work for you.)
...

A therapist told me once that "major depressive disorder" is pretty much an insurance term. It's a term that a trained professional can write down so that they can unlock all the available tools to try to help you....

My point is, if you think it's horrible out there, it might not be clinical depression, because it really is horrible out there. There really is a monster under the bed.
If you can endure and fight, great. If you don't know if you can, please get help because we need you.

As I say in my book (please buy!), it took me nearly all my life to feel I could get better. I was two years into hosting a show ABOUT DEPRESSION before I allowed myself to believe it.
Okay, this got away from me a bit. Strength and kindness, my dear babies.