Personal Reflective Essay: My Personal Experience With Clinical Depression

Depression is death’s younger brother, he’s seen as less threatening, less important, and some people don’t even believe he exists. He hosts large masquerades, the people that attend, appear normal, a bit more tired, a bit unfocused, but nothing serious. It never looks, grievous, until his brother comes to take the latest victim. The problem with depression and multiple other mental illnesses, is that by the time the symptoms are noticeable, the damage is done, and harmful habits and thought patterns have already forged, for some people, it’s too late to get help, for me this was not the case. Even with the help I received, I did not come out of this unscathed, I altered my outlook on life, my ideas of success, spirituality, and the way I interact with people. I became depressed sometime during March of last year. It started slowly and then started to build, my grades dropped slightly, I didn’t want to leave the house, I started to withdraw from my family and friends. It was in the …show more content…
Activities that I previously enjoyed, barely amused me at all, I couldn’t cheer myself up. My family and I did not make any plans for the summer, the thought being, that I wouldn’t be able to handle it, in theory, it sounded valid. Often I had trouble getting out of bed, it was difficult to maintain attendance at school, and convince myself to do what seem like manageable tasks. However, in practice, it lead to extreme isolation, and ultimately left me alone with my thoughts, which had an extremely negative effect on me. I realized this summer, that I need to have plans, to be taking classes, to be involved and be connected. Coming back to school was the best cure I could have given myself. I have been busy and involved, I see my friends every day, I have classes that I love and school work that takes up time, and after school activities; debate and mock trial, which means I am more involved and generally more lively. I genuinely