#MyDepressionLooksLike trends across the world

The term depression is often linked to sadness. But a Twitter hashtag, trending worlwide today, emphasised that sadness is only a small snippet of what depression actually looks like. The hashtag #MyDepressionLooksLike picked up steam after Twitter user @SheSeauxSaditty encouraged other users to share their perspective of depression.

#MyDepressionLooksLike - Tweeps used the hashtag to break down the characteristics of depression from both the inside and outside. Many said that depression isn’t always visual.

@strangefervor: “#MyDepressionLooksLike unfinished notebooks, missing the bus to school and blaming myself, hoarding essentials out of fear that I’ll need it.”

@IreneTrisqui: “#mydepressionlookslike a fight between my brain and I, for not to have negative thoughts.”

Christine Glenna Kendrick: “... #mydepressionlookslike aches and pains all over my body, feeling like I have the flu. #mydepressionlookslike not being able to maintain any semblance of friendship bc I am too tired to socialize. #mydepressionlookslike my boyfriend’s dark undereye circles matching my own, as he stays up all night trying to comfort me. #mydepressionlookslike the scars on my body that no one will see except my doctor and my boyfriend. #mydepressionlookslike 72 hour holds in jail-like facilities. #mydepressionlookslike wild, frizzy hair, chocolate stains on my collarbone and fingers, a smell that even I notice. #mydepressionlookslike my messy house, my messy life, my lack of a college degree, my bad skin, my lumpy body, my life.

Depression looks a lot worse than the sadness and fatigue you hear about. Don’t confuse daily stress and temporary sadness with clinical depression. The disease is hard enough to live with, without the stigma of people thinking its all in our heads bc so many people are misdiagnosed. There’s a difference between being in a rut, and needing to be medicated for depressive episodes.”