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Yorkshire Lad wrote:

Byron wrote:YL, being at the bottom of a well and hearing a voice, one looks upward and sees someone looking over the edge of the well and saying to you, "I can really sympathise with the way you are feeling down there," is the usual sentiment from helpful, caring people.

Being at the bottom of a well and hearing a voice, one looks to one's side and sees someone standing next to you, who says "I empathise with the way you are feeling down here," is the sentiment from a torn kindred spirit.



TKS.

Am I right in thinking you are saying the people at the top of the well can lower a rope but it is only the torn kindred spirit that can understand whether you grab hold of it or not !
YL

YL, the people at the top of the well have no idea how you are suffering. They see you are suffering, but cannot comprehend it. Explaining Depression is like explaining 'love,' 'faith,' beauty,' and any other feeling which is carried within us. Depression is a feeling which goes way beyond feeling 'blue,' or feeling 'down.' Many people have days when they feel depressed. We all do. However, Depression is like a pillar which supports you. Everyone is aware that it causes mental pain, but the fragility and danger which the pillar brings, leaves the sufferer doubting their own self supporting mechanisms. It is a part of you. It colours everything. It threatens and despoils your life in so many ways. People who sympathise have seen what it does; have some inkling of what it is like; have no idea of how it feels. They are not offering you a rope. They are watching you and trying to make some sense of what they see. The Kindred Spirit, knows the 'feeling.' Knows the pain. Knows the depths to which a mind can fall. Knows far more than anyone can read in books.

Byron
Your post is something that I fully understand because I ( and I suspect you ) have been there . As I intimated in my initial response to Karren . I suffered for the best part of two years . It is not an illness that you suddenly wake up with one morning or acquire like a broken leg . It creeps up on you slowly and once it has a hold you have to fight like hell to get rid of it .And therein lies the crux of it you and you alone can only get rid of it because as you say it colours everything you do ignoring everything and everybody in the process. Hence " the slippery slope " analogy . and you can never be absolutely sure how long you have had depression because it does not leave you in an instant but drifts away at it's own speed and it's own pace . Leaving you with the lingering fear that it may return at any time to wreck havoc on your life . BUT THEN I SUSPECT I AM PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED !
YL