People who don't understand depression often assign causes to the actual character of the person who's depressed, and that can be quite unhelpful and hurtful. So I thought we'd take a look at some of these to try to dispel them. 💙

The person going through depression is not likely to be weak or to be selfish. They're not likely to be wallowing in self-pity and enjoying it. They're not likely to be enjoying the spiral of negative thoughts that consume them. 💙

It's not an inability to "man up" or to "pull their socks up" or to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps". They're not wanting to be taken care of. They're not irresponsible or selfish or lazy. Depression is an experience that no-one going through depression wants. 💙

They want to be productive. They want to enjoy life. They want to contribute. It is not a negative personal characteristic or flaw. 💙