I’m going to throw myself in the dog fight. Severe depression is real. Having lived through the last 5 years with what is sometimes debilitating severe depression I can see where the irrational behavior comes from. You’re not in your right mind, you hate yourself, and wake up each day asking God to take you now because your family would be better off without you. I have been able to keep a happy face, put on an act, and never show that I have severe deep depression. My boss had know idea, my co-workers have no idea, the 60+ people I manage have no idea. I have taken medications of all kinds for the past 10 or so years. I went from mild depression to severe deep depression beginning in 2019. Most of the people I know are hard working, hunt/fish, and are Christians. I have heard many of them say over the years that people with depression can just take medications and it will go away, or they say that depression is an excuse for lazy people to get out of work, or they say it must be a sin problem. It makes talking about my depression useless because people will think I’m lazy, or I’m not taking medications, or that I have a hidden sin problem that I’m hiding from everyone. None of those are true. But when depression takes control of your cognition, your memory, your belief in yourself, your passions in life, and your joy you feel helpless, you feel worthless, hopeless, and most of all you feel isolated. Our mental health system for the most part is a joke. I have had to see a therapist as often as 3 times a week and a psychiatrist once every other week when my depression reached a scary level. My wife is extraordinary!! She has never given up on me. She is smart. She has a Ph.D in vision science, so she took on the challenge of researching depression and how to best handle me. She knows how to do peer reviewed research. I hope that you and your family never, ever have to deal with any mental illness. I have watched the Lindsay Clancy trial and can understand how her mental illness could have taken complete control of her mind in the spur of a moment. That’s the scary part about this illness, you cannot just “will it away”. I’m not going to take offense if you don’t believe or support what I’ve said I won’t take it personal, my experience with depression is not up for debate. I am grateful those will support me and maybe can gain some idea of what depression feels like and has done to me. God bless.

GO NOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!