Depression

[Paddy™]

Look at it this way from what I inferred from the posts I quoted from you. You say that you had suicide thoughts which were somewhat contributed from being trivialized by people close to you. If that was so, then why are you still here now, and not dead? I'd take a guess, and assume that you just got over it at some point.

Dude...

I'm not "over it", I'm still suffering from depression and anxiety, and I'm nearly 30. I'm unemployable as a result of it. It's likely that I'll never be rid of it. My not being dead isn't evidence of anything except I didn't die.

If someone is feeling so depressed that they attempt or contemplate suicide - whether it's a "phase" or not - is irrelevant to how dangerous it is to ignore or downplay it. A dead kid isn't any less dead because they weren't "properly" depressed at the time.

I personally have also gone through similar phases where I felt depressed, and occasionally had suicidal thoughts, but they've all evaporated now. I guess that it has either been a result of, or have contributed to a view I now have on life that "Shit happens. Get over it, and complaining won't help anyone at all". Just a personal view on life though. Not something I'd impose on anyone else.

It's great that you got through it and you were able to move on, but it's not something a person can simply will to happen. Different people are affected in different ways. If someone posts on a message board that they're having trouble with depression and need advice, it's probably not because they've got the Monday morning blues.

I'm just saying that while I do agree it is not something that should be trivialized, it is perhaps a tad silly to call it something else than really a phase that we go all may go through, and eventually get over at similar points in life that we deal with in different ways.

What does calling it "a phase" accomplish? It pre-supposes that it is a phase, and that no further investigation is necessary. It makes the person experiencing it feel stupid, weak, embarrassed and ashamed for not overcoming it or for feeling overwhelmed by it. It's counter-productive, at best.

Teenagers are known to be mopers, and one in four people are known to suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. It's not worth the risk to even have a category labelled "just a phase" when mental illness and suicide is such a major problem.