It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, so please bare with me, my writing skills are rusty at best. *Trigger Warning for depression*

Hi, hello and welcome to GK’s guide to not being an asshole to someone who is depressed. There is many a writing on this, but here is my attempt to make it a concise and easy go to guide for anyone who feels like being a bit of a prick to someone with a mental health problem. In this piece, I am going to be wholly focusing on severe, chronic depression, because that’s what I’m rocking and I rock it quite well.

Depression is a relatively common mental health problem - with one in ten people suffering with it at some point in their life. Make sure you read that properly and have it clearly stuck in your mind for the rest of your life please: one out of every ten people will have been depressed. Remember this every time you talk to a stranger, a friend or even a family member, because depression may not be obvious and you don’t want to be a wanker to these people, do you?

Mental health problems are stigmatised. People with them are commonly abandoned by the general public, and when there not being shunned they’re being treat like shit, by people who are just “interested” or “just trying to help”. I’m a bit of an abrasive bitch, but I know when I meet people like that I generally want to smack their face into the wall. But that might be just me. So here I’m going to go through some common things I hear from the “but-we-just-mean-well-honest” crowd and why you shouldn’t say/do them.

“Everyone get’s sad…”

If you have ever said this to someone with depression, you are one of the worst people to exist. Honestly, you are. Because, trust me, not everyone get’s this kind of sad. So sad that they don’t want to get out of bed. That they don’t want to shower. That they want to die. That they miss months of work, because of the inability to do anything but exist. Not everyone get’s that kind of sad and it’s really quite fucking detrimental to tell people with depression that they do. One of the main symptoms of depression is very low self worth, and if you tell someone that they just need to “pull their boot-straps up” because everyone get’s a bit sad, they just deal with it better, you are compounding every low feeling that person has ever had into a bullet and shooting it straight through their chest. Well done, asshole.

“Have you tried exercise/healthy eating? Because my cousin’s, sister’s, dog’s wife tried that and she’s cured.”

Right, I want you to go to an advanced math class. A degree class in fact. I want you to ask them if they’ve ever tried to add numbers together. I’ll wait till they’ve finished laughing at you/punched you in the face. That’s pretty much what you’re doing when you tell someone that all they need to do is exercise/eat better/try some herbal remedy. I can assure you, most people will have tried these things. Me? I have to exercise, eat healthy and take my medication - or I will try to hurt my self. And I don’t need people telling me that it’ll cure me. It won’t, I’m incurable, the Dr said so in as little words. If your giving advice, to a close friend who loves and trusts you, then that’s different. But more often that not this information is given my complete strangers and once again, it makes me want to punch you. I can’t help it, sorry.

“Let’s see your scars/cuts”

Self injury scars are intimate, private things that are none of your damn business. That’s all there is to this one. Don’t ask. Just don’t, asswipe. I don’t care whether the person has a gash in their arm that you could fit your head in, you still don’t ask to examine it. Chances are, if the person want’s to talk about it, they’ll show you themselves and then you can go from there. Also (and I really can’t believe this is not fucking common sense) if a person come’s to you for help, you still don’t ask to see. I can assure you, it won’t assist you in assisting them. Shitbag.

“The medication you are on is all a scam, the evil corporations have got you!!!!!111!”

I need that medication to function in every day society, hell, to even function at all. You are wrong. Shut up, for the love of all that is holy. If you think this, keep it to yourself and jump in a fire. But don’t take any pain medication afterwards, it’s all part of the evil corporations (tm’s) plan to get you, remember?

That’s all I can think of at the moment, but I can assure you there are more. Feel free to re-blog and add your own experiences. And if you think any of these things, STFU. Sit down, read a website of 2. Look I’ve even done the Google search for you, I’m just that fucking nice. Stop perpetrating this bull shit, we are all tired of hearing it.