Personify Your Depression: If my depression were a person... [fill in the blank]
Personify Your Depression: I learned about this coping technique today. Imagine that your depression is a person separate from you. The idea is that personifying our depression helps remind us that depression doesn't define who we are ourselves, and that invasive self-critical thoughts we experience often come from our depression and not our healthy minds. Some things to think about are: what kind of person would it be, what kind of hobbies would it have, what would it look like, what would its name be?
So, if your depression were a person, what kind of person would it be?
Depression is a stalker. One that knows where you are at all times, knows what makes you tick and gives you tinted sunglasses to wear.
If my depression were a person it would be an asshole. It would be the typical high school bully who only kicks you when youre down, and only strike when you least expect it.
If my depression were a person, she would be my best friend. She is always in my corner and the most loyal person I know. Everytime I want to go out, she is always there to tell me I maybe should change or I should just stay in the house. She makes sure that I am always well rested and sleep more than I should. She doesnt want me to gain weight so she tells me what I should and shouldnt eat. We are together 24/7 and she really has become a part of me. My other friends dont really like her, even though they havent really met her. She tells me that they arent really my friends and I should leave them alone. I cant help but to love her because Unlike my other friends, nothing in the world (not even medicine) will make her stop loving me.
if my depression was a person they would just follow me everywhere and tap on my shoulder to get me to pay attention, and theyd sneak into my thoughts and convince me that im alone
If it were a creature:
A deathclaw or a sentry bot from Fallout
A Thunderjaw from Horizon Zero Dawn
A Bouncer Big Daddy from Bioshock
A Dwarven Centurian from Skyrim
If it were a person:
My best friend(if she was a vampire or an evil, violent, heartless, version of herself)
My other best friend (if she was super heartless and cold) she is a marine so given my mistakes she could be this way towards me.
A bounty hunter relentlessly hunting me.
A judge sentencing me to a life of suffering, broken dreams.
If my depression were a person, it'd be my ex-boyfriend. He'd wrap his arms around me and pull me to the bed, holding me in place so we'd just lie there lazy and content. If I'd want to get up and run around, go climb a tree or bake souffles, he'd just groan and pull me in closer.
"Five more minutes," he'd whisper lazily into my ear, and there we'd lie there like that for an hour.
And when I'd grow restless, feel like a bird caged in within, I'd insist that we get up and do something more. He'd just pout and say that he's tired and really can't now, that we'll do something more on some other day. And although I feel restless and hopeless within, I'd tell him that its ok, too dishearted to put up a fight, too cozy to climb out of his arms, and I let him win.
If my depression was a person...
it would probably look a lot like a younger version of myself, except wrong in all the important ways (e.g. the feature I'm proudest of, my eye color, being different, or my hair, which is nice and long since it calms me to braid it and helps me think clearly and objectively, being cut short). It would presumably act a lot like my cousin, which is to say hurtful in a way that is impossible to determine whether it is intentional or just uncaring.
It wouldn't sound like amonster either. That would insuniate it to be something aliien, intrusive in such a way it didn't start in my brain. It would have a soft and warm voice, the kind of voice a mother gets when reading a bedtime story. However, it would also sound a lot like my own voice. Nothing is more hurtful than your own negative thoughts, and with your own voice the effect would be so much more devastating.
It would be cool to touch though. Not uncomfortably so, but enough to be notable. It is a thing of death and despair, and it seems to suck all warmth from me, so I can't imagine it to have any even remotely healthy temperature.
The colours would also be muted. And it would not, at any point, emote.
It would look like a wasp with spider legs honestly. No one wants me around when I'm down
It
If my depression were a person it would be expressionless, dark, lonely. It would tell me I can't do it, I'm not worth it, and don't even try. It would tell me to keep my feelings to myself, to hold on to the secrets and lies inside my head. It would tell me other people don't care and don't want to be bothered by my problems. It would shame me for all the bad decisions I made and do it's best to prove to me I deserve to be sad and lonely. It would be clothed in guilt, shame, and sadness. If my depression were a real person I would just hug it until it felt better and remind it that we are not alone and that someone does care 