Do I need to be poor or lost someone that I loved to have depression?

Nope! I have a friend who is rich and has everything going for her, yet has depression. Some people are clinically depressed (something they truly cannot help) and others don't know how they ended up depressed. I suggest seeing a counselor and seeing what they say about it!

Definitely not! All feelings and moods are valid and real. Everyone, including myself, has gone through a rough patch(es). There are people who get depressed without a reason. What is important is to realize your emotions and give them validity. I have personally gone through depression but with a good support network and quite a few warm hugs, I was able to see the light of day. I do understand that it may seem dark and perhaps hopeless right now but it is best to keep pushing through. It all turns out ok in the end, and if its not, its not the end.

Depression is a mental illness, it can affect anyone anywhere. How "good" your life is does not matter when it comes to depression. Depression simply does not care if you are rich or poor, if you have lost someone or not. I had a hard time accepting the fact that I had depression because I felt guilty, I felt that I had no right to feel this way, when my life looked so good. But after a lot of therapy I started to realize that its not my fault, its not my fault that I have a mental illness.

Absolutely not! Depression affects such a wide range of people who come from a vast variety of circumstances. Some folks who have depression have experienced those types of things, yes, and having had difficult events happen in our lives can greatly increase the chances of developing depression. But these things are definitely not deal breakers or are completely necessary in order to have depression! For many people, it's a chemical imbalance, sometimes due to inheriting it from family members. For others, it's sparked by a negative experience, or from a bad continuous life situation. But for others, there can sometimes seem to be no true cause at all! You can have the most loving family, be financially comfortable, and be living your dream life, but still have depression. And that's okay! How you feel is valid, and you don't need to have experienced a grocery list of circumstances to qualify for depression.

I do not believe this is necessary. A lot of different things can affect your mental health, and we all have our own stories we are living! There is no ‘correct’ way to experience depression and all we can do is recognise it and do our best to work through it. Mental health is not an area where it is a race or a comparison. Someone else’s experience will never diminish your own. You deserve support and empathy, no matter how you got to where you are now. You are just as deserving of the support to get better as anyone else.

No. Depression is an emotion I think we've all experienced from incidents and things in our lives. Having depression though is different. Having depression can sometimes feel like something devastating has happened when it hasn't. It is a state of mind that doesn't have to come with a reason. This can often be hard for others to understand who do not suffer from depression. In return it can even make things feel heightened for the person struggling with depression. Many people experiencing depression could benefit talking with someone who truly understands what it feels like. Managing depression is a process and it is important to remain kind to yourself with these emotions.

No. Depression hits everyone differently. Just because you are not poor or lost a loved one doesn’t mean you have not or cannot experience depression. What may cause depression for one person may not necessarily trigger it for another individual. Depression also comes in many forms: low or no energy, sadness, tired, self isolation or withdrawal from fitness and family, feelings of loneliness, cluttered or messy house, silence. Depression can also be viewed as someone who is always happy, telling jokes, the center of attention, posting they have such an eventful and extravagant life especially for someone who normally doesn’t behave in such a manner. It is important to see and recognize both situations.