How is depression viewed by society and the world around us?

On my experience most of the times depression is not even considered as an illness. Im sure t what being depressed mea, is just ignorance about what being depressed means. They say things like "you are just sad because you want to be it", "you are weak", "do some sports, you have to move it", "do not be medrolamatic"...These comments do not help at all, depressed people feel even worst, like they do not worth...

Depression is a highly stigmatized disorder in society today. Patients suffering with depression are often viewed as being weak, and are thus often made 'social lepers'. This leads sufferers to remain silent about their plight and refuse to get help, for fear of being stigmatised.

Personally, I believe that it is frowned upon quite often. I have depression, and several people I've confided in have told me to just be happy, or to smile. It's not that easy, though, even with therapy and medication. My sister didn't believe I was diagnosed, and my mother tells me it's not an excuse for my behavior. So many people treat it like it's taboo, but when people are physically ill, people go to the hospital, treat them nice. I wish that were the same with mental illnesses like depression.

Society views depression as something that is easy to snap out of, when it is a nightmare to go through everyday. Someone who doesn't suffer from this illness usually will not understand the pain and traumatizing effects it takes on a person living with depression every moment of the day. Lack of energy and loss of ambition are seen as being "lazy", when it is not as controllable as people think it is. There are too many misunderstanding concerning this illness that no one wants to educate themselves on it. Due to this, a majority of sufferers do not open up to family or friends.

I think depression should be a more educated topic in society. I think that there is a lot of confusion around depression, and it is often used as a semi slang term for having a bad day, when in fact it is a very serious life threatening disease. As we are educated in school about many various topics, I think there should be more wellbeing and mental health education, throughout schools, as not just depression but all mental health is something that seems to be passed off as not that big of a deal, when in fact people are coping with so much, and may not know that it could be better, as they don't know what is wrong with them. I think society passes off depression and mental health as not life threatening, and supports physical health more immediately. Seeing an equal between physical and mental health, throughout all aspects of medicine and health would really make a change to our society.

It is viewed as mere sadness and that people who are depressed are just saying it to gain attention and sympathy when in reality these depressed people are in need of so much of love and help. Society needs a tight slap.

I think depression is seen as a stigma and often a taboo term in society and the world. And I believe this is one reason why those with depression don't discuss their issues or confront them. The world we live in is fast pace and productivity seems to be the conformist attitude we've needed to adapt to. However, depression involves symptoms of negative affect causing some to feel tired, unwilling to leave their beds/homes, and overall unmotivated. So unfortunately, society sees this as being lazy and incapacity to prevail in the fast paced world. That's partly my take on this question :)

I genuinely think that depression is underestimated in our society. People think that if you failed a test, lost a close person or got fired from your job, that you'd be depressed. Which is true, for the most part. But I'm talking about the Depression that can't be fixed by time. People, especially the previous generation (parents, teachers, etc.), think that depression is just a phase that we would grow out of. Though I do hope depression can be completely cured one day, so far, I don't really think people understand what depression really is, or how it affects a person's life.

i think a lot of people don't see it as a real disease. a lot of them use the word depression in a wrong way, when they don't want to do something the automatically say that they are depressed or that a certain situation is depressive. but i don't think they really know how it feels or what it really means

In today's society depression is often seen as beautiful and dark, creating a falsified image of what it really is. Depression is a real thing and causes millions of people stress and hurt, meanwhile others are , making it to look desirable and mysterious. In other cases depression isn't seen as a "real" thing. People assume it is over reactions or "regular sadness" when in reality, those struggling with depression have a hard time dealing with something so many people judge.