Why does it feel so hard to accept depression as an illness that can be treated instead of punishing yourself for not being ok ?

Depression is hard to accept because people with depression typically hate/dislike themselves. Accepting that it is a mental illness is a first big step towards treating it, but a mental illness implies something is "wrong" with you. Media and other people often insinuate depression is just "being sad" or say that the depressed person is lazy. This is not true at all, but it supports the depressed person's view that he/she is worthless. Remember that depression is an actual mental illness, just like bipolar /ADHD/schizophrenia. You are doing the best you can and that is fantastic

I think this stems from the fact that depression is still a taboo in today's society. We're so used to depression being labelled as us being 'lazy', or 'attention seeking' that ultimately we end up believing them.

It feels hard because it is hard to go through something like that Even though it can be treated it is still a very hard and devastating time in life But when you get through that it is going to feel a lot different depression is some thing that my friend had suffered for a long time and even though she knew it could be treated it was something that she really didn’t like about herself and at the point where she was almost cured from depression it was the best time of her life especially when she got cured from it

Depression is a hardship in itself. Once you accept that you are dealing with it the next thing you can do is try and fix it with the help of others.. once you accept that you have depression the next step is making time to take the next steps to solving the issue. Whether it is listening to mediation clips, venting to a friend about what exactly is causing your depression or even trying to seek help from your primary care physician. Once you take these couple steps you will start to feel better emotionally, mentally and physically better