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What's the worst part of depression? These Twitter users are speaking up.

#TheWorstPartOfDepressionIs is an essential mental health hashtag.

Like most mental illness, depression is widely misunderstood by those who don't live with it.

I, like tens of millions of others, live with depression. To me, one of the most challenging aspects of depression is the simple fact that most people — even the most well-meaning — won't really understand. And try as they might, they won't be able to help.

One of my favorite illustrations of this comes from a comic by Robot Hugs. The comic imagines if people treated physical illness the way they often treat mental illness.



You wouldn't respond to someone injecting insulin to treat their diabetes by saying, "I don't think it's healthy that you have to take medication every day just to feel normal," so why would you say that to someone taking antidepressants? Comic by Robot Hugs.

Too often, depression is seen as simply feeling sad. That isn't accurate.

Everyone gets sad. It's totally normal. Having a down day doesn't make you "depressed," just like cleaning your house doesn't make you "OCD" Taking these clinical terms and assigning them to situations that don't apply dilutes what they really mean.


This is Sadness. She's similar, but not the same as depression. GIF via Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out."

It helps to make sure we're all using the same definition. So, without further ado, here's how the World Health Organization describes depression (emphasis mine):

"Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 350 million people affected. Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Suicide results in an estimated 1 million deaths every year."

Perhaps the best way to understand the "hidden burden" of depression is to listen to the stories of whose who have it.

People are using the hashtag #TheWorstPartOfDepressionIs to describe what it's like living with depression.

It's a powerful, diverse look at how varied — although tied together by a few common threads — these stories are.

To some, the worst part is the overwhelming need to pretend nothing is wrong. People are told to "put on a brave face," "try to have fun," or simply to smile to overcome their depression. Trying to follow this advice can be emotionally exhausting.


For others, the worst is the feeling of being in a standoff with your own mind. As this Twitter user says in another tweet, "#TheWorstPartOfDepressionIs fighting a disorder that wants to kill you."



In many situations, those living with depression feel physically or emotionally exhausted. The depressed mind frequently uses this as a way to make you feel even worse.



For others, it's something else entirely. Sometimes it's hard to pinpoint an issue. Instead, it's a combination of so many things.


But whatever the worst part of depression is, it's nice knowing there are others out there fighting the same battle.

And to those cheering from the sidelines, the tag provides some great insight that you might otherwise have missed out on.

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Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

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Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

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