Your Metaphor For Depression

[yourlocalwonderwoman]

It's that scene in the Neverending Story, where Artax sinks into The Swamps of Sadness.

[Muggles]

It feels like being under water. It is hard to move, see and breathe. Your surroundings are dark and muted. You are separated from the world. You are alone. Sometimes you can't even see the surface, other times you're floating just below it. Breaking through and rising above it is the hardest part because you are so much heavier on land than in water. In some ways it is easier to just float. But it's dangerous too.

[AintNoHer0]

Am I the only one who hates summer? Depression is hell. Hell is hot. Basic maths. Summer is my hell and I'm at my most depressed. Probably cause everyone loves it and as always I'm the complete opposite.

Being blinded by the sun

Sweating

Feeling lethargic

Having to view a constant parade of flab and/or wrinkles hanging out of poor fitting and/or inappropriate clothes

Just some of the highlights.

The cold is easy to escape from there's nowhere to hide from the blazing sun. Darkness is so much better than light too I really don't understand other people.

Some people very rarely feel hot and always feel cold. For example I wear sweaters when is 80 degrees out and have cold chills very often in the winter. I can be inside where is warm but still get cold chills. People like me love the summer.

I understand, but when I'm in a bad mood and ranting don't really take that or much else into consideration. I'm sorry for that. Guess I should just move to Alaska..

[BluesGuy]

I refer to it as Judy Blue Eyes. That's of course a song by Crosby, Stills and Nash. I came to call it that through the line in the song that goes "Sometimes it hurts so bad I must cry out loud". Although Steven Stills is referring to a lost relationship and not depression it describes, in the most perfect way, what depression is like to me.

[me_myself_who_else]

I call it my darkness. I refer to my problems as my demons. Over used and common, but simple. I'm not smart enough to think of complex metaphors for something that I do not want to be a part of me.

I think you just explained it perfectly "something that I don't want to be part of me" nothing wrong with the direct approach its an honest answer

[verDominai]

Like a reaper casually strolling alongside me, a skeletal hand on my shoulder.

[allalone6]

its like you are drowning and everyone is standing around telling you to learn to swim

[ejc]

like being in the middle of an eclipse of despair and it's slowly covering everything in its grasp- including some and everything it touches with its shadows

[desperados]

as eclipse of despair never ends you are forced to live in shadows of hopelessness with a great inner restlessness...like you have your both legs broken when everyone else around you keep saying why don't you go for a walk and enjoy life.

[Mark250]

Like being infected with evil. Will that do?

[Nissala]

Like being at the bottom of a dark, wet well, seeing a trickle of light and clawing desperately at the sides with bleeding fingers trying to reach it, but for every inch you move closer...it moves a mile further away...and the struggle plays on.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Nissala

[Rincewind]

I tell people (those whom I trust) that it's like having all your emotions packed in cotton wool: it's impossible to be upset with anything, but it's also impossible to be joyous about anything.

 

And I tell them that "the Black Dog has come to visit." when I'm having a bad day. It's not a threatening image, but they get what I mean. Thanks to Winston Churchill for the reference.

[scienceguy]

its like someone holding a gun to my head ordering me to do things I don,t want to do.

[Garnetred]

Depression.... I think my depression is caused by years and years of grief and many losses.... so to me depression is knowing/feeling/thinking I lose everything and everyone I care about... eventually I will lose myself... so it's terror and I guess that has brought about my other forms of "craziness".... reaching for my anti-anxiety but oops I just had one. 

[Marie241]

My depression causes very sudden swings of emotion. I find it hard to describe to others.

Imagine someone walking along and randomly bouncing a tennis ball off the ground and catching it. I'm the tennis ball. I can go from normal to rock bottom (the ground) as fast as the tennis ball and bounce back. However I'm not exactly sure how long I'll the down there, it could be minutes or hours. Then no idea how long I'm going to be at normal again before I get chucked down again.

[Els1e]

its like you are drowning and everyone is standing around telling you to learn to swim

 

I love that allalone. I think that describes it pretty nicely.

[Catherine Glass]

A black hole or endless tunnel with no light at the end. I call it the blackness. I will say that I've learned that too much sun can make me anxious, so I can definitely see what AintNoHer0 is saying, although I am one of those people who bundle up as soon as the temp drops below 80 F.

[barrybeef]

A thick dark grey fog or cloud. Sometimes it hangs around, some times it smothers me slowly becoming unbelievably heavy. Sometimes so much so I can't breathe or talk or think simple thoughts. 

[Julie200]

Broken. Nobody needs or wants me anymore, they avoid me as much they can, pretend I don't exist, because I am defective. That is how I see my depression.

[SugaredSloth]

To me, depression is living as myself and as my shadow simultaneously. We can't be separated. My shadow blends into the night, but it's always there waiting. Secretly, it longs for sunlight, but it can't find any because my body is always in the way. At the same time, I feel trapped by the light of day, judged by the watchful eyes of the sun. I just want to hide inside my own shadow and disappear when the darkness comes.

[GSpolar]

I pilot a fighter plane, with randomly re-sequecing controls, such that that one hour to the next, I may be flying fast or slow or not at all.  Steering left will not necessarily cause movement in the leftward direction one hour to the next, although left can always be attained, through some creative means, the methods must remain in flux.  Being able to pilot skillfully for a few hours does not mean that the same techniques will produce any quality flight the following hours.  And flying while constantly repairing simultaneously is one job too many, given that each of the two requires the greatest care and attention.  

And all the while, I must assure passers by in their big, slow, predictable, steady 747's, that it's no big deal.  And they demand constant updates, wondering why I don't just morph into a 747 by wishing it so.

[Wrenn84]

It's like throwing a penny down a well just goes darker and deeper, no light .

[Sad_Clown]

A ship that's always sinking, you find yourself at times trying to hopefully scoop out the water with a bucket and then at other times forlornly punching more holes in the hull, but most of the time you're just standing at the helm, pretending like everything is ship shape and sailing fine. Any life boats available you give to others only to be left behind to go under with your drowning ship. Others will occasionally try to throw you a life preserver but you just do the captain's duty and go down with your vessel rather than face the shame and pity of your own failure. 

Edited August 12, 2016 by Sad_Clown

[lostingothicmusic]

To wake up underwater, but still be able to breathe. You can hear things, but not clearly; see things but not clearly and there's no way of being able to express yourselves coherently to others. Occasionally though, you can break the surface.

[Wisteria]

A dark mist which draws you in every time, no matter how many times you try to get out of it. It suffocates, breaks and suppresses you to the point where you can't do anything anymore. Its icy coldness goes to the core of your bones and soul, the feeling of no one ever ''finding'' or ''getting'' you since they're out of that mist, they can't see through the mist because they aren't there. So you feel alone, defeated and hopeless in such a dark scary place, without no way getting out of it... Lost.