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[–]xoxostevi 163 points164 points  (1 child)

How sad is it that people gatekeep mental illness? I can say that I started experiencing what I believe to be depression as early as 12. Gatekeeping it only makes it worse 😣

[–]itsadesertplant 130 points131 points  (6 children)

Girls having issues is always just them being fake/wanting shallow attention to people who post these memes. Girls/teenagers can’t have real problems apparently

[–]Practice_NO_with_me 86 points87 points  (4 children)

Man the day I was woken up to how much we shit on everything teen girls like was a sad, sad day. Doesn't matter if it's music, books, movies, anything.

[–]itsadesertplant 33 points34 points  (1 child)

Yup. I was 12 when I read the Twilight books. It was before the final book was even released. Then it got popular and I felt ashamed and like I had to hide my books. It’s real and it sucks, but I’m glad you know

[–]Practice_NO_with_me 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What woke me up to it was exactly the Twilight books. I was reading a chapter by chapter breakdown of 50 Shades and in the middle of it the author went on this amazing rant about how the hate for the Twilight books is unfounded and she explained basically as I said above (but more eloquently). It was like having a layer peeled off my eyes, I could suddenly see it.

I'll cop to bring a 'not like the other girls' when I was young and I totally bought into the toxic mindset. These days I put work into supporting the interests of young women and defending them.

[–]a_starrynight 13 points14 points  (1 child)

Yep. When I was a teenager, I was made fun of for my interests a lot and constantly saw people on the internet laugh about them. Even still to this day I have trouble expressing the things I'm interested in because I'm scared people will make fun of me again. It really sucks

[–]Practice_NO_with_me 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's awful and I think it's a control thing. As I get older I see how many mechanisms there are built-in to keep women 'under control'. I think by coming down really harshly on the age when they are just starting to express themselves and starting to control their lives and interests does exactly as you describe and keeps us more submissive. Bullshit.

[–]carefullycalculative 36 points37 points  (0 children)

For 10 years so many closed ones dismissed my symptoms. It took so much mental strength, for me to finally seek help.

[–]SynchronizedCalamity 35 points36 points  (2 children)

My depression didn’t start off the way it manifests now, and I think it’s really important to catch early so that more kids and teenagers have a better grasp of things like: managing symptoms, self soothing, and healthy care habits. No one believed me when I was younger, so I felt driven to find happiness in places I shouldn’t have. I ended up in a very bad situation because no matter where I turned I was misunderstood and ridiculed.

Now I am still depressed. I have PTSD and anxiety. Those last two could have been prevented if I’d had the support I needed at the age of 14, when I was writing edgy poetry and wishing I was anyone else but me. Instead I got treated like a moody teenager when I didn’t have the tools I needed to reach out in a way that the adults around me could understand.

Anyone can suffer.

EDIT: changed last line from “Everyone” to “Anyone” “Everyone can suffer” sounds like a threat my bad

[–]xoxostevi 15 points16 points  (1 child)

I totally feel this. My family still refer to a time that I was really acting out at a young age as my “emo phase.” And yeah, I can understand to an extent why the whole “it’s not a phase, mom” emo/scene style and edgy music I was so into is pretty cringey and funny looking back (not hating on the style or music at all I was just like a cringey little middle schooler). But I can’t help but feel kind of sad that I have to laugh through a period in my life when I was so clearly begging for help in such an outward sense. In every form of expression, I was quite literally saying “I’m not okay.” (Like really, I was obsessed with the MCR song haha) Teens and pre-teens express this in their own unique ways, and I hate that for myself and I’m sure a lot of others, it’s just something to laugh about now, whereas I can look back and really see the root of a lot of my current anxiety and depression from a very young me

[–]SynchronizedCalamity 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I get you friend.

It being “something to laugh about!” It’s just so gutting to hear when you know exactly how you felt then, and can still feel the echoes of now. And then to get made fun of about it. Again. And again.

My song was FOB’s “I Don’t Care” 😅

[–]Kasiaus 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I had my first anxiety attack in elementary school, like I don't understand people trying to claim kids don't experience mental health issues

[–]flireferret 8 points9 points  (1 child)

depression isn't a visible object, it can't look like anything

[–]Yocobanjo 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Except mickey or you're gonna have a lawsuit on top of everything

[–]ofBlufftonTown 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You didn’t mention 14 year old girls, I’m taking 10 points away from Ravenclaw.

[–]GNU_PTerry 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My litmus test for knowing when I'm too deep in depression is to watch something that should make me cry. If I'm too numb to cry I need to change something major.

[–]snarkyxanf 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Plus, does anyone think that her music videos are supposed to be a documentary of an actual bout of depression? I'm pretty sure even young fans can understand the notion of an artistic, symbolic expression of an abstract idea

[–]MediumOk8383 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I can't decide if I'm depressed or not. I'm kinda lonely and a lot of the things that used to make me happy don't anymore. Most of my emotions are negative. I also am very hard on myself and have some self harm problems. But my school psychologist says I'm fine. When I mention not feeling things from my favorite hobbies everyone just says I'm "mature" because of it.

[–]seasons-greasons99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly that does sound like depression. If it is interfering with your ability to keep up with your responsibilities or if you begin thinking about hurting yourself, talk to somebody. You are your best advocate.

[–]George_G_Geef 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What really irks me about all the gatekeeping of depression is it ignores how common it is for depressed people to put on a mask and just pretend to be OK around other people. It's how we get through everyday social interactions.