Snap out of it?!

Has anyone ever told you that?  "Snap out of it.  Put on your big girl/big boy panties and get on with it!  Suck it up."  I don't know about you, but those comments made me angry and feel worse about myself because I couldn't do it.  I tried.  I tried so many times just to make myself get out of bed, but I couldn't.  The days I could get out of bed, my depression was still there and it came out in other destructive ways.  What so many people, especially those who have never been through depression, don't understand is sometimes you don't have control over your feelings.  If you are severely depressed, you need medication to help you get through it.  You see, within our brain there are chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.  When they are healthy, we function well.  However, if we lack one of those 'messengers', it can cause depression.  Therefore, we need medication to get our chemical messengers back in line.  Have you ever told someone with diabetes, heart disease, or cancer, just to snap out of it?  Of course not.  Even if we did, it wouldn't work.  Our brain is no different than any other organ in our body.  Our brain is an organ too.  So if people take medication for diabetes or heart disease, why is it so different to take medication for depression?  THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!  Do not be ashamed to ask for help.  If you don't want people to know you're depressed and/or on medication that's fine, but you deserve to take care of yourself!!!!!  God put physicians in this world to help us!  God wants to help us!  You are worth taking care of yourself!!!!