Depression Understood Forums

Hi, I'm an art student from the mid-west who works mainly with oil paints. I am currently in my last year of the arts program at the university and have been building a body of work concerning depression and the diverse effects of mental illness on individuals of all ages, sex, and race.

I was diagnosed with OCD as a child and chronically depressed as a young adult. Narrowed in subject by my own journey with depression I wan t to seek out stories, feelings, and thoughts of others on the subject.

This is open to everyone on the board who would not mind sharing their experience: The responses be used only for my own research and possibly mentioned in my class, this website address or name will be anonymous to anyone but myself.

If you are interested in sharing here are some questions to give you an idea of what I am looking for to help with my work: What does depression feel like to you? How do you imagine close ones in your life view you? What are some physical symptoms you feel? Any colors or shapes come to mind?

Thank you for reading, I support the treatment of depression; specifically art therapy! I wish the best for everyone suffering.

To me depression doesn't feel like anything. I don't feel anything at all. Physically I'm tired, tense, my limbs hurt, and I've developed a clumsiness that would drive a Tibetan monk mad and which then contributes to a general feeling of pointlessness and uselessness.

Colorwise: Gray. And with a feeling like a hundred ropes would drag me down below the ground I'm standing on.

insidious. Tendrils. Smoke-like. And then, a rough rock-lined hole in the ground.

Crawl, scratch, climb out. Bloody hands. Fingernails partly ripped away. But. hell if I'm gonna let "it" win.