• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Mental Health Resources
    • Depression Resources
  • Blog
    • Coping
    • Medication
    • Self Care
    • Stress and Anxiety
    • Unhelpful thinking
      • Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda
      • Fortune-Telling
      • Guilt and Shame
      • Time Travel
    • Sleep Issues
    • Depression
    • Covid19
    • Suicide & Self-Harm
    • Wellness Tools
      • SMART – Self Management And Recovery Training
      • WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan)
      • Change Triangle
  • Contact

YOUR HOME FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

Mosaic 728x90

About Me and Living with Depression


I’m Joel and I have Major Depressive Disorder, with suicidal ideation. This short About Me video gives a snapshot of where I was and where I am.

For 43+ years, I concealed my depression. I have lied to myself about my MDD, never facing it, or calling it by its name. As soon as each episode ended, I would sweep the aftermath under a rug and gladly move on. Now, I am facing my depression and using all the tools I have learned to lead a balanced life with depression.

Get Depression Help and Guidance whether you’re looking for information on how to help someone with depression or getting guidance for yourself.


______________________________________________________________

Coping With Depression

My blog is giving me a chance to share my day-to-day thoughts. My intentions, my struggles, and triumphs as I learn to live with and learn more about depression.

Even I am curious about how I got to this point. My hope is that I can be completely honest as I work through issues in public, on my blog. I see many benefits from this openness and reality check.

I have lied to myself about living with depression for all my adult life.

  • Am I depressed? YES.

  • Am I always depressed? NO.

  • Do I always have Depression? YES.

Masking it, concealing it, never saying its name. This avoidance has created episodes that have led me to where I am now. 

___________________________________________________________

The Internet and Modern Depression Support Groups

Coping with depression has been a struggle for so many because finding great, local support isn’t as easy as many make it out to be. Thanks to the Internet, we can now come together and share our depression stories, work together toward self-improvement, and help another through the thick and thin.

Telling my story may help others see this before they hit the wall, too.

While in the hospital, I read Meditation for the fidgety skeptic, by ABC News Anchor Dan Harris. The author suffered a panic attack on air and was diagnosed with depression. His journey forward, living with depression, is shared, in part, on the pages of his book. This was incredibly helpful to me. Just knowing that there are other people who have had major depression, survived, and thrived, gives me hope.

I can think of four major events in my life where living with depression has challenged me, and I have fought.

And in three of the four, I was able to beat back depression without having to admit I had it. Or even tell others I had it. But all of this is from the vantage point of time. I am not sure what people saw or how they remember those episodes.

Now I am facing depression a fourth time. But this time, I choose to fight. I choose to call it by name, depression, and to say, “I have depression, depression does not have me.”

The truth is I do not only have depression when I can’t see the way forward. I have depression when things are going great. This has been lost on me in the past.

There is no turning back. “Depression is not my boss.”

______________________________

 

Recent update: I have completed the SMART Recovery Basic Host Training Program from SMART Recovery. This includes training in the origins of and the program ideals, plus the basic tools to host or assist in hosting a SMART Meeting.

INTRODUCTION TO SMART RECOVERY – An introduction to the SMART Recovery organization and program HOSTING A DISCUSSION MEETING – Learning to host a SMART Recovery Discussion Meeting

Completed Saturday, November 9, 2019

Primary Sidebar

I write My Concealed Depression to create Mental Health AwarenessHello, I am Joel. I have Major Depressive Disorder. My story is one of circling the drain, and in the end, finding hope for the future 

My certifications include SMART Recovery and I am a Global Career Development Facilitator.

Join our mailing list

We're giving away our 38 Page Mental Health Tools Flipbook

Privacy Policy

Discover Self-Care, Coping Strategies, Understand Anxiety, Track your Triggers, Mood, and Sleep; Recap Therapy Sessions, and more. Subscribe and Get Your Free Copy In Your Confirmation Email.

//www.myconcealeddepression.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/my-concealed-depression-intro.mp4
  • Email
  • Facebook

More to See

The startling truth about coping statements for anxiety and depression

The Startling Truth About Coping Statements For Anxiety and Depression

October 28, 2020 By Depression Is Not My Boss

Over the next year, to improve your mental health, what 3 improvements would you like to make in your life?

Over the next year, what 3 improvements would you like to make in your life?

January 11, 2021 By Depression Is Not My Boss

Benefits of Journaling that improve my mental health and give me coping statements

6 Astonishing Benefits of Journaling for Mental Health

January 5, 2021 By Depression Is Not My Boss

Advertising Helps Fund My Blog

PureFormulas.com-Pure Healthy Goodness, Highest-Grade Natural Supplements! Fast, Free Shipping!
Your Page Title

Footer

Contact

Email:  my.concealed.depression@gmail.com

  • Email
  • Facebook

Privacy Policy

Recent

  • My Remarkable Journey to Just Be Me
  • Over the next year, what 3 improvements would you like to make in your life?
  • 6 Astonishing Benefits of Journaling for Mental Health
  • Now You Too Can Use Coping Statements to Minimize Mental Health Conditions
  • Now’s the Time for a Doctor’s Appointment

Search

© Copyright 2020 · My Concealed Depression · All Rights Reserved · Designed by The Marketing Momma