I’ve noticed that in my time writing about mental health, there are different levels of acceptance for topics. I can discuss my depression or anxiety, but not my borderline personality disorder. I can talk about my anorexia but not my bulimia. I can discuss depression or therapy, but antidepressants feel different.
We’ve come further in fighting the mental health stigma but we still pick and choose what’s included in that. I’m guilty of that as well in the topics I choose to discuss, and those that feel too frightening. I get told that I’m “brave” for discussing things when I have a list of topics that feel too embarrassing to put into words.
This is one of those topics. I started antidepressants a few weeks ago and it felt harder than all the other parts of my mental illness. I struggled to admit it to my friends and family, and I even struggled to come to terms with the decision myself.