In response to my sister

People are afraid of things they don't understand. Here's what I understand: everybody can benefit from learning how they think, how their thoughts affect their lives, and how to think better so being sad and depressed doesn't have such an affect on your relationships (friendships, boyfriends, sister, parents, etc.), schoolwork, and overall attitude. Here's what I know: depression runs in our family and whether or not you have it, you show signs of mild to moderate depression. If you started showeing signs of mild asthma and I told you I was concerned and you told your friends that I wanted you to get checked out and the doctor wanted you to carry an inhaler, would your friends tell you they think that wouldn't do any good? No! Why? Because your friends are familiar and comfortable with people with asthma. Its not too serious and they know several people with it. Now a person with asthma, do they always have asthma attacks? No. They don't always have an inhaler to their mouth. Its the same with depression. There are good days and weeks and there are bad. And these tapes are simply a way of helping you learn how to think better and have a stronger mind so that that nasty feeling doesn't creep into your heart and ruin things. So you can concentrate better. So your relationships are stronger. So you don't get as irritable with mom and dad. So you don't feel like the only source of happiness on a night stuck in the house is at the computer. And your friends don't think it will do any good? The thing is they are scared of the idea of depression and if someone isn't completely suicidal then you aren't depressed. I am here to tell you that depression lies in the smallest thought you have as soon as you wake up. It is involved with every reaction to every situation. Its not always crying your heart out. Its being irritable, its that nasty feeling, its not being excited about life, its feeling like not being with your boyfriend hurts too much, its having the hardest time getting out of bed. So a lot of people don't exactly know a lot about this. I am your sister. I am not here to shove an illness down your thoat. I love you and I have seen things ever since we moved down here. You may not be clinically depressed, but you are missing the sweetest parts of life because of you being sad and down a lot. So I see how it will help. For your friends tell them to look at this website and learn more about this: http://www.stresscenter.com/