Letter: Don’t suffer from depression alone

When you wake up every morning not knowing if it’s reality or a dream, life gets scary. Being a teenager alone is a scary experience, all the radical changes in such a short period of time take their toll. But with the added stresses from your own mind, change can push anyone over the edge.

As a high school senior, I’ve been told countless times that life is just beginning, and that everything will only get better. But for the 20% or so of us teens that deal with depression every day, it’s a struggle. Lacking the motivation to even get up and go to school is a job in itself, but with all the other social dilemmas that teens face, it’s just exhausting.

Living with depression is horrid. Some can’t see the light in the world, while for others, we can see it, but never grasp it. Depression isn’t a mood that can be snapped out of. In fact, it’s insulting to hear that “we just have to think happy” because it is physically a challenge. It’s so hard to think of a happy place when you feel the whole world is attacking you and wants you to suffer. And there’s more. Some of us who suffer with depression get something else with it as well. For me, it’s schizophrenia. To have to constantly hear voices degrading you, see shadows attack you and not know what’s real is a living nightmare.

I ask that people sit down and talk with your friends. You never know what they’re dealing with, so be mindful of what you say. And for those of you who suffer with me, know you aren’t alone. If talking things out with parents doesn’t help, you have friends who love and care for you. And if you meet someone else going through the same struggle, keep in contact with them. We all need to know that for everyone of us, there are so many others who can help. So don’t feel alone. You aren’t ever alone.

Kristopher Buranasombati Jr.

Burbank