Depression but don't understand the black dog metaphor!

[Uhohhelp]

For me very bad depression was just really weird.

All kinds of stuff went on for me (I've had PND twice) but I've just never understood that metaphor so makes me wonder how similar my experiences were to anyone else's.

I suppose what I'm saying is that this black dog thing seems to be the adopted way of describing depression and it sometimes makes me feel a bit confused that my experience of it was so different!

If that makes any sense at all....

[ChickyEgg]

I'm not sure it's the only explanation, but Winston Churchill called his episodes of depression his 'black dog' and I've assumed that that is where the expression originated. I could be wrong.

I think depression affects an individual differently because we all have different experiences in life. I've had PND, I'm also depressed now and signed off work for it. This feels different to PND, so I understand what you are saying.

[LEMmingaround]

Everyone's experience of depression is difference and there are several metaphors used to describe it. What matters is getting the right treatment.

[livelablove]

Well I have a black dog and she is really nice so I dont like this metaphor myself! But I think it comes from the way depression seems to relentlessly follow you and is so hard to shake off, like a tracking dog, the blackness obviously related to unhappiness. But i understand depression is different for different people the important thing is to recognise it in yourself and do something about it by getting help.

[windchimes23]

I think Churchill used it to describe it like an unwanted guest. A black dog who came to see him uninvited.

Like a visitor who turns up unplanned, uninvited and takes over your house and refuses to leave. Then all of a sudden they just up and go and everything returns to normal.

I believe he was bipolar, which would explain a lot about him.

[KeemaNaanAndCurryOn]

Yup, it's what Churchill called his depression and the Black Dog institute is named after it.

I call my depression "that fucking bastard fucking shit fucking depression."

I don't think they'll name an institute after that though.

[livelablove]

They could name it the F.B.F.S.F.D.I

[partialderivative]

I have felt I know exactly what the expression has meant.

There have been times when I just can't shake a certain feeling of gloom.

Knowing it will always be there just over my shoulder should I ever feel I have escaped the feeling. It's inescapable.

I have only ever discussed this with a few other male friends, never a female. I wonder if it is something that males find easier to identify with.

[BertieBotts]

I identified with this a lot more, except for the don't-give-a-fuck part.

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.de/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.de/2013/05/depression-part-two.html

[AChickenNamedDirk]

Bertie. Those links are interesting reading. I particularly identified with this comment related to people who don't understand trying to help:

"It would be like having a bunch of dead fish, but no one around you will acknowledge that the fish are dead. Instead, they offer to help you look for the fish or try to help you figure out why they disappeared"

[Biscoff]

It's like a dense fog to me. All invasive and suffocating and numbing.

[Notabar]

My depressive episodes feels like something heavy pressing on me and slowing me down. Cant move or think quickly, everything feels an effort, mental fug etc. At its worst, it feels like grief.

[Shakey1500]

I quite like the Black Dog metaphor. But that's possibly because I love Nick Drake's music and he wrote a song called Black Eyed Dog (about depression)

[BertieBotts]

Yep. "WHY CAN'T ANYONE SEE HOW DEAD THESE ARE?!" :o It's funny but it's also frustratingly true.