There are at least two different ways people can utter this statement; it can also be interpreted in contrasting ways.
The first way is the speaker genuinely uttering that depression is real and a legitimate illness that people need to take seriously; attempting to bring awareness to a matter that may be trivialised, and unfortunately romanticised.
Another is that it is being trivialised by those saying it is “real”. Yes, it is real.
Depression is real, talk to someone.
Why did, or does, it take someone to die by suicide to show the reality thereof? It is real people killing themselves.
There is an industry dedicated to the study of psychological illnesses such as depression. Studies have been conducted and medications have been produced based on studies to treat such illnesses.
Clinical psychologist Philencia Jacobs says: “Depression is real”… Just like heart disease or diabetes.
She says with other physical diseases we know you need medication and you need to know what situations and circumstances affect your health, such as the case with physical ailments – you need to know what you can tolerate and what your limits are.
Jacobs says, this logic should be applied to depression. It is also extends to a physical level. There are lower levels of serotonin and dopamine, which are the happy hormones. These hormones are in the brain; it affects your body on a physical plane.
“In severe cases of depression”, she says, “people are required to take both medication (and) therapy”
“Without help, it is life threatening and that is the realness of it.”