I'm sure many of you have found your way here because you have been touched by depression in some manner. You may have lost a loved one to the illness or may suffer from it yourself. Either way I'd like to tell you my personal story of how depression has changed my own life. I've had family and friends both who suffer from this horrible sickness.
My own experience with depression came at a very young age. My grandmother suffered from severe depression but of course this was in a time where talking about your problems was taboo. What caused her depression we will never know but I'd guess an abusive marriage had a hand. One night when I was just four years old my grandmother committed suicide after a fight with my grandfather. No one really expected it and it was only upon reading her suicide note that her family realized how miserable she had been.

My mother was 26 when her mother took her own life and although I was quite young all I remember my mother locking herself in her bedroom for weeks after this happened. She was never the same after this. The first time my mother attempted suicide I was eight years old. She took a bottle of prescription medication but luckily she had second thoughts and called for help. The hospital was able to pump her stomach and save her life but mentally she was a wreck. Over the next five years my mother took more overdoses than I care to remember and even came close to succeeding when she managed to put herself into a coma when I was 12. Part of this time was spent locked away in psychiatric wards at hospitals and sadly she missed a large part of my life because of it. My own father worked a factory job so my siblings and I were left somewhat to fend for ourselves. My mother never came to terms with her depression although after the most serious suicide attempt she never tried again. She was sure she had seen God and rededicated herself to her religion. She struggled with her depression for the next 15 years until she passed away at 48 years old. I'm convinced a depression cure would have save her life.

Of course it's easy to see how my mother and grandmother's lives were affected by depression. They both lost their lives, but it's easy to lose sight of the innocent bystanders. My grandmother's suicide ultimately led to my mother's depression which in turn led to years of battling depression for my siblings and myself. I will note that not a one of us have ever attempted suicide as we feel it is perhaps the most selfish thing a person can do. It is the easy way out and is not the answer. There is help out there and eventually I firmly believe we will develop a depression cure that could save millions of people suffering from depression.