Concerned Bloggers Association: Depression can be a terminal ilness

When you suffer from depression, it's like it's always raining.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, over 90% of suicide victims suffer from mental illness. Depression is one of the most common causes of suicide. It's an illness. It tires you. It destroys your relationships. It erodes your ability to function. You wake in the morning and wonder if you can face the day; you go to bed at night wondering if you will get through the night. You become angry. You become lonely.

Sian has known too many people who have suffered.

If you're suffering from clinical depression, there is hope, and help does exist. If you know someone who suffers, don't assume it's just a phase or that telling someone just to cheer up will help. A sufferer from depression needs compassion and understanding. It can be terribly, appallingly exhausting supporting someone who suffers from depression, but if you have a loved one who suffers in this way, know that help is there for you too.

Below is U Can Cope, a film that was released by the Mental Health Foundation on World Suicide Prevention Day this year. And here's the Mental Health Foundation's resource guide to depression, which includes a number of useful starting points.

This message was once again brought to you by the Concerned Bloggers Association.