“I had a black dog called depression”, the short film that helps us understand it

“I had a black dog called depression.” is an educational short film made by the World Health Organization that aims to help us understand what depression truly means for people who suffer from it.

We must emphasize at this point that Depression is not a choice and therefore we should work to avoid the labels and stigma that comes with it. Precisely for this purpose, the video with which we illustrate this article was edited.

Depression and anxiety are not synonyms with weakness. Nor are they a consequence of a personal choice, we cannot decide whether or not we want them to accompany us.

A short that has already gone around the world

“I had a black dog called depression.” It is a short that has gone around the world since it became popular on the Internet a few years ago. Since then, psychologists and other people in the service of mental health have used this video as a way to illustrate and represent depression.

However, before watching the video we must highlight that the metaphor of using The image of the black dog like depression dates back to the expression that Winston Churchill used to describe his melancholy. This powerful British politician who fought Nazism fiercely stated that he frequently found himself trapped in depression, a beast that always accompanied him and that possessed him during the last years of his life.

A dog whose mournful howls torment the mind of those who listen to them, subjecting their lives to anguish, heaviness and apathy. Let’s see the video:

When clarity turns to pain and shadow

Depression is not a choice nor is it a sign of weakness. There is no one who can decide on this sentence. We don’t function that way nor do we have a switch that activates our ability to feel good or bad.

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So, it can happen to all of us. One day, suddenly, everything loses meaning for us. There is nothing that motivates us, that encourages us or that deserves us to get out of bed. The black dog begins to get bigger and bigger, making us feel deeply sad and irritable.

His presence exhausts us and overwhelms us, anguish invades us and circumstances defeat us, feeding our black dog without strength or desire. Sometimes we are more aware of the animal’s presence but there is also the possibility that at a certain moment it will give us a break. That doesn’t mean it’s gone.

Instability is their specialty, which contributes to social and emotional isolation. When the black dog accompanies you, you may end up feeling that you do not deserve the company of those next to you or that you are not capable of giving anyone what they need.

It is common to begin to see the black dog after having had to deal with an emotional loss, with an important life change, or simply on any given day as a result of “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

There will be times when the black dog is heavier and others when it is more unruly, but having the certainty that it remains by our side is suffocating. That is why it is important that we go to a mental health professional, psychologist or psychiatrist, since They can help us give emotional coherence to the existence and stalking of this black dog.

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There are as many black dogs as there are people, so none of us is free from danger. Thus, if we do not know depression firsthand, We must be careful of judging and making hurtful and critical comments to people who suffer from it.

Let’s not forget, All these suggestions are as FALSE as they are DANGEROUS.:

“You are like this because you want to”, “Go on, get up and do something with your life”, “You are lazy”, “You are old enough to be childish”, “Don’t cry, it’s not a big deal”, “You are a coward”, “Face life once and for all and stop the nonsense…”

If we feed this stigma, we are feeding the idea that we have chosen to suffer. Let’s not set our minds on fire with an internal dialogue that belittles and belittles our emotions and problems. The black dog exists and provides shade for millions of people in the world. Let’s understand it and offer help, even if it is as information through this means of communication.