[Puppet Guy]

I've wanted to add something for a while, but was having trouble articulating it. Here goes.

I've just emerged from about a 6-week visit from the Depression Monkey, and this was the worst one I've had in about three years. The Depression Monkey is no cutesy Curious George-type - he's more like King Kong. And when he visits he plants himself right on my shoulders and punches me in the back of the head, and wrecks my will to function. I was a wreck at work, and at home, and it took all sorts of will power to even get out of bed.

I'm a bit of a lone wolf, so it's hard for me to ask for help and I just carry it. At the same time, I've never been shy to talk about depression. If someone asked how my day was, I'd tell them what was going on. And the thing I discovered was every single person, no matter how well I knew them, was immediately asking if they could help. I got all kinds of encouragement from people I might usually just have a "hello" in common with. It didn't stop The Monkey from being there, but it made his visit a bit more bearable.

Guess the point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't hurt to let others know you're hurting. We've got a long way socially to go recognizing mental illness, but we HAVE made general improvements. Talk to someone. Hell, talk to ME if you need to. I'm no judge.