I had a black dog, his name was depression
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2012
- At its worst, depression can be a frightening, debilitating condition. Millions of people around the world live with depression. Many of these individuals and their families are afraid to talk about their struggles, and don't know where to turn for help. However, depression is largely preventable and treatable. Recognizing depression and seeking help is the first and most critical towards recovery.
In collaboration with WHO to mark World Mental Health Day, writer and illustrator Matthew Johnstone tells the story of overcoming the "black dog of depression". More information on the book can be found here: matthewjohnstone.com.au/
For more information on mental health, please visit: www.who.int/topics/mental_heal...
Disclaimer: This video may contain links and references to third party-websites. WHO is not responsible for, and does not endorse or promote, the content of any of these websites and the use thereof.
I remember watching videos like this, or commercials for antidepressants when I was younger and thinking, " oh how silly! That will never be me!" A couple of years later the "black dog" came ringing my door bell and life just hasn't been the same.
Sometimes i feel like i have a black elephant.
When I first watched this video years ago. it made no sense to me. till I got a black dog of my own.
This made me cry so much. It's important for people to know that depression is not merely feeling "gloomy" or "under the weather". It's an awful, awful illness that makes you feel scared of everything and everyone, of going to bed, getting up, meeting people or staying by yourself, and makes your heart as heavy as a stone and your life devoid of all pleasure.
An incredibly accurate visualisation of depression and generally my life at the moment. A few months on medication has made a very noticeable and welcome improvement for me and I'm in the processes of arranging therapy.
As always, IT doesn't get better. YOU get better.
Plot twist : Dogs actually help fight depression !!
+Elena Bojadzieva
when they are depression?
The worst thing about depression it is that the worse it gets the more you desperately want and appreciate the things you can no longer feel like love, memory, friendship, imagination. As it get's worse you can only reflect the opposite of what you want. When all you want is a friend no one want's to talk to you because there is nothing left inside to talk about. When all you want is love all you feel is bitter, when all you want is your mind back you can't even put two damn thoughts together.
This helped me look at my depression in a different way. I also have an actual black dog who helps me too.
Me too!
This made me cry.
Remember “I had a Black Dog, his name was depression” TH-cam video?
This video and many others uploaded on the WHO #TH-cam channel (th-cam.com/users/who) have now received more than ONE MILLION views.
One million THANK YOU for the views, comments, likes and shares.
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This is so incredibly accurate. The black dog deprives you of your ability to feel hope. And when a human doesn't have hope, it's lost.
This made me cry. What a beautifully illustrated depiction of what can be a pretty ugly struggle. Thank you for sharing.
Depression cost me the love of my life. I hope that all the people who are suffering in silence get to see this video, and recognise how important its message is.
To those with negative feedback or comments. ... are you really helping... or are you part of the problem?. What happens if this video gave someone a breath of fresh air an epiphany about their life, and then looking through the comments finds your negativity and feels weird because somthing you just slammed had helped them for even just a moment. congratulations you may have just ruined that persons day by putting a cloud back above their head.
Seek help where? i have no one to speak to when i feel depressed and sad i go to sleep. Going to sleep with my anxiety and depression, burning heart, jealousy. People only think you are a weirdo if you open you heart.
I did not expect this to affect me the way it did. I'm sobbing right now. This was just. My god.
***** Ah. Well you should do whatever gives you any joy.
when I suffered from Depression I hated I was depressed but my recovery started when I admitted it, accepted it and went to the doctors. I'm a head strong person and I didn't want to take medication. So I started doing thing's I never usually did and I soon started to feel better about myself. I used to ride 20 miles a day and it helped me. Riding 10 miles 1 way and 10 miles back everyday for 3 months I free'd my mind and I soon recovered. The first step for me was accepting and admitting, the next was excising and forgetting about what brought me down. I hope this helps, even if it helps only1 person.
I cried. I have always had a hard time explaining to someone what it feels like to be depressed. Now I'll just direct them to this video as it portrays depression perfectly. Thank you.
Most nights i wake up before 0400, and i just wait for someone to knock on my door with bad news. Sometimes i don't pick up mail for weeks and some days i never go outside my apparment. I go to work and i act all normal. I smile and i laugh, and that is the few moments i don't have a black dog biting my arm. I'm at my most happy when i'm out with friends or with my family. But i self medicate with alcohol, but no one notices.
This video made me cry. It makes me realise that i need to start doing something about it. The black dog in my life can be the biggest beast in the world, and a calm life partner. I will never get rid of him completly. But maybe we can work together.
Once you get through depression,you are the strongest person you can become.
WoW! A mental health specialist gave me this link. It talks about me as a person. I'm 43, totally alone as I push everyone away. I can't work and some days I wonder why I go on. I am incredibly irritated about the most trivial things and find humans the most irritating. I am so sensitive and get hurt easily. I crave love and attention in my life but am so used to being on my own. I know things have to change. What a fantastic video.
I just got out of the hospital after stay there for over a week because of suicidal thoughts caused by my depression. They played this video I cried like a baby. It’s like someone had hacked into my brain and made a video about this terrible illness.
Please remember no matter who you are. You are not alone and there is help out there. Don’t let it wait until you hit rock bottom like I did.
The part about being devoid of feeling altogether... I'm really glad that was brought up.
i wish there were people to help me
there is buddy keep looking and trying I'm going through the same!
+tyler cursed there are!
This brought tears to my eyes
Black Dog is the main character of my life,not even me.No point of it,I just wanna die..Never reached anything yet.
Get well soon guys. When you hit rock bottom the only way is back up! And you will get there 🇬🇧
I've watched this video before and needed it again tonight. Thank you Matthew Johnstone for putting it into words.
I use to watch this video when i got my downs and it always helps me in a strange way. Thank you.
This video is absolutely inspiring for anyone who suffered through the dark days of depression. Being a former victim of "The Black Dog" I believe watching this video during those days would have made a world of difference. I hope anyone that ever went through and are currently going through depression have an opportunity to watch and share this video. No matter how bad it gets, it always passes provided you take the right steps. Good luck and much love to everyone :)
I remember watching this video a long time ago. Years ago I believe, when I first began middle school. It was a very tough time for me and it was also the time I was first getting to know mental illnesses, something I never heard of much or focused on. Not only was it a reality for others, but I believed it was starting to become mine. Every night I would cry, but I could get up the next morning and be just fine, it was never anything too serious, but just like everyone I had my issues. However, through the times I was genuinely sad I would think back to this video and it's analogy. This clip really does hold a place in my heart for how true and down to earth it is. I am now in my sophomore year of school and only now I have experienced how it's like to be such in immense pain where it threatens your life, where you struggle to do even the simplest of things. I fell back with my grades, yet still passing, but this quarter has been my worse and I would be failing my classes. I'm constantly up and down with my feelings and I don't understand myself many times, yet during the moments where I pondered suicide I always knew there was a reason why I'm still alive in that moment and I know there's a reason I'm still alive now. Deep down in my heart I know life is beautiful and that we must all find the one solution to hate, love. Your genetics may give you the tendancy to be depressed, your hormones may influence your conditions, but your conditions can also influence your hormones. Love is the asnwer to everything in the end. Search for the people that touch your heart, that will send your soul flying across time and space. In the end, the most beautiful things outrun time. It is never too late to start living. I know this sounds ridiculous coming from a 15 year old but we all have something to learn from everyone. I remember a poster in my guidance counselor's room that read "tough things don't last, tough people do". Take that pain you have and create something beautiful out of it. It's okay to cry. Cry, and then move. Cry about how much you hate your job, cry about how you feel so alone, cry about how he or she left you, cry about how you've been abused and mistreated, cry about terrible everything has been, cry about how alone you feel. Let all of those feelings sink in. Go ahead and listen to your sad music, go ahead and drain your heart and soul into writing that poem about how much you hate your life, then when all those tears have fallen, when you are finally sick of the sadness that compels you, stand up and move on. I know not everyone has the strength to do so, some are in tough situations, but if there's a way in there's a way out. I know it is hard to do things on your own, that is why I am here telling you these things. Life goes on if you do, the Sun and Moon constantly alternate for a reason. After rainstorms there is sunshine, after tornadoes there are clear skies, after all these terrible things people are brought together by struggle. The sadness is not permanent, but only a change in weather. You may not exactly control it but you can forecast these events and withstand it. Keep going and going, there's a reason you're still breathing.
This breaks my heart. I feel so terribly sorry for anyone with depression and I wish that I could help them. :(
What a fantastic video - It's so hard to recognise other people feel the same way when you're feeling that low. Tough times this end, but this really helped..
This is a nice video to help people who live with depression and to make everybody understand how does it feel to struggle with this illness. Congratulations!
'get help'-they say. But help doesn't exist. Unless you can AFFORD it.
The best video/text about depression I've ever seen by far.
It says everything in a simple way, simplifying in words what's not really simple in feelings.
this is an amazing way of describing depression to those who have trouble fully understanding it - it helped my friends to see what I was going through. Thank you so much
So incredibly relatable. Currently having the worst time of my life with Depression and Anxiety,feel so alone like it will never get better and i have no purpose in my life anymore. Keep trying to tell myself I can get better and certainly hope I will. This is hopefully a phase that I will get over as I hope all you will guys will aswell. Good luck to you all👍🏻
Been with my black dog for 5 years now, back and forth, I always come back to this video. Sometimes I want to leave him behind, but now I learned to live with him and pay attention to him once or twice a week now.
This bought tears in my eyes. Thanks for understanding
This is such a perfect analysis of depression and a really useful video to show to people to help them understand what you're going through if you don't have the words to explain it
This video made a grown man cry. I've been crying in secret for over 35 years. The stigma for a man my even be that much worse. Easily brought to tears can be a symptom of depression. My objective mind knows that I have not too many reasons to cry. I also had TBI and was in a coma for two days. It is much easier to make that my #1 problem because it is documented and the communication deficits and seizures in he aftermath known. Depression is very serious and has been the biggest problem. TBI is also serious for me. But the latter not the former at least gets me less stigma.
Excellent video on depression. Describes it so well! Thank you.
I would like to thank you for posting videos like these.
I was able to see myself through this video and it helped me look for medical support.
My life is a lot different today.
Thanks a lot!
"Keeping up an emotional lie is eqausting"
You could've not been more precise my man 👏👏👏
Thank you for this wonderful video. It is the most misunderstood condition. A fellow sufferer who cannot even get out of bed today and sees no reason to keep going anymore.
A simple and concise explanation of what it is like to live with depression. Never easy.
This is the BEST video/information I have ever seen on depression. I have battled depression all my life and this video couldn't explain it any better. And it does it in a way that is easy to understand. Thank you for creating it... I have no doubt it will help so many people!!!
This is EXACTLY how I felt in my 2 last years of high school until I saw a therapist who really helped me.
It's the best video I've seen about depression. I never really could explain how I felt and what were my feelings at the time, but this video is really accurate.
Thank you WHO!
This is just perfect! I am sharing this video right now so that people around me get the idea of how my life has been for the last years...
I love the part about investing energy on hiding depression. It really is exhausting...
Cheers from Rio!
This is really inspiring, an interesting perspective... It's so important for people to watch videos like this because there aren't enough people who truly understand it, making it even harder for those going through it...
This changed my life, I also share this with people close to me. Thank you.x
This is actually a pretty good description of my experience with depression except I my black dog kept on telling me the world would be a better place if I was dead and that I deserved to suffer.
Every single time I watch this vid I start crying because it hits the point ... every day is difficult and I needed a long time to realize that my black dog will never ever go away... but Im learning to deal with it. Thx for this great vid - it also helped my relatives and friends to understand how I feel sometimes.
This is a beautiful video to help provide insights on depression to those who suffer and for loved ones who need to understand! Thank you for this.
Thank you so much on behalf all of us who have or had a black dog. So accurate, touchy and at the same time hopeful. Brought tears in my eyes.
Thank you for this little film with a really succinct and powerful message!!
I had depression, so I got a dog. Helped me greatly
Thank you for this video on the Black Dog . I have my own problems a lady asked me if Id seen it and I said I hadn't seen the Black Dog Video. I watched it today twice and it made me cry. I hadn't realized how it could one be so sensitive and how well it described myself. Thank you Nicola.
I have lived with the black dog for all my life. I've always struggled to explain it to others. this video was super helpful for the people around me to explain to others what I was feeling. thank you.
I wish I could download this video to my phone so I would always have it with me to watch and listen to. It's very powerful.
SIMPLY BRILLIANT-- this is the best description of what living with depression is like-- I have MDD (major depressive disorder)-- I shared this video with family, friends and my boyfriend-- it articulates it SO much better than I ever could... BLESS YOU for making this!
This is such an accurate video. It really helps people who are depressed to open up and get help at the same time can teach others about it
I cry every time I listen to this as it's exactly how I feel
I think I am in love with whoever wrote this video. I don't mean "in love" but in love with how he/she took depression and explained it so beautifully, artistically and truthfully to the world. This is such a beautiful video, and I sincerely thank you.
Thank you for this. I've lived with it since I was a child and reaching out for professional help (psychiatrist and therapist) have helped me manage it for over 25 years now. I don't remember hearing that it got worse as one ages, but that has been my experience. I feel for those all over the world who struggle through each day with this debilitating disease. Brain chemistry is powerful.
I love this video it captures exactly how someone feels with depression. It still makes me laugh and cry because it is spot on. Keep raising awareness and know nobody is alone.
What really won me over was that pills didn't get a 'cure' status, I think that misunderstanding probably causes plenty of grief on it's own. I've also read a few articles that stated moderate exorcise can be as effective as medication. That's important to get out there, because it's something mostly anyone can do to help themselves beat depression, whether they can afford pills or not.
Great stuff.
As a coach and therapist myself I just want to say thank you for making such a fantastic video.... I have forwarded this on to so many people I know and have worked with and it has been an awesome help! Many people lives are better because you put the effort into making this video :) So again...THANK YOU :)
This was very insightful! We appreciate this video as it truly expresses how depression feels and how to overcome it! Thank you for sharing!
This is such a good resource, raising awareness and helping people to understand what it's like to live with depression. Thanks for sharing!
This explains the whole deal. Thanks for making a video with such an easy metaphor. I guess I can show this video to my dearest friends and it'll easily explain why I'm so... Messed up sometimes.
I often come back here to help myself get through the day. I don't have many people to talk to, so it's almost as if I'm talking to someone. Not having the support to get through depression is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It's like bring dragged through a line of gasoline, while you're on fire, and the things pulling you are your ambitions to be a good boyfriend, be a good friend. It's to be the best person, so the people around you can't tell that you are suffocating inside. I mean, who wants to be friends with someone who can barely breathe? Who wants the burden to take care of someone who can barely stand on their own two feet? No one owes me this, so I feel asking for it is rather selfish.
One of the most accurate videos I've seen. Thank you. This helped.
this is actually brilliant, not only does it explain to people who suffer from depression how to over come and small step by steps but the people around them can also understand.
Watched this years ago when my depression first began. Turns out my black dog was bipolar disorder, among other things. It wasn't easy to tame, and we're still trying to work things out, but now I believe what I heard in this video that I never thought I would:
Any black dog can be taught to heal.
It makes me sad...its so relatable
This is such an incredibly powerful tool to help explain how people feel when suffering with depression/anxiety etc. It perfectly puts into words and pictures how I feel and why I do the things I do.
I could never describe it to people until I found this video. I can't thank you enough for making this.
I have suffered from depression all my life and this is a very good analogy.
Very powerful. Thanks to those who produced this impactful video.
Its posts like these that bring the effects of depression out into the open. Only the affected person can help themselves but through people understanding what depression is really about is the key to helping someone through the worst times. I know, I suffer from depression but my black dog will eventually fade into the background...... I hope
This video explained a lot. I heard of the term "black dog" from a friend in Australia who lost a family member to the black dog. The video made me well up inside. Prayer, exercise, proper eating habits, counseling and medication will help. We are not alone. Realize the insight and create a new day.
All of you who are questioning why the use of the term "black dog" should do a little research. Equating depression with having a black dog dates back to a quote from Winston Churchill. Those of you hung up on the analogy should step back and realize the importance of this video is not the use of the term, it's the effort to combat depression
😢 i've felt every word
This video is the best way I have ever seen as to how depression feels as it weaves in and out of my life.
My sister just showed me this video and it made me feel better watching this video. I think I am going to watch this daily or at least everytime I feel down.
It affects many of us, yet today still many people still hide it. Mental illness is as debilitating as anything considered 'physical'.
It's time to put the taboos behind us and drop the stigma that's still attached to depression. We owe it to ourselves, and to those we love.
I wanted to come years later to this video to say that it came to me at a point that it helped change my life in coming out of depression.
6 years ago, I was a teenager suffering from depression, and I felt incredibly stuck. There wasn't any awareness about depression around me (and I didn't know what I was suffering was called 'depression'). My family also couldn't afford medications or therapists - we were poor
I remember it was a combination of two things - my teacher who told me 'you have potential', and she really meant it. No one ever seemed to believe in me then.
And then there was this video. I remember I wanted to know what my symptoms were, and then not too long after looking, I found this video. And I realized I've been suffering depression all this time.
I then thought "Maybe if I just keep reading about it there is a way out" - I saw this light of hope even though I was in a very dark place. I kept reading, and one day I told myself "This is it. I am born with this life for a reason and I will not let ANYTHING or ANYONE stop me in living a good life".
It was incredibly tough. I remember it was one of the hardest battles and it took months of trying to follow the advice I read on the internet - "smile - just the act of it helps physiologically", "be around people", "distinguish the voice in your head that's depression" and etc. I kept doing it every day, and I didn't give up because I knew that I will not let anything stop me from living that good life I was meant to.
After about 1.5 months, I started feeling results. After about 3 months of consciously fighting every single day, I felt that I am starting to come out of it, and even though I was still to suffer anxiety for 2 years after, actively fighting depression starting to come out of it was the hardest part.
6 years later, I live a healthy life and I am still not going to let anything/anyone stop me from living up to my life value, and all these things just made me so much stronger than many people.
If you are suffering depression - I know its hard, but believe me, there is hope, and you CAN do it. You are meant to do great things with your life and your life is given to you with a purpose. You are valuable and you are important. Don't let ANYTHING or ANYONE stop you from it. You CAN do it. Read, practice what you read, and don't give up. I genuinely believe in you.
This helped give a name to my problem and helped give me the courage to finally seek help.
I know a lot of people with depression and I always ask what’s wrong and they always tell me it doesn’t work like that and now I understand, this video is amazing!
I've watched this video so far for everyday for about 2 weeks.. The way that it just speaks to me is in-describable. Living and having to deal with a black dog, especially at 15 is really hard. I keep questioning "what is life"? What is the purpose of me even being here? And I have my moments where I'm happy as can be. I feel like I'm just disappointing my whole family and just pushing people away and looking to drugs for help.. this really sucks :(
This is a weid sequal to Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Seriously, though. This is a great video, explaining depression in a great and simple way. I should know. I suffered from it for several years.
One word to describe this video: Beautiful. Thank you for this.
This made me cry. 😭💔
How can people even dislike this?
This is so real 😔
Hallo! Thank you so much for this. I think i was also able to visiualize quite good my feelings and structures of about what is called my disease, but it was never so exact, structured and well-reflected like this video. Even if my diagnosis is bipolar this gave me a lot, and i watched it, cried every time, but in a good way. It can help people/patients who are not yet so developped about their thinkings but also visualize and show others who are not concerned about what this disorder is. I already live years with it so i could feel and explore every metaphore and feeling you wanted to show. thank you so much. im very gratefull about it
Thank you for putting this up.
Thank you, WHO, for creating this TH-cam. I hope that it is made available in every language. It is so very compassionate, realistic and hopeful.