As someone who has faced depression and anxiety, I’m always drawn to articles where people talk about them. I mostly find them on Pinterest as it’s full of great work. But as well as blogs, there are images of quotes or thought provoking sayings. And it’s one of the most commonly used ones that I take issue with. Not because I’m a brain injury survivor, just as someone who as struggled with these demons.

Have these people ever really experienced depression and anxiety?

Depression is when you don’t really care about anything. Anxiety is when you care about everything too much. And having both is just like hell.

What are they talking about? If I didn’t care about something it wouldn’t make me feel anything, let alone depression. It is born out of shame and guilt, two of the most self destructive emotions.

Yes I understand that a sufferer may not care as much about how clean their home is for example. But that happens because when depression is making you question your self-worth. It makes the washing up pale into insignificance.

Anxiety is about over analysing things because you want to stop negative things from happening. It’s about fear, not a measurement of how much you care. Following my brain injury anxiety became a big thing for me, as I would immediately go to worst case scenario. It’s your brain trying to keep you alert and avoid danger. Unfortunately it means you see danger in situations when it’s not necessary.