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Woman Explains A Lesser Known Symptom Of Depression And People Are Thanking Her
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Woman Explains A Lesser Known Symptom Of Depression And People Are Thanking Her

Twitter Thread Explains One Of The Less Discussed Symptoms Of Depression'The Impossible Task:' People Are Loving This Woman\'s Explanation Of One Of The Lesser Known Symptoms Of DepressionWoman Explains A Lesser Known Symptom Of Depression And People Are Thanking HerPeople Are Talking About The ‘Impossible Tasks’ You Face When You’re Depressed In Viral Twitter ThreadWoman Explains The ‘Impossible Tasks’ You Face When You’re Depressed In Viral Twitter ThreadTwitter Thread Explains How Difficult Depression Makes It To Just Get Everyday Things DoneTwitter Thread Analyzes The Less-Spoken-Of Aspects Of Having DepressionTwitter Thread Sheds Light On True Colors Of Depression And How It Affects Daily LifeTwitter Thread Talks About How Depression Really Is And How It Differs From Its Media PortrayalTwitter User Realistically Describes How Depression Makes Easy Things Look Impossible
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One of the most discouraging parts of mental illness is when your thought processes don’t even make sense to you, but that doesn’t bring you any closer to overcoming them. That’s what writer M. Molly Backes describes in this Twitter thread about a symptom of depression that not everyone knows about, but many can relate to.

The writer describes encountering an “impossible” task, actually a minor task like a chore or an errand, that seems to overwhelming to deal with. The longer the task is put off, the more insurmountable it becomes, and when you have a whole house full of “impossible tasks”, you no longer know where to start.

Image credits: mollybackes

This Twitter thread talks about an insidious symptom of depression

Image credits: mollybackes

Image credits: mollybackes

Image credits: mollybackes

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Backes points out that the phenomenon actually has a proper name: executive dysfunction. It’s one of the main hallmarks of developmental disorders like ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, but even if you don’t have any of those conditions, it can be brought on by mental illness, stress and trauma. Executive function is the collection of skills that allows you to prioritize tasks, make a plan and figure out where to start. When it doesn’t work well, doing simple tasks feels confusing and takes disproportionate effort.

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The writer was flattered that so many could relate to the thread

Image credits: mollybackes

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Image credits: mollybackes

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Image credits: mollybackes

Image credits: mollybackes

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Image credits: mollybackes

Image credits: mollybackes

Every time mental health comes up in the news and becomes a hot topic, we always announce that we’re there if our friends need to open up to us and ask us for help. It’s a well-intentioned offer, but even if we mean it, that platitude overlooks one important detail. If your friend is ashamed to ask you for help because they believe that their problem isn’t significant enough, or if they feel like they can’t write a message to you because they’ve been putting off responding to so many messages that they don’t know where to start, they won’t.

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If you know that a friend is struggling with their mental health, you can start by reaching out to them first. You could try offering to cook dinner together and seeing if anything else that you can help with comes up while you’re with them, or inviting them to run errands with you and get them anything they need while you’re out.

Commenters identified with Backes’ words, added their experiences to the thread, and gave examples of ways people have helped them.

A lot of people could relate to the experience

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Lili North

Lili North

Author, BoredPanda staff

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Lili ended up in Vilnius, Lithuania out of her curiosity for studying languages, and stayed here out of sheer willpower. She loves cats maybe even a little more than the internet average and enjoys cooking videos despite only fantasizing about being able to make anything more complicated than fried rice.

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Lili North

Lili North

Author, BoredPanda staff

Lili ended up in Vilnius, Lithuania out of her curiosity for studying languages, and stayed here out of sheer willpower. She loves cats maybe even a little more than the internet average and enjoys cooking videos despite only fantasizing about being able to make anything more complicated than fried rice.

Ilona Baliūnaitė

Ilona Baliūnaitė

Author, BoredPanda staff

Read more »

I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

Read less »

Ilona Baliūnaitė

Ilona Baliūnaitė

Author, BoredPanda staff

I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

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bookfan
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm 13, and have been struggling with depression for most of my life. One thing I find insanely hard to answer is when my parents or friends ask me what makes me happy. Depression has made me so out of touch with my emotions that I don't even remember what it feels like to be happy. To make the situation even worse, my whole life, I have been able to feel others emotions as strongly as if not more expressively than them, so there are so many instances where I don't know if the emotions i'm feeling are mine or someone else's. It often feels like i'm strapped to a chair in a tiny glass room. The world is moving by so fast, right outside the walls, but I can't join in. And then peoples expectations of me block the air supply, and if I try to scream for help, no one hears. And I'm left trapped in a little glass room, slowly suffocating.

Deborah Castonguay
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, sweetheart, please take your post to your parents, a teacher or an adult you trust and ask for some help. Your description of your symptoms sounds like disassociation and that is a very significant indication of major depression. I know from experience as both of my daughters suffered from this during their adolescence, as did I. Treatment works, it takes time but it does work and you will come out on the other side one day. You are not alone <3

Load More Replies...
Alex Bailey
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The person pointing out that sadness is a feeling and depression often completely strips away feelings leaving you numb? That's me.

bookfan
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

is your username from the land of stories series? Just wondering

Load More Replies...
Nicholle Carriere
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is totally me. I often don't feel depressed, but I can't bring myself to do the things I need to do. The situation is compounded by PTSD. Some days I just sit inside and can't move. I get overwhelmed by the number of things I "need" to do in a day (they often don't actually need to be done on a particular day). My brother suggested that I choose only one thing to do in a day and this has helped. If I can do one thing, then I can often do another thing as well. Or my son comes over to help (I often don't need help, just some moral support). It's hard to live this way.

Load More Comments
bookfan
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm 13, and have been struggling with depression for most of my life. One thing I find insanely hard to answer is when my parents or friends ask me what makes me happy. Depression has made me so out of touch with my emotions that I don't even remember what it feels like to be happy. To make the situation even worse, my whole life, I have been able to feel others emotions as strongly as if not more expressively than them, so there are so many instances where I don't know if the emotions i'm feeling are mine or someone else's. It often feels like i'm strapped to a chair in a tiny glass room. The world is moving by so fast, right outside the walls, but I can't join in. And then peoples expectations of me block the air supply, and if I try to scream for help, no one hears. And I'm left trapped in a little glass room, slowly suffocating.

Deborah Castonguay
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, sweetheart, please take your post to your parents, a teacher or an adult you trust and ask for some help. Your description of your symptoms sounds like disassociation and that is a very significant indication of major depression. I know from experience as both of my daughters suffered from this during their adolescence, as did I. Treatment works, it takes time but it does work and you will come out on the other side one day. You are not alone <3

Load More Replies...
Alex Bailey
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The person pointing out that sadness is a feeling and depression often completely strips away feelings leaving you numb? That's me.

bookfan
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

is your username from the land of stories series? Just wondering

Load More Replies...
Nicholle Carriere
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is totally me. I often don't feel depressed, but I can't bring myself to do the things I need to do. The situation is compounded by PTSD. Some days I just sit inside and can't move. I get overwhelmed by the number of things I "need" to do in a day (they often don't actually need to be done on a particular day). My brother suggested that I choose only one thing to do in a day and this has helped. If I can do one thing, then I can often do another thing as well. Or my son comes over to help (I often don't need help, just some moral support). It's hard to live this way.

Load More Comments
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