Who knows what true evil really looks like when they see it? It feels like more of a feeling, something in your gut crying at you, "Run. Flee. Hide." Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't register with you until after something unfortunate happens.
TRIGGER WARNING: Many stories involve grisly deaths.
Reddit user, KeasMe, wanted the gates of Hades to open up and to see the worst of the worst when they asked:
Have you ever encountered true evil? How?
"All we got in return..."
"Back in 2011 my uncle down in Mexico had got [kidnapped] by one of the cartels. They gave my entire family on my dad's side a [ransom]: $10000 and we would get him back."
"My dad called in people who owed him money and managed to get the 10k. He sent it down to the family down south and they paid the ransom for my uncle. All we got in return was my uncle's lifeless body.
"He had a look of pure joy on his face..."
"There was a kid in my 6th grade class who loved designing his own custom shanks and then stabbing people in the arm or back with them."
"He had a look of pure joy on his face when he saw that he drew blood and caused suffering to another human. He was only suspended for a week the first two times he did this before they finally kicked him out of school after the third time."
"Guess he just didn't have good luck with animals. "
"I worked with a guy in Ontario who was always posting on Facebook that he just adopted new puppy like every 4 or 5 months. He adopted them from all different shelters and people. Had to have about 8 or 9 at one point. We went to his house for some reason and there were no dogs. No signs of dogs, no toys, no food bowls etc. We asked about the puppies and he just off-handedly pointed to the backyard, which we noticed was full of little mounds and said they all were sick and died. Guess he just didn't have good luck with animals."
"The way he said it was cold."
"The CSPCA investigated him and tested the remains. He was putting small amounts of his own homemade poison in the dogfood and conducting his own little LD-50 test."
"...she was a kindergarten teacher no less."
"I felt like my aunt was pretty evil, and she was a kindergarten teacher no less. She pulled my arm out of its socket one time when I was four and she was "helping me cross the road". I visited her when I was sixteen and every opportunity she got she would whisper in my ear "you are worthless. You are nothing." and just keep walking. The visit ended with her trying to strangle me after I took issue with her trying to force feed my brother ginger, and that was the last time my family spoke to her. I remember fantasizing about getting back at her in some way for a while, but then moved on with my life and grew up."
"Years later, she was being her typical self with my uncle (her brother) and berating him calling him worthless and he shot her in the head, killing her. It was a real tragedy for the family as he shot himself afterwards as well, but I certainly have not missed my aunt."
"How do you get expelled from a pre-school??"
"I havent, but I think my GF has."
"She works at a pre-school/daycare. Ages of children vary from infant to ~5. She teaches the 3 yr olds in her part of the building. She told me that there is this one 3 year old girl that is just a heathen. She literally only wants to hurt people. One day she got in trouble for hitting kids on the head with pots and pans (they use these in the sand pit for fun). She brought the little girl inside to talk to her and the entire time she is just not listening."
"Mid sentence the little girl looks at my GF dead in the eyes and says "Can you let me go outside so I can hit more people?" The next day she was expelled because she just kept hitting kids in the head with pots and pans.. laughing about it. How do you get expelled from a pre-school??"
"They justify, minimize, blame others."
"In my job I have to interview convicted criminals for court purposes. They have committed all kinds of crimes: murder, domestic violence, child abuse. Some don't talk about their conduct but some do."
"Most have no concept, or show no understanding or acceptance of how evil they are, which is pretty scary. They justify, minimize, blame others. I have an easy time putting them out of my mind after all these years at my job. But I also have to talk to the victims of their heinous crimes and that is the worst part of my job. Hard to erase their pain from my brain."
"...not allowed to have firearms but he has a sniper rifle..."
"I had befriended a coworker, before I figured out that he was a total sociopath, psychopath, whateverpath, the guy was pure evil. He killed a yard dog we had at work after throwing it by the hind legs at a wall, I immediately reported him and he began to stalk me. He confessed to me to killing his wife, after her body had been cremated, he would call or text me in the middle of the night, asking me if I knew where my daughter was (He knew), or he would tell me to look out the window, and he would flash a laser at me."
"He is a felon not allowed to have firearms but he has a sniper rifle (with a red laser) anyway. He said to me "What do I have to do, for you to hang out with me again? Kill someone for you?" Police were notified, interviews held, I moved my family out of the state, and for two years after I still got cryptic texts that could only have come from him. He is still out there. Free."
"These are the high points!"
"Sadly....Yes. My ex-husband was a preacher. IMHO...I believe he was a narcissistic psychopath. I endured extreme abuse during the 9 years of marriage. My life was threatened on numerous occasions. I had a butch knife pulled on me. A gun pointed at my head. He threatened to beat me to death with a night stick. After our child was born he put a hot iron in my face after a C-section a week earlier and it got all infected. He didn't like what I cooked one day and threw it literally across the entire kitchen floor and left the house for me to clean up. He literally grabbed my breast and ripped my shirt."
"These are the high points! Feel free to AMA!"
"...literally scream at me in front of the principal about how I was trash..."
"My 4th and 5th grade teacher sent me to the principal's office for sneezing, TWICE. No reason, she just hated me. Some kid and I were fooling around during recess."
"Kid falls and gets a microscopic scratch. Blames it on me. The teacher literally grabs me by the arm and PULLS me to the principal's office. She then proceeds to literally scream at me in front of the principal about how I was trash and useless and was a disruption to the class."
"She called me a piece of sh*t in front of the principal. I was 10."
"...I was cautious around, for a lot of reasons."
"When I was young, there was a kid in my neighborhood that I was cautious around, for a lot of reasons. One day, a few of us were hanging out, and he found a dead, run-over squirrel."
"He started running the tire of his bike over the head, and he took a lot of pleasure in it. When we were in high school, he shot and killed both his grandparents."
"At some point, this should have been the first red flag."
"Yes, I believe so."
"The last place I lived, was rented from what seemed like a nice elderly couple. The man was very soft spoken, with a timid and pleasant demeanor, while we didn't see much or ever talk to the wife. At some point, this should have been the first red flag."
"When I moved in, it was 3 other people sharing the apartment, for a total of four. All tenants then and later were students. I'd expected everybody to sign a new contract as a previous tenant had moved out, but was informed I'd just sign a contract for my part alone, as everyone else had. No worries."
"A few years pass, every original tenant but me moved. Suddenly and without warning, we're informed the lease is over, and we had 30 days to move (unheard of where i am from, 2 months plus is common). Additionally, I learnt the wife was a retired lawyer, and she was mean. They had worded the contract cleverly, and hid behind the mans timid personality, so as to not raise suspicions, and lull us into a false sense of safety."
"So everyone signing on the contract, was accepting that for this apartment there was no concept of "expected wear and tear", and that once the lease was over, it'd have to be made sure the apartment was in the same condition as when the lease (very first contract, many many years ago) was signed."
"And they hammered down hard on this point. They hired contractors to come inspect the house, and compare to 15 year old photos and expected average wear and tear that we'd be reimbursing on top of actual damages of 15 years of student parties etc. And on top of that they billed us the hourly charge of the inspectors."
"So yes, the evil here is consciously preying on poor students for the ease of access by offering up a malicious lease. Some part of the fault is on us for not taking the contract at face value, but something something nice elderly couple."
"He gaslighted her so bad that she was institutionalized..."
"My dad. Before he had me he was with a girl who he got pregnant. He wanted her to have an abortion but she did not."
"His solution? He gaslighted her so bad that she was institutionalized by her family and over here, when someone was institutionalized whilst pregnant they were forced to have an abortion."
"He tried pulling the same crap on my mum when she was having me but when he realized it ain't gonna work he just waited until the day I was born when my mum went to the hospital to grab all our life savings and disappear permanently."
"I'd say that was pretty evil."
"Where do you think her remains are?"
"Met a guy who had killed his wife. He owned a local restaurant, and when asked at his trial where she thought her step mother's remains were, his daughter responded "he's a chef and owns a restaurant. Where do you think her remains are?"
"It was a cute little place and I'd always planned on eating there, especially because the daughter was a friend of mine... But I'm glad I never did."
"I see a lot of crazy stuff with my job..."
"I see a lot of crazy stuff with my job, also go through a lot of court files and because I'm weird I can't help but read them (sorta like this thread!)""
"Two off the top of my head - parents starved two of their three kids, nearly to the point of death. The two they starved were girls, they took good care of the boy.
"Man killed grandparents and their grandson, stuffed their bodies in barrels of acid, then put what was left through a wood chipper."
"...she went on the run with them..."
"My kids went to visit their mom in the UK on a court ordered visit. I knew what was going to happen, but couldn't prevent the visit. Sure enough, rather than put them on a plane back to me in the USA, she went on the run with them & her boyfriend. I got a lot of help from the center for missing & exploited children, the US State Department, and the Scottish Government paid all my legal fees over there."
"During the 5 months she had the kids, she tried to brainwash them. She told them if they came back to me, I would kill them. This was relentless. My son was incredibly strong and refused to believe her or cooperate ( they were 13 at the time), but my daughter was much easier to manipulate. I really don't know for certain that they weren't physically abused, but a lot or the stuff she accused me of, was things she and her then boyfriend ( now husband) did to the children. I had to fly to Scotland to appear in a trial. I walked out of the courthouse at 9pm on a Friday night with the children."
"Normal process for these cases is to have a designated handover 2 or 3 days later, but the child psychologist who interviewed us all was positive that my ex wife would kill the children, and the judge agreed. I got them back in the clothes they stood in. I have no doubt she would indeed have killed them rather than hand them over to me. Five years later, she has no contact with the children ( their choice). they have anxiety and depression, but are doing remarkably well. They are high school seniors now, and they make me proud every day."
"I chalked it up to the divorce..."
"A few years ago a friend of mine was going through a nasty divorce. Like really bad. He came to visit me one evening as I was getting off of work. When I sat down with him he just seemed off, like a completely different person than the man I had known before. Blank stare in his eyes, no smiling, anger behind everything he said. I chalked it up to the divorce and just thought to myself that he would get better when everything calmed down. I told my wife when I got home about seeing him and she agreed with my assessment."
"I bumped into his ex-wife and some friends a few days later at another work event. She was actually out celebrating their divorce being finalized I think and she invited my wife and I over to a house party. That would be the last time I saw her. My wife and I ended up not going to the house party but the ex-husband did show up. He killed 9 people, including his ex-wife."
You Can Look Them Straight In The Eye...
"I've told this story before - about meeting a murderer. Was a journalist on weekend duty. Got called out to a story - guy claims his car was hi-jacked with his 2 year old son in it. I met him at the police station, he seemed devastated. I was devastated - I mean, I'd done plenty of grisly crime stories, but a missing kid is next level awful."
"Next day I had my day off, the regular crime reporter called me - they'd arrested the dad and found the little boy's body at a rubbish dump. He did it out of revenge for his wife cheating. It still bothers me to this day how I could have felt so much sympathy for this man, I shook his hand, I cried with him. I'm usually very good at picking up when someone is "off". Just goes to show you, true evil disguises itself very well."
Have you ever encountered someone or something truly evil in your life? Tell us all about it.
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And there are just as many grievances for which we are not at all sorry.
Curious to hear about people's track record of their questionable behavior, Redditor NanoPKx asked:
"What is something bad you have done with no regrets?"
Is it petty theft or flat out stealing? You decide.
The Parting Gift
"'Forgetting' to bring back a company ipad after they forgot about me having it. Actually they never asked for it back so I still have it and use it."
– Koetjeka
Furry Companion
"I stole a barn kitten while delivering packages for FedEx. He kept climbing my legs and getting into the van, sitting under the wheel when I tried to back out (it was a steep driveway, no way to swing the van around). I called the number on the package, looked the name up on facebook, called the local non-emergency to get contact info, all failed."
"So I took him. Now, if you're not from a rural environment, you might not understand that barn cats like that are 'no-man's-cats.' For all the owners know, he got sick or got got by a coyote. And he would have died, because when we got him to the vet he had a nasty upper resp infection and some other nasties."
"Now, one deformed nasal passage and the cutest snore later, we have a bonkers little orange cat with the heaviest penchant for snuggling I've ever seen (his name is Monty btw)."
"Edit: I forgot to pay my Cat Tax: https://imgur.com/a/HIXS4us"
"Edit Part 2: Monty loves the attention. Thank you for loving him as much as we do :3"
"MmmmMMMMRrrrrrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW" -Montgomerey Valentine, 2022
– SonOfSkinDealer
The Dirty Treat
"A housemate of mine kept eating mine and my girlfriends food and even though I asked him to stop the only thing he would ever say is 'I thought it was mine' then keep eating it."
"Well I bought my girlfriend some ice cream she really enjoys and she put the half she didn’t finish back in the freezer. Well when she want to get the rest it was gone and it made me madder than I think it probably should have."
"The very next time I saw him and somehow keeping a straight apologetic face I told him how he accidentally ate our sex ice cream and that bits of it had been on our parts etc. I told him I felt guilty not to tell him and that I had to apologise for him to eat such a thing."
"I will never forget the face he made when I told him. A face of pure self disgust and shock to which all he had to say was 'I wish you never told me that' and proceeded to move out around a month later."
"Although he didn’t actually eat sex ice cream, like why the f'k would you put it back after use anyway? Sometimes I wonder if I went to far but in that moment I just did not care at all. He still doesn’t know it isn’t true and I’ll probably never see him again."
"F'k you Vitas buy your own food."
– SpicyDolphin74
Vengeance is sweet.
Payback Time
"A drunk driver hit my parked car, left a huge dent in the front driver’s side door, and then drove away. I happened to be looking out the window at the time and saw the whole thing, including his plate number. Cops got there not long after and took my statement. After a couple days and a couple phone calls, I found out nothing was going to come of it because he was the son of the sheriff the next county over."
"Fast forward a couple months, I see his car parked behind a local bar within walking distance of my apartment. I got out my hunting knife and sliced all four of his tires, and made a couple trips around it destroying the paint job. Yellow Pontiac Sunfire, and I still remember the goddamn plate number even after almost 20 years."
– IgnoreMe304
For The People
"I was a GM for a retailer that was going out of business. During the liquidation I let my employees that worked until the end store product they wanted to buy in a closet I claimed I didn't have a key to. Oh the final days I sold them all the items they requested for 95% off. 70" tvs, ipads, gaming laptops whatever they requested."
– Midnights606
Surreptitious Swap
"Years ago I worked for a wealthy dude who was married to someone semi-famous. He would waltz in every morning and talk about the fantastic dinner he had the night before, how he hung out with some other famous person or whatever else."
"He paid me peanuts. I had a hard time making ends meet."
"I was the office assistant and IT guy. So it comes time to get a new computer for one of the designers. I spec something out, and show it to him. It was a ripper of a machine for the time (early 2000s). But it wasn’t expensive enough for bossman."
"So I added a really high end graphics card. Boss was happy then. The card added nothing for the designer: they only did illustrator and photoshop."
"So I came in that weekend and swapped the graphics card for my aging one from home."
"No one ever knew. Or cared. And I got a new graphics card."
– Dudeinairport
When times are tough, people had to do what it took to survive.
T.P. Crisis
"In college I was so poor I would steal toilet paper from the supply closet in our major building."
– Business_Loquat5658
Hungry College Buddy
"I stood watch for a college friend who was going hungry because he’d been disowned and his roommates had made living with him intolerable after he came out."
"I was loosely affiliated with an off campus program with local churches that gave free student dinners on Thursdays. We would go to church to eat, then bring dishes into the kitchen."
"Anyway, he would go in there and steal stuff like peanut butter, literal bread (not an allegory), granola bars etc. while I watched out for the pastor."
"Eventually we both got caught, the pastor for the college students got a bit mad because he was responsible for us while we were there to eat. And I think it was offensive on some level to steal from church. But then he saw what my friend was taking, and asked him if he had enough to eat. My friend shamefacedly said no, not usually."
“'Okay, fine. Put the food back, and come with me.' Took my friend grocery shopping instead, got him connected with the food pantry and community garden at church instead."
– SchnarchendeSchwein
Based on these examples, people didn't twice about their actions in the heat of the moment.
Within reason, we all gotta somehow get by.
But do you think their actions deserve punishment?
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When a person sees someone they care about going through a struggle or crisis, their instinct is to uplift them with positive advice.
But sometimes, the wisdom imparted by friends isn't always helpful or relevant to the situation.
Curious to hear from strangers online who could do without specific knowledge, Redditor Saibotnl1 asked:
"What life advice can just f'k off?"
These Redditors have a problem with how certain people have on outlook on life.
Time To Rest
"Sleep when you’re dead."
"Cool, but you’re going to be dead a lot sooner."
– Tag2graff
Irrelevant Sadness
"People have it so much worse than you so don’t be sad!"
– notrachelmar
"To that I like to say, 'people have it so much better than you so don't be happy!'"
– ___jupiter____
Your Life Path
"Almost anything relating to what age you must be in order to buy a house, have children, marry, have a profession, or do anything else. Seriously, everyone's life is different from everyone else's. Make your life the way you want it to be. If you so desire. Up to you."
– Frn071
On The Contrary
“Cheaters never prosper”
"Yes, they f'king do."
– waqasnaseem07
People can get out of any situation they find displeasing.
But others feel people should just "stick it out."
Ignoring Bullies
"Just ignore bullys or get someone else to handle it for you. I have never seen this work, only makes it worse. The only effective way I've seen to deal with them is by not making yourself an easy target and make them scared to f'k with you again. If going psycho on their a** is the only thing they'll respond to that's their fault. Also want to add in schools they will punish you for self defense but that punishment is only sitting around a few hours in detention or sitting around at home with a suspension. The punishment is temporary boredom, it's absolutely nothing compared to being bullied and when it's over the important message will still stand that you will not tolerate being a victim."
– User Delted
Remain to be Miserable
"Stick it out"
"Whether that's sh**ty jobs, shi**y relationships, shi**y living situations..."
"By all means don't just give up on things when you face challenges, but if something feels wrong or is wrecking your peace then take some control and change it if you can!"
– petitezoey
"Easy for you to say," might be an auto-response to these suggestions for many people.
Invitation For Recklesslessness
"Live like everyday was your last"
Yall know what people do when they learn they have a single day left to live?"
– LimeGrass619
A Possible Consequence
"I did that as a teenager and ended up homeless and addicted to heroin. Didn’t pan out for me too well."
"19 years sober though today."
– Open-Section-7263
A Practical Approach
"If I knew with certainty that I had one day left, I'd double-check all my financials, my will, and my insurance policies, make sure my wife had all of my passwords and knew where all the money was, spend the rest of the day with her and the kids, then call the medical examiner and ask to lie down on the gurney so that when I die they won't strain their back moving my remains out of my house."
– Asteriad
Nose Stuck In A Book
"Work while they sleep. Study while they party"
"That's not a recipe for success, that's a recipe for a lot of white hairs, burnout syndrome and a stroke before your 40s..."
– Khomuna
Doesn't Apply To Everyone
"Do what you love and money will follow"
"I love walking my dogs and grilling food for my friends but That sh*t doesn't pay the bills as well as my engineering degree!"
– Elons_android
While people's intentions are good, they're better off keeping their two cents in their own pockets.
Not everyone likes to hear platitudes.
Sometimes, people just want to know they're not alone with their problems over listening to unlikely solutions that are nothing more than superficial pick-me-ups.
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Kids start going to school from the age of five, and for the most part, they spend more time at school than at home. Because of that, teachers can become very important figures in the lives of their students.
Some students don't have the best home lives. Some keep it to themselves, but others confide in their teachers.
Curious about various situations, Redditor Delicious_Mastodon83 asked:
"teachers of reddit what is the saddest thing you found out about a student?"
In Need of Parents
"Not a teacher but was a school-based therapist. Had a student (7 -8 y/o) I didn’t know knock on my office door and ask if I’d adopt her and “if you have room, my brother too, but if not, that’s ok, we can be split up. We’re split up now. And I don’t take up space. I just need a sleeping bag”. Broke my heart."
– secretkpr
Heartbreaking, But Industrious
"My mom taught at a school in a bad neighborhood in Chicago in the mid 90’s. There was a second grader that would save his milk and ketchup packers from lunch for his mom so she had something to eat when she got home from work."
– PowerstrokeMe
Big-Hearted Mom
"Not a teacher but a parent with a 9 year old son. Every day I pack extra in my sons lunch because he tells me he has a friend that never has anything to eat. It's winter and my son came home and told me his friend was turning up with shorts and shirt and holes in his shoes. So I sent in a jumper and long pants for him to wear and some slightly used but good condition shoes. I have been up to the school recently and the teacher pulled me aside and thanked me profusely for helping this child. Apparently teachers are not allowed to aid kids they teach here in Australia and they have already reported the issue 3 times to child welfare without results so I was the only one helping this child. The teacher told me before I started sending in more food and clothes, this child would steal others food from their lunches and look through the bins because he was so hungry. They doubt he gets fed at home. So now I make sure to always send an extra lunch and some school clothes/supplies when I can. I can only hope child welfare eventually does something but it breaks my heart."
– spetzie55
Amazing Big Sister
"It was right after winter break and before class started I was just talking with some students and asked if they got anything fun for the holidays. One girl said on no, I don’t ever get presents, my mom is a drug addict. But I went out and got some stuff for my little sister so that she can have a real Christmas."
"She just said it so matter-of-fact. She was so used to being the parent to her little sister that she didn’t even care about her own childhood. It totally broke my heart."
– tonydanzascaulk
The Importance Of Human Affection
"Second hand story from my mom, elementary teacher for 30ish years. She had a hug or a handshake out the door policy, just some small contact and a proper goodbye, and had this young boy who always picked the hug. She wondered why he always went for it, most kids would go back and forth depending on their mood that day, so she asked him why he was always so excited for the end of day hug? His answer, "It's the only one I ever get.""
– needsawholecroissant
Coming Out The Other Side
"Two teenage boys (16/14) with learning disabilities were on my caseload, they never missed school but often ditched class. They were homeless mid-year after they went home from school to find the locks changed, their Mom had abandoned them for a new boyfriend. She didn't leave an address for them to find her."
"*Edit: both eventually dropped out, however a couple of years later the younger brother came back to visit. He and his brother were both working construction, and his brother had gotten married, had a child, and was living with his wife’s family."
"The younger had roommates and was saving for a car. He told me it was a shame I didn’t have kids, because I would make a good Dad."
"People often persevere, even with the odds stacked against them."
– Kursch50
True Parentification
"Not me but my daughter is a teacher, she has lots of stories but one that stands out for me is one of her kindergarten kids saying she was tired and her asking why, the little girl explained that she had been up all night with her mums newborn baby. She did this every night, fed her bottles and everything."
– lb47513343
Luckily, He Was Resilient
"This year I had a 17 year old kid enroll at my school. He was sitting in my math class and I could tell he was struggling. After class I took some extra time to go over a concept with him. I asked him to read the question to me, and he sat there silently. He then looked at me and said “I’m not going to lie to you, I cannot read. I have no idea how to say these words""
"Turned out at age 17 he was illiterate and had been kept out of school by his very religious, controlling parents. Over the past few months he has worked very hard! Now he can finally read at an 8th grade level and he is STILL improving!!"
– User Deleted
A Heroic Teacher
"I worked in an inner city charter school. One of my students (`M10) had a sib (M8) in a lower grade. The mom was there every day in the beginning of the year encouraging them, helping them and generally being very supportive... until a CPS agent spoke to me asking about her behavior. After CPS left things went downhill. The boys showed up late to class even though they lived a half block away from school. When in school both boys were tired from sleeping in the car while their mom "went fishing". She also had two very young girls which she dragged around making the boys take care of them. One day the boys didn't show up and their teacher walked over to the house to find the mom had loaded up the fridge, paid the rent for the month and abandoned them. The teacher (a candidate for sainthood btw) took them in, adopted them and grew them up to be great men."
– mopedarmy
This is really heartbreaking stuff! Luckily, teachers aren't just another adult in your life; they can be your saving grace as well.
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TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains sensitive content about depression and mental health.
As the stigma around mental health lessens (however slowly), people are more forthcoming about the problems they are facing. One of the most common mental health issues is depression.
Depression can affect many different types of people. Factors such as gender, race, nationality, and even age have no bearing on whether someone suffers from depression or not.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, "...an estimated 3.8% of the population affected, including 5.0% among adults and 5.7% among adults older than 60 years..."
Depression displays in certain patterns, such as mood changes, physical difficulties, and social isolation. However, depression manifests differently in different people and feels different to different people.
Reddit users divulged what depression felt like to them when Redditor iodineseaspray asked:
"What does depression feel like to you?"
Some of this is sure to sound familiar.
The Worst Kind Of Boredom
"Like being more bored than you could imagine but also not wanting to do anything at all, even breathe. So you want to do something, but you can't imagine anything that you would like to do so you're just sort of stuck."
– BuddhistSlater
"So you then spend literally hours staring at a blank wall hating yourself, your life, and everything around you. Well, as much hate as you can summon in the absolutely mentally numb state you find yourself sat in day after day."
– merryman1
Lack Of Motivation and Energy
"Complete lack of motivation."
"Ignoring people that I love, and who are trying to help."
"Just sh*t"
– HatFromStraw
"I feel it extra at work. Letting things slide until you either get into trouble or trying last minute to prevent it."
"Funny those times when I'm working to save my butt, the depression goes away and i feel super focused and motivated."
"I try to carry that energy over but no, it's rinse and repeat."
– ExtraBitterSpecial
Powerful Insecurity
"Insecure about absolutely everything, no hope for the future, dissociation from society and not knowing how to “act” anymore, feeling like I’m not as good at the things I always thought I was good at or that the “talent is wasted on me”, only food cheers me up and sometimes even that doesn’t work"
– tenamonth
Loss Of Creativity
"This. It's like some numb fuzziness you feel in your brain. It's the worst thing ever for an artist who just wants to create but your brain comes up dry with a dense fog that wants to just lie down for a few hours"
– FinnProtoyeen
A Mental Inability To Breathe
"For me, it feels like I’m in a lake with a ball chain tied to my feet, desperately swimming up for air, the only problem is the chain isn’t long enough. I can only get an inch of my head out of the water to breath, and as soon as a high tide comes, the water just floods over me and I feel like I can’t breath again. I live like this, constantly feeling like I’m struggling to breathe, weighed down by my own mind. It’s a struggle and I can’t really describe it in any other way, I’m jealous of people who don’t worry about depression"
– DrowningInBrokeness
"Like suffocating under a heavy cloak"
– kmartfreak
"Like being crushed. Like if the air was crushing my muscles and bones and I can’t breathe because I’m being crushed…"
"Kinda like that."
– Afreshnewsketckbook
Listlessness
"Scrolling thru your steam library. Thinking you want to play something, either not settling on anything or not wanting to put the effort into the game. Going back to the scrolling."
– Aistadar
"It feels like you're forced to play a game of Monopoly (represents life) and your just rolling the dice to appease everyone but you genuinely don't care about where you go, where you land, what you pick up, what you pay, what you gain."
"You kind of just watch it happen without interest and while people are cheering or oh no-ing for you, you genuinely don't care. Everyone is a piece on this board that hardly matters and you feel like we're all just running in a circle over and over again and it's boring and disinteresting as hell."
"You lose all curiosity for everything and just let everything happen and pass by you. No motivation, hardly any love, hardly any care. Feels like the world is in black and white and your waiting for the game to end became it's so absolutely boring and disinteresting, but it never does."
"You come to resent the game and eventually hate it because it feels like you're being forced to play it and suffer it's consequences when you never asked to play it in the first place."
"That's what depression felt like for me. Since then I've been medicated and recieved therapy. I'm doing a lot better now and I don't feel this way anymore, thankfully."
- KnlghtLlghts
A Relation To Fantasy
"You know that scene in the Lord of the Rings where Bilbo is describing to Galndalf what having the Ring all those years felt like? "I feel thin. Like too much jam spread over too much bread." That's honestly the best way I've seen to describe it."
– Electrical_Age_336
"I always say the closest thing to compare it to is a dementor in harry potter. It sucks every ounce of happiness out of you until there is only darkness left."
"Side note: chocolate always helps"
– sunfacer
Fear Of Lack Of Justification
"Like someone close to you died yesterday. Expect no one has, and nothing has happened to justify how you feel."
– AlterEdward
A Physical Pain
"Physical pain in my heart, will start crying just by attending to the physical sensation in my body."
– sagieday
Help Yourself
"I've always described it as having a shadow fixed to your brain which fuels things like indecision and negativity. You can do things to temporarily help but you can't truly shift it. Previous normality is forgotten. But it's amazing how much you can mask it."
"I found I didn't realise how bad I was until I started to get better"
"For anyone suffering with depression. Please, please speak to someone. Best thing I ever did"
– DavosLostFingers
Depression isn't something you can just deal with or get over. Learning to cope is not easy. However, as Redditor DavosLostFingers pointed out, talking to someone can literally save your life.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression, contact the American Psychological Association by phone at 800.374.2721 or 202.336.5500.
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