1. “…we live in a world where if you break your arm, everyone runs over to sign your cast, but if you tell people you’re depressed, everyone runs the other way. That’s the stigma. We are so… accepting of any body part breaking down, other than our brains. And that’s ignorance. That’s pure ignorance. And that ignorance has created a world that doesn’t understand depression, that doesn’t understand mental health.” — Kevin Breel
2. “What people never understand is that depression isn’t about the outside; it’s about the inside.” ― Jasmine Warga
3. “The pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain.” ― William Styron
4. “So many people look at [my depression] as me being ungrateful, but that is not it — I can’t help it. There’s not much that I’m closed off about, and the universe gave me all that so I could help people feel like they don’t have to be something they’re not or feel like they have to fake happy. There’s nothing worse than being fake happy.” — Miley Cyrus
5. “There is so much pain in the world, and most of these people keep theirs secret, rolling through agonizing lives in invisible wheelchairs, dressed in invisible bodycasts.” ― Andrew Solomon
6. “Others imply that they know what it is like to be depressed because they have gone through a divorce, lost a job, or broken up with someone. But these experiences carry with them feelings. Depression, instead, is flat, hollow, and unendurable. It is also tiresome. People cannot abide being around you when you are depressed. They might think that they ought to, and they might even try, but you know and they know that you are tedious beyond belief: you are irritable and paranoid and humorless and lifeless and critical and demanding and no reassurance is ever enough. You’re frightened, and you’re frightening, and you’re ‘not at all like yourself but will be soon,’ but you know you won’t.” ― Kay Redfield Jamison
7. “When you come out of the grips of a depression there is an incredible relief, but not one you feel allowed to celebrate. Instead, the feeling of victory is replaced with anxiety that it will happen again, and with shame and vulnerability when you see how your illness affected your family, your work, everything left untouched while you struggled to survive. We come back to life thinner, paler, weaker … but as survivors. Survivors who don’t get pats on the back from coworkers who congratulate them on making it. Survivors who wake to more work than before because their friends and family are exhausted from helping them fight a battle they may not even understand. I hope to one day see a sea of people all wearing silver ribbons as a sign that they understand the secret battle, and as a celebration of the victories made each day as we individually pull ourselves up out of our foxholes to see our scars heal, and to remember what the sun looks like.” ― Jenny Lawson
8. “If you know someone who’s depressed please resolve to never ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather. Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest and best things you will ever do.” — Stephen Fry
9. “Feeling your feelings will not lead to depression.” — Jordan Pickell, MCP RCC
10. “…if you rely solely on medication to manage depression or anxiety, for example, you have done nothing to train the mind, so that when you come off the medication, you are just as vulnerable to a relapse as though you had never taken the medication.” — Daniel Goleman
11. “Depression weighs you down like a rock in a river. You don’t stand a chance. You can fight and pray and hope you have the strength to swim, but sometimes, you have to let yourself sink. Because you’ll never know true happiness until someone or something pulls you back out of that river — and you’ll never believe it until you realize it was you, yourself who saved you.” ― Alysha Speer
12. “It’s possible to live well, feel well, and also find happiness with bipolar disorder or any other mental illness [you’re] struggling with.” — Demi Lovato
13. “One of the things that baffles me (and there are quite a few) is how there can be so much lingering stigma with regards to mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder. In my opinion, living with manic depression takes a tremendous amount of balls. Not unlike a tour of Afghanistan (though the bombs and bullets, in this case, come from the inside). At times, being bipolar can be an all-consuming challenge, requiring a lot of stamina and even more courage, so if you’re living with this illness and functioning at all, it’s something to be proud of, not ashamed of. They should issue medals along with the steady stream of medication.” — Carrie Fisher
14. “You are not your illness. You have an individual story to tell. You have a name, a history, a personality. Staying yourself is part of the battle.” — Julian Seifter
15. “I’m not the kind of person who likes to shout out my personal issues from the rooftops, but with my bipolar becoming public, I hope fellow sufferers will know it’s completely controllable. I hope I can help remove any stigma attached to it, and that those who don’t have it under control will seek help with all that is available to treat it.” — Catherine Zeta-Jones
16. “I am bipolar, and I am proud. And that is why I wanted to write a book. To shine a light on mental illness, to be vulnerable about the days I let it take control and paid dearly for it, and to tell anyone fighting a similar battle: You are not alone. You are not broken.” — AJ Lee
17. “My recovery from manic depression has been an evolution, not a sudden miracle.” — Patty Duke
18. “When under the strain of bipolar’s strongest symptoms, we certainly can make selfish decisions, but that doesn’t make us selfish people. In fact, because we have struggled and known such depths of darkness, our compassion runs deeper.” — Lyss Trayers
19. “I have to remind myself that not everyone else is to blame for how I feel. That my emotions do what they do and it’s not just because someone else made me feel that way. I try to stop where I am and look around myself before reacting.” — Sarah Bleckman
20. “Life is like a piano; the white keys represent happiness and the black show sadness. But as you go through life’s journey, remember that the black keys also create music.” — Ehssan
21. “Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me.” ― Vincent van Gogh
22. “I give them the suggestion Allow yourself morning. I tell them it means that today may have been a rolling ball of anxiety and trembling, a face wet and slick with tears, but if you can get to morning, if you can allow yourself a new day to encourage a change, then you can get through it. Allow yourself morning.” ― Bassey Ikpi
23. “I now have no problem with anxiety, it was something I was dealing with in the band… People saw strength in that, and they didn’t seem to expect it from a guy, but they expect it from a female, which to me is crazy. We’re all human. People are often afraid to admit difficulties, but I don’t believe that there should be a struggle with anything that’s the truth.” — Zayn Malik
24. “Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries.” — Astrid Alauda
25. “What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes.” ― Raymond L. Cramer
26. “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” — Amit Ray
27. “Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.” — Grenville Kleiser
28. “Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” — Walter Anderson
29. “No amount of anxiety can change the future. No amount of regret can change the past.” — Karen Salmansohn
30. “Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” — Arthur Somers Roche
31. “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
32. “My anxiety doesn’t come from thinking about the future but from wanting to control it.” — Hugh Prather
33. “[Slow breathing] is like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won’t make the storm goes away, but it will hold you steady until it passes. — Russ Harris
34. “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” — Charles Spurgeon
35. “Sometimes self care is exercise and eating right. Sometimes it’s spending time with loved ones or taking a nap. And sometimes it’s watching an entire season of TV in one weekend while you lounge around in your pajamas. Whatever soothes your soul.” — Nanea Hoffman
36. “The best thing you could do is master the chaos in you. You are not thrown into the fire, you are the fire.” — Mama Indigo
37. “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” — Carl Jung
38. “Start listening to the way you talk to yourself. These interactions will tell you how well you know yourself, how much you respect yourself, and what boundaries you are lacking.” — Sara Kuburic
39. “Pay careful attention to anything you try to hide.” — Gretchen Rubin
40. “As you reflect back on the previous weeks, months or year, look for moments you can celebrate too. There will be some, even if you have to look a little harder.” — Emily Coxhead
41. “When I don’t pay attention to my feelings, I tend to put up with situations and people longer than I should.” — Allyson Dinneen
42. “The gentlest reminder: You might not need to read another self-help book, attend another training, or bookmark another Instagram post as much as you need to listen to, trust, and practice what you already know. What if the answer you’re looking for is actually within you already?” — Lisa Olivera
43. “Deep breathing is our nervous system’s love language.” — Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy
44. “Don’t believe everything you think.” — Unknown
45. “You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” — Dan Millman
46. “That was the crux. You. Only you could work on you. Nobody could force you, and if you weren’t ready, then you weren’t ready, and no amount of open-armed encouragement was going to change that.” ― Norah Vincent
