Bekah Miles is 20 years old. This American student suffers from depressiona mental disorder that affects about 3 million people in France (about 20% of Americans according to WHO statistics), and which manifests itself in different symptoms: physical fatigue, hormonal disorders, sleeping troublesaltered appetite, low libido… Bekah was diagnosed with “depression” in 2014.
To alert public opinion to this disease which is still poorly known and surrounded by many prejudices, the young woman decided to… get a tattoo. On her thigh, when you are in front of her, you can read “I’m fine”: “I’m fine”, in French. But from Bekah’s point of view, the letters form the words “Save me”. A means of transmitting all the embarrassment linked to its pathology, very often discredited.
This Monday, August 24, the young American posted two photos of her tattoo on Facebook, with the text: “For me, depression is the days when I feel sad for no reason. Depression is the mornings when I can’t get out of bed. Depression is sleeping too much or sleeping too little. Depression is when I crumble for nothing. Depression is eating too much or eating too little. Depression is the nights when I start crying because I feel upset, even though everything is fine. Depression is the lump in my stomach all the time. Depression is the constant need to be distracted (to be on social networks, to play video games, watch a movie, show, or work all the time) because I can’t trust my thoughts for more than three minutes. Depression is crying because I don’t know why I feel so useless, when I know I should be happy. »
“A mental illness is serious, but so shameful in our society. We pay so much attention to our physical health, but too little to our mental health. And it’s a real mess. A mental illness is not a choice and it can affect anyone at some point in their life. So if it’s such a big deal, why aren’t we talking about it? To date, her post has been shared nearly 500,000 times.
