i understand why some wouldnt want to bother... if youve only just met & dont love them its a tough life you could be getting so why put yourself through it?
however it is a physical illness - you 'see' it by watching their hollow eyes, crying, sighing, etc...it does show
would you dimiss someone with amnesia? or alzheimers? you cant 'see' those, but theyre an imbalance of the mind that manifests in odd ways.
souldarkness - its interesting you refer to it as a dark side...
are you a goth or emo? is he? if so, i wonder if he thinks youre just playing to the 'cliche' & persona and revellinging all things black...& doesnt really believe you are truly clinically depressed?
i have known a number of goths in my time and most of them enjoyed the blackness & the wallowing - it was a 'way to be', being part of a 'tribe' etc... they were not truly miserable.
unfortunately some people judge appearance
ive been depressed in the past... (17yrs ago) i wasnt a goth... but mine was caused by medical & hormonal imbalances so i was very lucid in my feelings, an i knew mostly it wasnt real...but still had horribly sad thoughts of paranoia, anxiety, misery, anihilistic, suicide, anger - even began to believe id been cursed with voodoo!! i believed some voodoo woman had cursed my dad when he was out there, possibly because hed jilted her (bit of a stud my dad) and shed cursed his second born child...! What The Funicular- and although i knew i was probably being daft, the story 'fitted' .
i then believed everyone hated me because my nose was bent an i sounded whiney -so people thought i was sneering (its doesnt sound like that, an everyone doesnt hate me...)
an thats how weirdly the mind works when depressed...its very real an has very real outward effects.
unfortunately he has to want to undertsand, if you keep forcing it on him he wil start to avoid seeing you... i know for some its hard to be in the company of the depressed -not because they hate you, (as i believed) but because its hard work & soul zapping... and not much fun...
unfortunately that just adds to the depression - the feeling that people dont like you... vicious circle.
people who say snap out of it - part of me wishes they would have it so they would know what a useless and ignorant thing that is to say... but really i wouldnt wish true depression on anyone...
that said, maybe he has a point on the positive thinking...
it wont cure it completely, but its a step in the right direction - and it cant hurt -
one book that helped me was called Erroneous zones...help me change the way i looked at life...
i also surrounded myself with many small positive influences, even down to painting my room orange and filling it with colourful things...i used a sad lamp, aromatherapy, crystals, meditation cds, rescure remedy, 5HTP, comedy, even just read positive affirmations books etc - it does help... so maybe if hes sees you trying to help yourself more he will be more open to listening...?