Laura, I am a fellow contributor to Not Alone, and suffer from clinical depression and PTSD.  It was very difficult to go public about that, but my book Uncensored Prayer brought it to the forefront.  Now I'm a public advocate for mood disorders and mental illness, because we DO tend to suffer in silence.

A big part of the reason I kept silent so long was because people were afraid of what I might do or say.  They labeled my disease as my identity.  I can't change anyone's belief about that, but I do refute it by what I write and sometimes verbally.

I really appreciate your article and support you 100%.  God created us just as we are, and saw no fault in that.  To live that out in the best possible way is for us to accept and cherish who we are, utilizing our gifts and not focusing on what we can't do.  One of the worst things about depression is it can steal my greatest strengths from me because I get sucked into the comparison trap and/or can beat myself on the days when the best I can do is cope.  I've dealt with that pain this week.  Then I ran across a quote from Charles Dickens:  "The writer that is natural has fulfilled all the rules of art."  When I write and live authentically, it's a blessing even when it feels horrible, because trying to be someone I'm not is worse.

Read my article in this magazine posted last week: "How Are You?" "Depressed.  How Are You?"  I applaud Jonathan for printing articles like ours, because it allows fellow sufferers to know they are not alone, but hopefully we can also provide education for those who don't understand our diseases.