One teenager has opened up about the difference between appearance and reality when it comes to mental illness.
Ellie Newton has shared a status in a bid to make people realise that not everything you see is true.
Ellie, a sufferer of both anxiety and depression spoke of how people can disregard and ignore mental illnesses when they see a perfect appearance, unaware of what is happening on the inside.
Ellie posted two selfies showing the two different sides a person can have and wrote a status detailing her pain and struggles with her mental health.
“Scared to post this but I need to rant to try and get people to understand.
“PLEASE do not tell someone with depression/anxiety or ANY mental health issue ‘you look fine to me’, ‘well you look normal to me’, ‘you seem ok to me’ ‘you seemed okay yesterday’. I loathe being told things like this especially by doctors.“The two pictures show two sides of me. The left is the face I put on for the world while the right is raw, unedited me. And yes, there is a difference. On the left I look like any ‘normal’ teenager, wearing makeup with my hair done looking good and well presented. But this is purely a facade.
“While I’m not saying I look like the right picture all the other times, this is the me I don’t show to the world. Tired, crying, puffy face, bags under my eyes, messy hair, no makeup, unbrushed hair, unkept and exhausted.
“This is what my illness does to me. Just because you can’t see my illness, doesn’t mean it’s not there. I hide it, deal with it, push it to a side and keep it locked away but sometimes it comes out.
“No you cannot see mental health. No it is not any less serious than other health issues. Yes it is real. Yes it shows itself in other ways. Yes it’s terrifying.
“So in future, please don’t tell me I don’t have anything wrong with me just because I look okay, thank you.”
