
Our understanding of mental illness is ever evolving, as is our default image of someone with depression as a person weeping all day or with a permanent frown.
For US mum Brittany Ernsperger, who lives with depression and anxiety, the black dog is represented in a photo that might look innocuous to most, but is very telling of what depression truly is: a pile of clean dishes.
“This is what depression looks like,” The Relatable Mom blogger wrote in a Facebook post that has since been shared and liked by tens of thousands of people.
Brittany said it was not the fact the dishes were now clean, but that there were “that many dishes in the first place” and that she had gone two weeks without cleaning them.

In this insightful explanation of depression, the Indiana mum-of-four shared how simple tasks like cleaning the dishes, doing washing, taking a shower and even brushing her teeth can become unbearably daunting.
"Three days ago I sat on the kitchen floor and stared at [the dirty dishes] while I cried," she wrote.
"I knew they needed to be done. I wanted to do them so bad.
"But depression pulled me under. It sucked me in. Like a black hole. Rapidly, sinking quick-sand."
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one of the biggest signs of depression in myself is when i open the laundry door, look in at all the laundry and go "nope", close the door and walk out. EVERY SINGLE TIME