Horinees Joshua is part of exhibition on depression: “World was gloomy”

His depression forced Joshua to seek help. “Then I found out that the feeling – which I have had since I was 12 – was not normal at all,” says Joshua.

Joshua has had a dysthymic disorder since puberty. This is not depression, but a disorder where you are always just not happy. “I thought it was normal, and also wondered how other people could be happy so often. It felt like they had a secret about how to live, and what I had yet to discover.”

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He describes his depression as a kind of fight against yourself. “Those are thoughts that keep you in your bed. I often thought: it’s better if I’m not there at all, and saw the world very gloomy.”

“At one point I exaggerated these thoughts extremely with a kind of humor in it. Like: it will never work out with you. That worked for me. It’s not that the thoughts are completely gone now. one more. It will always remain a weak spot”, Joshua thinks hard.

Talk about it

Now Joshua is doing better. “I feel good now, have a nice girlfriend and recently became a father.” He indicates that he did not just get over his depression. “I sought help and talked a lot about it, together with medication it got better and better.”

The fact that the help and talking about it worked so well for him is a motivation in this project. “I can’t imagine anyone going through this alone, I hope it gets easier to talk about,” said Joshua.

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The exhibition of which the portrait of Joshua is part, travels throughout the Netherlands. According to the initiators, the intention is that people can identify with the stories, but also that loved ones can learn from them. “I have found that it is very annoying if you start giving advice to people with depression,” says Mirjam Bekker-Stoop of the Open Mind organization.

Mirjam herself has a daughter with depressive symptoms, so she wanted to do something with the subject. The municipality of Hoorn has brought the exhibition to Hoorn because the subject is high on the agenda. “Almost half of all young people feel lonely or depressed. That is really a lot,” says alderman Marjon van de Ven.

Research

Research by the GGD Noord-Holland Noord shows that young people from Hoorn between the ages of 16 and 25 have more complaints than the average in the region. This study also shows that the percentage of people with complaints is increasing compared to previous years.

The survey reports that 46.6 percent are psychologically unhealthy, 61.3 percent are lonely and 23.1 percent have seriously considered suicide in the past year.