My Dark Passenger

While creating this piece, I stumbled across the Express, Don't Repress Contest run by, and decided to make it an entry.

This is not so much an emotion or feeling as it is a state of being. I'm a sufferer of Major Depressive Disorder, and I've done this piece to represent how I feel about it. "My Dark Passenger" refers to a line from the TV series Dexter, where Dexter refers to his serial killer tendencies as his dark passenger. While being a serial killer is far more severe than clinical depression, I thought the term summed up nicely how depression can feel, so I adopted it.

People throw the word 'depression' about these days so that often, the condition of major depressive disorder isn't taken seriously, or isn't properly understood by many. The shame of mental illness and the stigma surrounding it often leads the sufferer to keep quiet (did you see that symbolism?).

If any of you readers are unfamiliar with the condition, please read [link] which is Wikipedia's article concerning it. Someone you might know may be a sufferer, or perhaps you suffer from the condition yourself.
I know it took me a very long time to tell my own mother that I'd been diagnosed, and I didn't tell her my medication were anti-depressants. I just told her they were to help my sleep properly.
So imagine being sick, and being too scared or ashamed to tell anyone that? Even if it means you don't get the help you need. That's how I felt, and still feel sometimes, and I know I'm not alone.

If you're a sufferer too, speak up, get help, and know that you're not alone.

Reference from . Digitally painted by me from various other references.
Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet and Photoshop 8.