According to the World Health Organisation, 350 million people worldwide suffer from depression, and 6.9% of Americans will have a depressive episode at some point in their lives.
Despite being so common, though, mental health problems can be a difficult subject to talk about for many people - especially those who have them. The stigma surrounding issues such as depression and anxiety is often so great that people will suffer in silence rather than seek help from medical professionals.
This week, kickboxing world champion and former Big Brother housemate, Andrew Tate, added to that stigma when he posted his grossly misinformed views to his 25,000 followers. "Depression isn't real," he wrote. "You feel sad, you move on. You will always be depressed if your life is depressing. Change it. Thread."
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Tate then continued the thread, claiming that depression is merely laziness, or an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for one's own problems.
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After a series of ignorant and insulting tweets, the kickboxer signed off with, "I'm very very happy". And somehow, that qualifies him to pass judgement on those who literally cannot experience happiness.
Well, quite frankly, he's wrong. He seems to have got the cause and effect a little mixed up: believing that people are depressed because they're unhappy with their lives, rather than the reality that they're unhappy with their lives because they're depressed.
Thankfully, Twitter was there to call him out on it.
Many were quick to point out that depression is as valid a disease as other common health problems such as diabetes or asthma, and as physically present as a broken bone - even if it's not always visible to everybody else.
Once you frame Tate's statements in the context of another illness, it becomes obvious how wrong he is, as demonstrated by one user who wrote: "Cancer isn't real. You feel sick, you move on. You will always have cancer if you whine. Change it."
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Others took a more humorous approach on slamming the reality star, with another user sarcastically claiming that they have been "cured" by people "speaking out of their arses".
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And then there were some people who actually had the qualifications to weigh-in on the matter. "I have depression," wrote Dr. Benjamin Janaway. "I am a doctor, author and journalist. Depression is real, common and ends lives. It also makes for the bravest people."
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But Tate is still standing his ground. And being pretty childish about it, actually. "I thought it ruined people's lives and caused depression yet after all this internet bullying I'm not depressed. Now what?"
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So, rather than listen to the medical professionals, the people who have actually dealt with depression, or, you know, anyone with enough common sense to realise that you don't always need to see something to believe it, Tate has continued to tweet his own opinion for the past two days.
He's even been petty enough to update his Twitter bio to "expert on depression". Wow.
But, you know what, I'm happy for Tate - he's lucky to have never gone through something which claims so many lives. It's just disappointing that somebody with such a large platform is using it to pointlessly spread damaging viewpoints, rather than posting something that could actually help pull people out of a negative frame of mind.
