Do I need a Depression Filter?

[lefaym]

When I first started writing about depression, I used a "personal stuff" filter, mostly because I felt too exposed just flocking my posts. As I've become more comfortable identifying as a person-with-depression, I've started only flocking those posts, and sometimes I don't even do that. Sometimes, when I have a depressive episode, I say things that I'm ashamed of, but I'm not ashamed of having depression itself.

I'm wondering now, though, if I do need a specific filter for discussing depression, not because I'm ashamed, but because, well -- I know that there are a lot of people here who might simply just not want to deal with me when I have my crazy on -- particularly since my crazy tends to focus on fandom stuff that many of you still enjoy. And, of course, many of you might simply want to keep your flists as a happy-fun-place, which is totally understandable. (Yeah, I know that scrolling past is an option, but it's still there.)

I'm a bit torn about this -- I really don't want to do something that implies that depression is something that should be hidden, kept to the corners. But at the same time, fandom is safe space for a lot of people, and my depressive episodes could compromise that.

Thoughts?