No one can see the Black Dog except you. Depression and anxiety are like that . Invisible. Which is why it feels so lonely. If you have a cough or a limp, someone will notice and commiserate . But if you are depressed - and you’re not sitting in a corner sucking your thumb or plucking the fluff off your jumper - no one notices.
If you are anxious you can look pretty normal - unless you've staggered into A & E with full-blown symptoms of a heart attack.
The Black Dog, which has been nipping at my heels for quite a while, suddenly took me in his jaws and dragged me into his kennel. It’s a great slavering lunk of a thing, all drool and droopy blood-shot eyes. His kennel is full of half-gnawed bones and is very dark: the dog’s lugubrious bulk blocks any light that might otherwise shine in through the door.
And if that’s not enough, there’s a Black Cat in here too. It’s a skinny, malevolent-looking creature and it has insinuated itself around my neck, resting its desiccated muzzle with the yellow eyes on one of my shoulders, and dangling its paws and tail over the other.
My grandmother had a fox-fur stole just like it, but at least it was dead. This cat is very much alive. It emits a constant sinister purr and sheds so much fur it’s difficult to breathe. No one can see the Dog or the Cat except me.