6 Moving Depression Monologues (A list)

In this brief guide, we will look at 13 of the most moving Depression Monologues.

Depression and Monologues

Depression monologues are pieces in the literature that one person speaks, and their content is sad and tends to feature symptoms of Depression-like not wanting to eat or sleep.

These monologues contain a romanticized, tortured version of depression that gives us a peek into some of the most troubled minds in literature.

These monologues about depression are great for competitions and for journals and essays, or for any comparative study of the representation of Depression in literature.

Depression Monologue by Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath was an American writer and poet, who struggled with depression her entire adult life and eventually died of self-destruction.

In her most famous work The Bell Jar, she uses the analogy of fig trees to showcase a classic symptom of depression, which is the inability of the person suffering from depression to make decisions and the low mood they feel all the time, as well as the hopelessness about the future.

Here is this monologue about depression:

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with unusual names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to expiration, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

Depression monologue in Misplaced

Misplaced is a female drama monologue, the character M explains the effects of her experiences when she feels disconnected from life and herself, which is known as depersonalization and can be a symptom of severe depression.

“M: I listen inside myself to the hum…this humming sound, between my ears, deep within my brain somewhere…when I listen to it, when I pay attention to it, everything goes into slow motion.  My concentration intensifies and the humming gets worse; worse in the sense that, there’s a danger that starts bubbling up in the pit of my stomach and then a vibration echoes through me, through the rest of my body…I start to get mixed in my brain; panicky, worrisome; a tunnel I’m trapped inside of or a drowning kind of sensation but more like an emotional drowning, not so much physical…

It can last for hours and hours…one time it even lasted for days and even when I regained my sense of self, it took me time to feel like me again.  I don’t know what you call this…maybe I’m losing my mind and it frightens me, to be honest…I’ve never uttered a word to this before to anyone I know…thank you for hearing me out.”

Depression monologue in The Darkness

This is a monologue describing symptoms of depression, namely wanting to be alone, being in the dark, wanting to be left alone, and a desire to let go.

People suffering from depression but still functioning at the same time may often feel like cutting themselves off from the world and sitting alone not doing anything, and this monologue about depression captures that well.

“I wish I was scared of the dark. I mean most people are, but I always find comfort sitting in it. Get home, shower lay in bed. Don’t turn the lights on. My daily routine. Sit in the dark and listen to music. A vampire. That’s what my mom calls me. It’s not that I don’t like the light, you just think differently in the dark. You find comfort in it like a big black blanket wrapped around you.

You just let go not knowing what could happen. Your mind travels to so many places and everything’s fine. Until you realize you’re alone. The feeling of loneliness hits you. You have no one to talk to. Everyone’s asleep. You’ve thought so much that the big black blanket is now suffocating you. So, tell me is the darkness safe or dangerous?.”

Depression Monologue from Unbroken, by D. M. Larson

This monologue about depression talks about two things, the depression the person felt before they met the person they love so much, and how the person healed them.

It shows how love and depression can help with feeling broken and depressed.

“You found me, cast aside, lost, and broken. You searched through the rubble to find the severed pieces of my life, and slowly fit them back together again.

Before you, I felt like I was dying. The panic consumed me and squeezed the life from my heart. But I didn’t care. When we are weighed down by the torture of hate, we don’t fear expiration. There was nothing to live for… until I met you.

You rebuilt me and fixed what was broken. You made me better and pieced me back together in new ways that improved me. With the right parts, I was reborn… and life felt real… and right for the first time.”

Depression Monologue from Female Drama Inner Core

This monologue is from a female drama, where the character suffering from depression, Shelley,  talks to her Doctor during a therapy session to gain clarity on her issues.

“Sometimes I stare inside myself and try to figure out how I can kill my inner core.  There are days when I wish to remove myself from myself.  Start fresh.  Anew.  Mop myself clean and start over again.  Keep the same outer shell but with new inner meaning and purpose.  Sort of like an upgrade to an old program that doesn’t function as well as it should because it’s outdated.  I desperately need to upgrade my system but there is no way for me to clean out my inner core.  It will always remain…the remnants of my past, the wires that have rusted and gone awry…they will always stay in place…you can never disconnect from your past self…we may try and act like we do but deep down, we always carry the same software.”

This monologue perfectly displays the symptom of worthlessness that patients with depression are tormented by every day, and the feelings of hatred they turn inward.

Depression monologue from The Bullied, Bungled, and Botched

Below is a monologue that represents depression from a play by D. M. Larson, called “The Bullied, Bungled and Botched”.

This monologue explores the feelings of the character Jamie, who is showing symptoms of depression like Helplessness and Hopelessness, as well as feelings of excessive guilt.

In some patients, the excessive guilt can even turn into the delusion of guilt, when depression gets incredibly severe and psychotic symptoms start cropping up as well.

“Yes, you’re right. I have to toughen up… there’s always someone who has it worse than me. Sorry, I am so depressed all the time… sorry I bring you down. I don’t mean to ruin your day… Or your life. I’d love to stop being depressed. I wish I could look on the bright side and turn that frown upside down. I wish it were that easy.”

“You think it’s my fault, don’t you? You think it’s all in my head. Yes, we all have this problem, don’t we? We all get a little blue sometimes. I get very blue all the time. I’m so blue I’m purple. Don’t tell me you understand… you don’t understand!”

“Do you really know how this feels? Do you really know how this grips me inside and threatens to rip me apart? Do you know the weight that holds me down, a weight so powerful I can hardly move.”

“Yes, I am using this to punish you. I am angry at you so I’m acting this way to hurt you… I need to stop feeling sorry for myself… Me, me, me… yes, it’s all about me… I want you all to drop everything and focus on me! I’m sorry I even came out of my room.”

“Oh yeah… a nice cup of tea will instantly cure me – maybe if you put some strychnine in it. I wish I could just snap out of it… like it was some kind of spell a witch cast on me. I’m waiting for some prince to come along and kiss my tears away.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything anymore. I didn’t want to bring it up. I didn’t want to talk about it anyway…”

“I bet you’re sorry you asked how I was doing. How am I doing anyway? I’m hurting so bad. I wish there was something that would take away the pain. I can’t handle this much longer.”

“All I want to know is that I’m not alone… that I’m important to someone. Maybe I want a hug sometimes. Maybe I want someone to tell me I’m not going crazy, that’s it’s not really my fault.”

“I need to know I didn’t do this to myself and that I’m not the cause of this horrible thing that’s happening to me. I want someone to be here for me and help me through this. I need someone stronger than me… I’m so weak. I need someone who is strong enough for both of us.”

“I need to know you’ll be there for me… I need to know you’ll never give up on me. That you’ll never leave me. That you’ll never go away. And I need someone to help me not give up on myself. I want to know that I’m important. That I matter. That I’m loved. Tell me that things will get better. It helps to have someone to talk to… it helps to say something… thank you for listening… thank you for not leaving me alone anymore.”

Depression monologues for males

The depression monologues for males given below are great to be used in plays or for auditions for play and so on, and they are all about themes of sadness, loss, grief or lost love, which makes them perfect to display your range of emotions about depression.

Depression Monologues for Males: 1

This Depression monologue for males is from Hamlet, by Shakespeare, which is one of the best written plays there is.

“To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;

For in that sleep of expiration what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after expiration,

The undiscover’d country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy prisons

Be all my sins remember’d.”

Depression Monologues for Males: 2

This depression monologue for males is from The Boor by Anton Chekhov, and it talks about grief and sadness, and why there is always a time to stop it at the right time.

“There you are again! It’s too awful to listen to, so it is! Nikolai Michailovitch is dead, it was the will of the Lord and the Lord has given him eternal peace. You have grieved over it and that ought to be enough. Now it’s time to stop. One can’t weep and wear mourning forever! My wife died a few years ago, too. I grieved for her, I wept a whole month—and then it was over. Must one be forever singing lamentations? That would be more than your husband was worth! (He sighs.) You have forgotten all your neighbors. You don’t go out and you won’t receive any one. We live,—you’ll pardon me—like the spiders, and the good light of day we never see. All the livery is eaten by the mice—As though there weren’t any more nice people in the world! But the whole neighborhood is full of gentlefolk. In Riblov the regiment is stationed, officers—simply beautiful! One can’t see enough of them! Every Friday a ball, and military music every day. Oh, my dear, dear ma’am, young and pretty as you are, if you’d only let your spirits live! Beauty can’t last forever. When ten short years are over, then you’ll be glad enough to go out a bit! And meet the officers—and then it’ll be too late.”

Depression Monologues for Males 3

This depression monologue for males is from the film Alfie, where the character of Alfie wonders what life is all about, and he is lamenting the loss of his love.

ALFIE: “”He’s younger than you are”, that’s what she said. Anybody would think I was doddering about on bleeding crutches. Trouble is, I still keep thinking about her. I can’t get her out of me mind. Who’d have thought a ruddy great lust-box like her would have found her way into anybody’s feelings? She might have looked a hard case, but underneath she was quite mumsie, and she was in beautiful condition. Do you know, I’m beginning to think she was beautiful. After all, it ain’t through the eyes that you feel beauty. It’s how the heart hungers for something that makes it beautiful….You know what? When I look back on my little life and the birds I’ve known, I can’t help think about….all they have done for me. And what I haven’t done for them. They looked after me. Cared for me. And I repaid them by never returning the favor. Yeah, I used to think I had the best end of the deal. What have I got, really? Some money in my pocket. Some nice threads. Fancy car at my disposal. And I am single. Unattached. Free as a bird. I depend on nobody. And nobody depends on me. My life’s my own. But I don’t have peace of mind. And if you don’t have that, you got nothing. So, what’s the answer. That’s what I keep asking myself. What’s it all about? You know what I mean?

Depression monologues for females 

These depression monologues for females may be used in a variety of situations and they tackle themes like love, grief and sadness, which makes them ideal for instances where the person needs to show their skill in talking about depression and related concepts and emotions.

Depression Monologues for Females 1

This depression monologue for females is from For All Time by Madame le Bargy, and here the character speaking is talking about the grief of losing a loved one.

“Diane, when I knew for certain that Maurice had fallen into the sea, that they had recovered his body, that he was buried in German soil, then I felt that I should never live another moment. I felt as you have felt. I wanted to die. I could not bear it. I came here to this house. I was mad for the sight of him, for the things that he had touched and loved. I flew into his room and dragged his clothes from the pegs and crushed them to me, but even the odor and touch of his personal belongings was not enough to calm me. I came into this room. Then I drew near that chair. Something—I don’t know what—drove me to sit in it. I flung myself into it as if it were into his arms, and I wept out all my grief. Then, all at once, a great calm came over me. I looked upon my solemn black dress in amazement and distaste. I looked into my solemn and black heart with surprise and shame. I felt that Maurice was alive, that he was not dead, Diane. Then I remembered, as I sat there, that it was in this chair that he had sat when he came to say good-by. There he had sat talking happily and confidently—he had seemed filled with radiance. And so he has talked to me again and again. Every day, at the same time, at twilight, I have sat there and felt myself with Maurice. We have talked together, just as we always did. There is nothing weird or supernatural about it, Diane. He is just as we knew him, as we knew him in those swift, strange moments when, in a flash, the body seems to slip aside and spirit rushes out to meet spirit. That is all. People see me cheerful and smiling and they say that I am mad. The few to whom I have told of these talks pity me and are sure that I have lost my reason. Perhaps, in a worldly sense, I am mad. But I know this, Diane, that Maurice lives as usual, more truly, than he did six weeks ago. I know that his youth has not been sacrificed in vain. As the dead plant enriches the soil from which it grew and into which it finally falls, so will this young soul in all its bloom enrich the life out of which it sprang and from which it can never entirely disappear.”

Depression Monologues for Females 2

This depression monologue for females is from Richard III, a play by Shakespeare, where the theme is primarily expiration, and the depression and sadness that are associated with it.

“Set down, set down your honourable load,

If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,

Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament

The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.

Poor key-cold figure of a holy king!

Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster!

Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood!

Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost,

To hear the lamentations of Poor Anne,

Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughter’d son,

Stabb’d by the selfsame hand that made these wounds!

Lo, in these windows that let forth thy life,

I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.

Cursed be the hand that made these fatal holes!

Cursed be the heart that had the heart to do it!

Cursed the blood that let this blood from hence!

More direful hap betide that hated wretch,

That makes us wretched by the expiration of thee,

Than I can wish to adders, spiders, toads,

Or any creeping venom’d thing that lives!

If ever he have child, abortive be it,

Prodigious, and untimely brought to light,

Whose ugly and unnatural aspect

May fright the hopeful mother at the view;

And that be heir to his unhappiness!

If ever he have wife, let her he made

A miserable by the expiration of him

As I am made by my poor lord and thee!

Come, now towards Chertsey with your holy load,

Taken from Paul’s to be interred there;

And still, as you are weary of the weight,

Rest you, whiles I lament King Henry’s corse.”

Depression Monologues for Females 3

This depression monologue for females is from the play Henry VIII by Shakespeare, and this too talks about the grief and depression losing someone you love and how hard it is to deal with it.

“I come no more to make you laugh: things now,

That bear a weighty and a serious brow,

Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,

Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,

We now present. Those that can pity, here

May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;

The subject will deserve it. Such as give

Their money out of hope they may believe,

May here find truth too. Those that come to see

Only a show or two, and so agree

The play may pass, if they be still and willing,

I’ll undertake may see away their shilling

Richly in two short hours. Only they

That come to hear a merry salacious play,

A noise of targets, or to see a fellow

In a long motley coat guarded with yellow,

Will be deceived; for, gentle hearers, know,

To rank our chosen truth with such a show

As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting

Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring,

To make that only true we now intend,

Will leave us never an understanding friend.

Therefore, for goodness’ sake, and as you are known

The first and happiest hearers of the town,

Be sad, as we would make ye: think ye see

The very persons of our noble story

As they were living; think you see them great,

And follow’d with the general throng and sweat

Of thousand friends; then in a moment, see

How soon this mightiness meets misery:

And, if you can be merry then, I’ll say

A man may weep upon his wedding-day.”

Conclusion

In this brief guide, we looked at 6 moving Depression monologues. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Depression Monologues

Citations:

https://freedramaplays.blogspot.com/2015/10/strong-enough-for-both-of-us-monologue.html