“Depression”- a term which is casually used by most of us. “The lecture today was so depressing”, “my boyfriend is not talking to me properly, I’m feeling depressed” etc. In day to day life, we often use the term depression to refer to normal feelings after significant loss, breakup of relationship or failure to attain a significant goal. While you think that it’s just a “word”, you don’t realize how serious it is. The term depression is casually used by us to refer to grief, frustration, sadness, loneliness or disappointment. Yes, these negative feelings should be taken seriously, since there is a possibility that they can lead to depression, but not everyone with these feelings has depression. Casual use of this term is sometimes because of lack of knowledge about it. People need to understand the difference between the two, these negative feelings that we go through most of the time, may go away in a few days but not depression. Depression is a serious mental illness. According to WHO, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression globally. It is different from our short lived emotional response to daily stress. The person dealing with depression suffers a great deal of mental and physical exhaustion. Up to 15% of patients with severe depression die from suicide. It is something that should not be taken lightly. It is a mental health disease which results from complex interaction of biological, psychological and social factors. It is not something that someone can just get over with.
We sometimes confuse depression with feelings of grief or sadness. We are all humans and it’s normal for us to feel sad, disappointed or frustrated due to certain situations, weather its failing in an exam, losing a job, having argument with spouse, monetary problems etc. We do get over these feelings when we witness a change in our circumstances. It can take a few hours, few days and sometimes, even a week, but not more than that. Whereas in depression, these feelings become overwhelming, cause physical symptoms, and last for a long period of time (for 2 consecutive weeks and more). Depression keeps you from leading a normal, active life. It interferes with your work, relationships, and other daily tasks. It does not get over just because you wanted it to. Depression is more than just sadness. People with depression may experience symptoms like :
• Low mood
• Loss of interest in everything
• Feeling of worthlessness and excessive guilt
• Restlessness or tiredness
• Recurrent feelings and thoughts of suicide and death
• Disturbed sleep (too little or too much)
• Loss or increase in appetite
• Change in body weight.
• Inability to think clearly
• Agitation
• Loss of energy
• Greatly slowed behaviour
According to psychiatry guidelines, if you feel like you have at least 5 of these symptoms, you qualify for a diagnosis of depression. Depending on the number and extremity of these symptoms, depression can be categorized as mild moderate and severe. According to National institute of mental health, it takes the average person suffering with mental illness over 10 years to ask for help. The good thing is that depression is totally treatable. there are various effective treatments like therapies, medications which usually go side by side. Medications usually increase the amount of serotonin in our brain. Some studies shows that less amount of serotonin or the feel good chemical in our brain is one of the biological cause of depression. They have been many researches but none have been successful in finding the main cause of depression.
Talking about depression can help a lot. Research shows that asking someone about suicidal thoughts reduces their suicide risk. The cause of the stigma attached to mental illness it becomes difficult for people suffering from it to talk about it and ask for help. Open conversation about mental health is something really important to be discussed about.
THE FIGHT
It is possible to prevent another episode of depression. Dealing with depression is difficult since you become completely devoid of energy, hope and motivation. You start feeling drained and empty. Just thinking about these things seems tough but it’s not impossible. There are a few ways that could help you to fight depression and maybe prevent them :
• Indulging in exercising and yoga : when you exercise you release chemicals like endorphins, which can boost mood . Yoga helps you to stay calm and bring more positive feelings. You can also join some sport.
• Eating healthy : when you eat a balanced and nutritious diet, your mental and physical health experiences a boost. Eating foods with high fat and sugar can increase stress and symptoms of depression.
• Staying away from stress : stress is a common cause of depression. There are many ways to reduce stress like meditating, exercising, eating healthy and being socially connected. Having a strong social support system is important in dealing with stress and other mental health problems. Regular interactions with family and friends is really important. Learning to let things go also helps in reducing stress.
•Sharing how you feel : sharing our feelings and emotions is one of the most important thing which helps in preventing stress and fighting depression. It’s always better to share your problems with someone who you think will understand you and provide you with help. There is nothing wrong in asking for help. There is nothing to be ashamed of to share your story or experiences triggering depression. Sharing emotions help us to restore equilibrium, think clearly and most importantly, to let go of negative emotions that are bottling up inside us. There is always this fear, what is the person doesn’t understand us, makes fun of our situation, judge us, or not able to provide us with what we need in return. It’s okay to have these fears and there is a solution to every problem. There is a social application WeHeal which has an intention to help people heal, just like the name suggests. It is an anonymous chat platform, we can discuss what ever is troubling you. The healers who are basically the uses of the app, will listen to you, understand you and help you with your situation. Since you are anonymous, it will become easier for you to say what ever you want to. This app provides a non judgement environment. You can confess anything or ask anything regarding to your studies, career, relationships, heartbreak or anything. It’s really not healthy keep things inside you. It’s important to let them out and this app may help you in that.
You can download WeHeal – http://tinyurl.com/weheal .
Give it a try. Maybe you’ll find the answers.
There are also three inbuilt features which provide you with meditation sessions, psychological quiz that will detect your mood, and a mini game to improve your patience level. There are also short inspirational stories, quotes and experiences written by the users which may encourage you. It also gives you the opportunity to help other people who are facing troubles by replying to them and providing solutions to their issues with the help of our experience.
• Keeping the giant hand difference from toxic people : people who lower self esteem, make us feel bad about ourselves, doesn’t care about us should be thrown out of life.
• Avoid alcohol and smoking
• Getting at least 8 hours of sleep
• Dealing with triggering situations: like death anniversary , or coming across a particular person or a group. Prepare yourself for the situation and make yourself believe that you will get through it. Take help from a friend or a close one .
• Seek a therapist when needed : no when your symptoms have increased and take help of a mental health counselor or your therapist.
It’s high time that we take depression seriously. It’s really sad that despite its immense impact on individuals, depression is not taken seriously. Depression has no cure but it is treatable especially when it’s recognised and properly diagnosed. Timely help is needed and it can only be done if the person does not feel ashamed and seek help. For this we need to talk more openly about mental health. It’s a great step by the WeHeal app to break this stigma and talk about mental health.
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