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Campaign on depression:
Depression has been the most talked about topic on today’s mental health world. More attention
is being given to this issue with each passing day. This attention can be due to increased rate of
cases of depression and suicide due to it. WHO organized a campaign to raise awareness in
depression named “Depression: Let’s talk”. I believe this is a very well-needed initiative taken
by WHO for campaigns on depression.
The campaign was organized by WHO in Courtyard by Marriott Ogden. They organize such
events in almost every state of different countries around the world. They have different
representatives for this in every country. The environment for the campaign was very calm.
Since depression is not limited to age, therefore this campaign was not limited to a certain age
group. Everyone could participate in it. It was a three day long campaign, so that people can have
a chance to gain awareness on this issue. From teenage to parents to elderly people to almost
people belonging to every age group attended this campaign.
This campaign was for raising awareness about depression so that people who are depressed can
get some help or people may recognize the signs of depression and help other when they are
going through depression. The campaign contained the information on how depression can lead
to suicide. The campaign started with the very basics of knowledge and information on
depression. It illuminated some signs of depressions; sadness, no will to eat, less or more sleep,
problem in concentration, trouble at keeping jobs, loss of energy, feeling of hopelessness,
anxiety, indecisiveness and thoughts of self-harm which can lead to suicide. It can happen to
anyone and because of anything. Most of the time it happens when a person goes through
something tragic, or loses something immensely important to him. The other times it happens to
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different reasons. The problem is most of the time people do not recognize it and that leads to
severe cases like suicide. If they do recognize it then they do not get help. Another message was
to get help as it can prevent severity of depression and bring a person back to normal. The
emphasized on the matter that it is essential to get help and one must not be ashamed to get it.
They even went to great lengths of finding good professional help for anyone who is need of it.
All in all, depression is an actual mental health issue which must be taken very seriously as it has
become one of the highest cause of deaths in the world.
Social media networks like Facebook, and instagram were used to reach the people around the
world through their pages in respective accounts. They even asked some local TV channels to
run their campaign live so that it can reach as much people as possible. The Facebook and
instagram accounts were streaming the campaign activities live.
The methods of communication used in this campaign were very effective. They had soft spoken
and polite speakers. Their poster was communicating very thoroughly and I think it made the
most difference. It had two people conversing about depression in different scenarios; home,
school and office etc. They used every possible method and way to communicate with public on
this issue. They shared some experiences of people who have been through depression and
recovered through professional help. as far as the recommendations to make it more better goes,
then it would be better for them to allow some communication through anonymous manner.
Some people do not trust so easily, they are shy to open up about their issues especially when no
one has acknowledged their existence, they must be given anonymous chance to share their
issues related to depression. Moreover, I believe there must be more institutes where people can
randomly call to talk about their depression and seek help.