I am here to tell you that you are worthless, hopeless, and helpless.
You are
nobody, and your existence means nothing. I will suck the energy and motivation
out of you, until you no longer want to get out of bed in the morning. I will affect
every single one of your lives, whether it is through a loved one, such as your
mom, your uncle, or your best friend. Or some of you will experience me first
hand. I have killed many people each year, and I don’t discriminate based on age,
gender, race, skin color, gender, or religion. Who am I? I am depression.
What is depression?
Depression sint sadness when something in your life is going wrong, depression is
sadness when everything in your life is going right and cant seem to point why,
why you are feeling the sadness that you are going through. Depression is a
psychological state that is hard to cure, hard to live with, and hard to endure.
Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness
that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. A
depressed person lives in a nightmarish world, darkened by pessimism and dulled
by unwillingness to act. It drains energy, evaporates optimism and enthusiasm, and
paralyzes hope. It distorts the world and substantially reduces the pleasure of
living. It may lead to repetitive suicidal thoughts that can end in self-destruction.
Depression doesn’t only affect a person mentally, Depression negatively affects a
person physically too. Some people experience a decreased appetite, which can
result in weight loss. This can create problems such as anorexia and vitamin
deficiencies. On the other hand, other people will experience an increase in
appetite, causing weight gain. The problem with this is obesity, which can cause
joint pain and stress on the heart. It can also lead to diabetes and hypertension.
Depression can also cause widespread pain throughout your body. And it can even
weaken the immune system, making you more prone to illness.
People suffer from depression for many reasons. They become depressed when all
they do seems to become a failure. They get worried about their inability to realize
their plans. They get shelled in loneliness. They get nervous and easily irritated.
They find their lives unstable and hopeless. They lack safety and become
vulnerable to outside influences.
People often relate depression to being sad, and telling other to be happy and
get over it. The thing is, sadness is a feeling that comes and goes, like
happiness and excitement. But depression is constant sadness that stays with
you, for long, forever. It is not something you can get over with. Unfortunately
we live in a world where when you break your arm, everyone runs over to
sign your cast. But if you tell people you’re depressed, everyone runs the other
way. That’s the stigma. We are so so so accepting of any body part breaking
down, other than our brains. JUST because its not a physical wound and you
cant see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
Then the question arises why don’t many people speak about this issue if its such a
major problem. Its because of the stigma surrounding the topic, the mentality and
the lack of openness and awareness about the topic. It’s the shame and judgement
you face when you tell someone about your depression that people are okay with
suffering with this alone than open up, speak and seek help for depression. It’s the
thinking within us “oh its just a phase, it’ll pass”, “oh there is nothing like this, just
be happy” or “oh just get out make friends and you will be okay”
now you will tell me, why don’t you talk to your parents family or loved ones
about this, and I will tell you im afraid. It’s the fear of constantly being a whing
burden to your family to your friends and loved one around you. Now you tell me
would you rather hangout with a person who is lively, optimistic and jittery over a
person who is dull gloomy and pessimistic always?
Exactly.
its fear of being judged, abandoned that it forces you to live two different lives.
One that you show others, one that you suffer with alone, because people in our
society tend to look at depression like its something crazy because in our mind,
mental illness is always automatically associated with being crazy. It’s the fear of
being label crazy or mad, when you are just trying to seek help to feel better.
Its not like I have not tried talking about depression to people around me, I have,
but all I have gotten back is sympathy and condolences, no, that’s not what you do,
you tell the other person that its okay and that it’ll pass, and that you understand
them and their mental problem and that you are willing to be there with them
whether they are happy or sad.
Its not okay to even label everything as depression, I have come across people who
say things like “oh I missed my class today im so depressed”
“I dropped my phone and broke it im depressed”
that’s not that depression is…
Points to add:
How to treat a depressed person.
what can be done to help and make them feel better
how can we implement help in colleges and school for depressed people to seek
help and talk to.