Depression: A silent killer

Mental health has increasingly become one of the most vital topics of discussion today. Depression in particular is an illness which is highly prevalent. The National Health Service defines clinical depression as more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days. According to Healthline, depression is defined as a mood disorder. It may be described as feelings of sadness, loss or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities. Whatever the definition may be, it certainly has a distinct and more personalised meaning for each individual. According to World Health Organization’s statistics, depression is a common illness, with more than 264 million people affected worldwide.

A person described what they felt as: “Whenever somebody talks to me about depression, the first thing I always suggest is to seek professional help. I’ve been seeking therapy on and off since years. I’ve seen seven different therapists. Some have been good and some not that useful. Personally, I’ve never been told anything by a therapist that I haven’t already thought or read about myself. “Apart from professional help, I have tried speaking to family as well but always regretted it afterwards because of their reactions. I think what a lot of people who suffer from depression want is empathy when we talk to someone. We want people to understand how we feel and not just have sympathy for us.”

Another said: “The biggest difficulty is feeling closure and extremely lonely, and that loneliness is your worst enemy. You feel trapped in a dark place. You feel worthless and helpless. It’s terrible, it’s like you’re in a different zone of thoughts. You find happiness in nothing, nor do you try searching for happiness. You don’t want to be happy. You have recurrent thoughts of death as if you don’t have any reason to live. The world seems like a gloomy, miserable and haunting place. You are your own enemy, you blame yourself, you hate yourself. You don’t want to do anything; life stands still for you. You just want to sleep with the hope that you will never wake up again.”

As we see mental health issues escalating around us, it is essential we explore remedies that can help us out of this misery. Therapy, antidepressants and exercise etc all have assisted people in one way or the other. As a society, we must break this social stigma of seeking help. It is absolutely normal to have emotional breakdowns at some point in life. When we suffer from a physical health issue, we run off to seek immediate medical assistance. An important question to ask ourselves is when we suffer psychologically why do we tend to hide it?

Depression is like any other ailment, yet if you say to someone that you are feeling depressed, they tend to make an instant assumption that you are facing some problem in your life. Stephen Fry rightly said: “If you know someone who’s depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather. Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness, and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest, and best things you will ever do.”

Many lives have been lost in depression and it is time we highlight and exchange our views on this phenomenon on a wider scale. It’s the perception that needs to change so people ask for help without fear of being judged.

The writer is a Manchester-based blogger.

Email: fatimaaliblog@outlook.com