Understanding depression

Nearly 264 million people of all ages are affected by depression worldwide. There is a need to address the disease but for that let’s take a step back and understand what it means.

Symptoms of depression may include :

• Insomnia or sleeping too much
• Loss of appetite or overeating
• Fatigue
• Unable to concentrate/focus
• Feeling persistently sad for a period of two or more weeks
• Sucidial thoughts

This makes it clear that the disease has physical effects on our body. Remember Kabir Singh(from the controversial movie), how when he went through a heartbreak he lost interest in his life, got addicted to drugs, had bad sleep cycles. The point is, that is what happens when we face a mental trauma or there is a change in our mental health, it affects our physical being as well.

The loss of energy which accompanies depression leads to lack of focus which affects the performance of the person.They are unable to complete activities which they were able to before. People going through depression in most cases constantly self doubt as they realise that they could do much more but they can’t given their physical state.

Consider a task which you are familiar with, but now you are not able to do it. Imagine the frustration. That is the feeling a depressed person goes through.

This eventually leads to feeling helpless, apathy, having suicidal thoughts, though not everyone acts on it.

We need to get rid of the stigma attached to depression. A person dealing with it is as much a warrior as anybody dealing with cancer or any other physical disease. They are already going through a lot and we should not add to it by acting as if it doesn’t exist in the first place.

Depression is real and treatable. Your actions and words could save someone. Be encouraging and kind, it would make the world a better place😊