Depression is a dark lonely place in which more than 300 million people around the world sink into , according to a 2017 survey held by the World Health Organization (WHO). Over the last decades, the depression rate rose and became more and more frequent, and yet, society still cannot quite understand what depression is about and what are the required steps to overcome this disease. In this article, we are going to deal with Depression from a subjective perspective, its effects and its solutions.
Before we judge it, let’s define it!
Dealing with depression is hard; and if you’d define it as just being mere sadness, then you’re absolutely wrong. Depression is a mental illness which triggers several emotional and physical problems, from a weak tiredness to a strong desire to die. It is depicted as a persistent feeling of sadness and emptiness which can expand to weeks, months, and in many cases to years. It swallows people alive and shapes them all over again, giving them new identities, new dreams and new ambitions. When many people’s deepest wish is to graduate, go on a journey, meet the love of their lives or their soulmates, depressed people are satisfied with the idea of waking up the next day after a night spent fighting with demons that kept tempting them to take their lives away. Depression is a disorder that must be taken seriously. It leads people to shut themselves from the entire world and stop trying to explain themselves. It teaches them how to keep their feelings deep inside until night comes, and cry without being heard. It teaches them how to fake a smile when surrounded by their friends and how to pretend that everything is fine, and it kills the best of them to let the worst of their values emerge to the surface.
Have you ever cared to ask someone about how they feel ?
Here’s Depression from a patient’s point of view :
Here’s Depression from a patient’s point of view :
Cursed by the heaven above , rejected by society, neglected by the norms, we, people who suffer from depression, tend to lose ourselves to the stormy chaos of despair and faithlessness. Our world, just like our hearts, is shattered into rusty pieces, full of lies and tears. We live in the city of broken dreams, where waking up is the best thing we can achieve, and surviving the day is our one ultimate goal. As we grow unable to stand this pain , we try to remove it by physical torture – and by this I mean all sort of self-harm ; starvation, self-injury, addiction, etc. – and replace it by something we think we can control. We cut and -in worst scenarios- attempt suicide because we try to destroy ourselves before someone else does it for us. We tend to be so tired of being judged and misunderstood that we give up our fight, soul and body to depression. We’re accused of “being Drama Queens” and “seeking attention”. But would we even fake a smile and pretend to be okay if we were really seeking attention ? We are blamed for not being strong enough, good enough, smart enough, lucky enough etc. We are blamed for being worse than the average, for having no vision nor purpose. In such a world of deceptions and heartbreaks, we make the perfect scapegoats, and we just got used to it.
Having said that, People claim that depression can be controlled easily by being indifferent. However, reality is way beyond a matter of control. Depression is not a choice ! It knocks our doors without any invitation, at any time and at any place. Depression becomes a part of us; it’s in our veins, our bones, our daily life, and getting rid of it requires a lot of strength and determination; something we do not always seem to own. We, as patients, do not always have a concrete reason on why we feel so lost and down. It feels like drowning into emptiness; no matter how hard we try to swim to the surface, something will always keep dragging us down, and there is nothing we can do about it when we’re all alone.
Being depressed gives birth to doubt within us concerning how our surroundings feel about us. We’re overwhelmed by a feeling of guilt of disappointing them. We’re too afraid of telling them how we really feel and what we’re really going through for we’re too frightened of losing them And because we’re too afraid of becoming a burden to those we love and care about, we tend to push them away in order to protect them from ourselves. We are ashamed of ourselves, because we know what we’re doing is wrong. We are confronted by the guilt of our actions, and the fear of being rejected. And yet, who are we to stand in their way ? Who are we to take away their happiness and replace it with the pain that’s slipping from our soul ?
Who are we ?
Having said that, People claim that depression can be controlled easily by being indifferent. However, reality is way beyond a matter of control. Depression is not a choice ! It knocks our doors without any invitation, at any time and at any place. Depression becomes a part of us; it’s in our veins, our bones, our daily life, and getting rid of it requires a lot of strength and determination; something we do not always seem to own. We, as patients, do not always have a concrete reason on why we feel so lost and down. It feels like drowning into emptiness; no matter how hard we try to swim to the surface, something will always keep dragging us down, and there is nothing we can do about it when we’re all alone.
Being depressed gives birth to doubt within us concerning how our surroundings feel about us. We’re overwhelmed by a feeling of guilt of disappointing them. We’re too afraid of telling them how we really feel and what we’re really going through for we’re too frightened of losing them And because we’re too afraid of becoming a burden to those we love and care about, we tend to push them away in order to protect them from ourselves. We are ashamed of ourselves, because we know what we’re doing is wrong. We are confronted by the guilt of our actions, and the fear of being rejected. And yet, who are we to stand in their way ? Who are we to take away their happiness and replace it with the pain that’s slipping from our soul ?
Who are we ?
Can we see depression? Yes we can.
Here are some of its effects.
Here are some of its effects.
Going through any kind of depression is not always obvious, for its effects are not only related to the constant feeling of melancholy. However, one may notice a change in the patient’s attitude when it comes to performance, social activities, unhealthy behavior ... This includes small talks, lack of concentration and motivation, oversensitivity, overreaction to criticism, addiction, eating disorders, feelings of uselessness and worthlessness, sudden change in sleeping patterns, self-harm, reckless behavior on purpose, suicidal thoughts or actions.
Now that we’ve talked about it, let’s see how we can deal with it:
Love is one of the most important things that may defeat depression. As a matter of fact, there’s nothing worse than feeling worthless and unwanted, for it can inhibit the sensation of pain and hesitation to reach out and seek help. As patients, we tend to destroy every relationship we get into – especially the best ones – not only because we’re too afraid of hurting people we love and , by default, hurting ourselves but also because we’re helplessly giving up on the idea that someone would love us and embrace us with our depressed side. We realize that it’s hard to take care of someone who’s suffering from depression, but having such a person who’d stand by our side and loves us unconditionally is the best gift we can receive and push us forward on the road of recovery. Another aspect is related to the psychological treatment. Indeed, depression is not something we should be ashamed of. For it is a mental illness in the first place, it should be treated like any other kind of diseases. It is proved that most people with depression feel better with medication, psychological counseling or both. Hence, talking about it to a specialist can be a life-changing action.We can overcome depression by being optimistic and seek for the tiny details that can turn our day into something good; going out with or without friends, having fun, doing things that we love, taking a slow walk, having lunch outside, avoiding negative people, exercising, expressing ourselves through photography, dancing, drawing, writing or any sort of art, learning to love ourselves, talking to people…
In a nutshell, depression is a battle we fight every day. People suffering from depression should be proud of themselves for being able to survive all this time, and I know better. There’s nothing more frightening than fighting against our own mind every single day and winning against the demons that ensnare us every single night and brings us back to where the pain had started. People who are suffering from depression are warriors who need love and compassion. They just need to feel alive again, to feel that there’s still a place for them in this world, that there’s still something for them, and it’s worth fighting for.
Ksouri Ilhem
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