Often times on various platforms,work places,our homes,schools,churches e.t.c we probably have heard or seen someone complaining of being depressed due to one thing or the other which i will later talk about in details in the cause of our discussions.
"Depression in psychotherapy and psychiatry is a state in which there is a period of unhappiness or low morale which lasts longer than several weeks and may include ideation of self inflicted injury or suicide attempts".
Depression from the above description can now be qualified as a psychological problem in which the person involved is psychologically traumatized devoid of every bit of reasonable thoughts to move forward and explore the world more.The individual feels as though there will be no light at the end of the tunnel,like there is no hope whatsoever,that its ended already thereby resulting in the tendency to commit suicide.
People with depressed mood often feel sad,anxious,hopeless,frightful,withdrawn,ashamed ,restless and worthless.
Depressed mood always presents as a clinical feature of psychiatric syndromes such as major depressive disorder,although it can as well be a temporary reaction to some life events such as death of a loved one,ailment,side effects of some drugs,failure et.c
In our African society,we often tend to overlook depression in such a way that any individual who tries to say i am depressed in public gets an award breaking bashing and tantrums from his audience,instead of seeking medical attention or working out a way to help this person out of his or her depressed mood we tend to see such a person as not being serious or practically seeking for attention .Our attitudes to such people a times becomes appalling because we tend to overlook their plights.
I have a case study of a friend who came out one day to say openly that he was contemplating suicide He said it not necessarily as a joke but guess what the whole lot of us took it upon ourselves to make caricature and mockery of the whole event ,we practically savored the joy from the moment of joke we created for ourselves and was so much engrossed in this moment that we forgot to genuinely ask that friend what his problem was that resulted to contemplating suicide as an option,we took it as a mere talk not until we were informed the next day that the guy committed suicide.Personally i felt like i killed this guy,i couldn't get myself out of the agony of the loss,i felt like i could turn back the hands of the clock so i could take this friend of mine closer to myself,feel his heartbeat and ask him what the problem was but lo it was already late because he has embarked on a journey of no return and there was nothing i or anybody else could do about it.I just had to cry and cry and then i made a decision to put down something in writing about depression.
Causes of depression
a.mental abuse
b.bereavement
c.neglect
d.physical abuse
e.unemployment
F.heartbreak
g.personality
h.medical treatments
i.substance induced
Mental abuse:This is an abuse characterized by the conscious subjection of an individual to behaviors that will ultimately lead to psychological trauma including chronic depression,anxiety,post traumatic stress syndrome.This kind of abuse is often associated with situations in which there are power imbalance such as abusive relationships,bullying,and work place abuse .When there is mental or psychological abuse the individual is thrown into a depressed mood.What could cause this psychological abuse? It could be verbal aggression(e,g saying something verbally aggressive that annoys the individual)
Dominant behaviors (e.g preventing someone from contacting their families)
Jealous behaviors (e.g accusing a partner of maintaining other parallel relationships)
Neglect:This often occurs and leads to depression when the individual is being neglected and not often considered as being substantive in either decision making processes,this kind of person is often secluded and hence depression sets in.
bereavement:The state of being bereaved,deprivation especially the death of a loved one could easily usher in depression due to the feeling of agony and the vaccum created by the demise can easily throw an individual int the depression mood.
physical abuse:The abuse of an individual by a much stronger individual physically either by beating,flogging or other forms of brutality can as well cause depression.
Unemployment:The tendency to become depressed increases as the ability to be properly employed decreases .The individual might have searched for employment all to no avail.What happens is that this feeling of hopelessness sets in ,the individual feels dejected and in the long run depression comes in.
Heartbreak :Have you heard the story of the man who killed himself after his girlfriend left him,yes it sounds a bit unreasonable and ridiculous but am sure he was depressed to the point of contemplating suicide.
Personality: A lot of people have personality management issues in such a way that such people always appears to be depressed following the minutest circumstances in which a normal person cannot even consider being depressed.
Medical treatments :Depression occurs as a result of the administration of some drugs during the cause of treatment of certain illness.These drugs includes interferon therapy,beta blockers,isotretinoin,contraceptives,anti-convulsants,anti-migraine drugs.
Substance induce:several drug abuse can equally cause depression.These includes alcohol,sedatives,opioid,stimulants,hallucinogens and inhalants.
Management of Depression
Depressed mood may not require professional medical treatment.This is because atime it is as result of the life events mentioned above and it could last for a short period of time but irespective of this a depressed individual still needs help.
Inspiration: The individual needs to be inspired and made to understand that their predicaments is only but a temporary one.Talk to them heart to heart,make him or her feel that there is still hope even when it seems there is no hope.By so doing the depressed mood will get to lighten.
Motivation: To a person who is depressed there is a need for that driving force,even when it appears that they lost it,their should be an external driving force pushing this person to look inward and discover how much they can do and how much they have been loosing.Are you the one depressed you just have to motivate yourself. There is virtually no need of contemplating suicide,if you die what happens,did you solve the problem by dieing?No! So just look beyond in that serene and peaceful demoralized heart and pick up the part that beats continuously and move on.
Vacation: You might want to go on a vacation to a very nice place when you are depressed. Is your friend,family member,e.t.c depressed do the best you can to take them out on vacation so they could refreshen their minds and ease of their loads.This works like magic I bet you.
Never stay alone: Are you depressed?never allow you and your thoughts alone in that dark and desolate inner room,go out and mix with people.Talk, gist,laugh and explore the moments with your friends.Let them be a source of joy and happiness to you and watch how depression goes like harmattan breeze.
Remember your case is not the worst:Whenever you are depressed just remember that your case is not the worst some other people also have worst case scenarios still they manage to pull through,why not you? You can do it.
Finally you just need to distance yourself from whatever that is making you to be depressed,work hard love yourself more and remember to always wear a smile.
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