The silent killer

This time around I’m going to be talking about something that needs to be addressed and attended to, with immediate effect. It’s something that’s slowly killing many, if not physically (sometimes) then mentally and just because it’s not us or someone related to us, we don’t see the seriousness of the matter.

The last thing you’d want is, to get up and close with the slow killer.

When I use the word, ‘slow killer’; what comes to your mind?
 
 Cancer? AIDS? Any other such life threatening disease? 

But, that’s not what I’m writing about today. I’m here to talk about something that’s cancerous in the real sense of the word. It affects your entire body, eats you up, unlike the real cancer.

 I’m talking about Depression. 

 I’ve seen it very closely in my life. I know what it does to you. It sucks the life out of us. It transforms you into this person, you can barely recognize. Heck, I am going to come out acknowledge that I have battled it too, for reasons I’d keep to myself, but yes; 2 years of my life have been spent in discovering and defeating it and sometimes it comes back to me in the form of my anxieties, but I remember that I beat it once and I can do that again.

So, now you know that whatever I write here is very close to my heart and totally based on true experiences of mine and real stories of people I knew very closely.

Before we start, I’d like you to know that, Depression is a very common illness, 100% curable. It just needs to be spotted and treated. [ If left ignored, the consequences maybe life-threatening.] The environment around the person trying to recover from this mental state, must be that of, happiness and positivity. He may not always look dull, he may hide his sadness behind the mask of a fake smile. He can be anyone :  you - me - your best friend- your sibling. Lastly, a person battling depression needs medical help, like I said its 100% curable. He is NOT a crazy lunatic. Visiting a psychiatrist doesn’t make him a mad person.

So, what is depression?

Medically, depression is defined as:

“a mental state of altered mood characterized by feelings of sadness, despair, and discouragement’’

“Clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for weeks or more.”

When I started researching on this topic, it really disturbed me. A study based on the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey Initiative said that,

Globally, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression. Close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds.

India records the highest rate of major depression in the world. In 2017, 197·3 million people had mental disorders in India, including 45·7 million with depressive disorders and 44·9 million with anxiety disorders.
Has anyone thought, why? Has anyone thought that they need to do something about it, at the very basic level?

What causes this illness?

1. Chemicals in the brain: Differences in certain chemicals in the brain may contribute to symptoms of depression.
2. Genes : Depression can run in families. For example, if one identical twin has depression, the other has a 70% chance of having the illness sometime in life. From mother to child. Etc.
3. Personality traits : People with low self-esteem, who are easily overwhelmed by stress, or who are generally pessimistic appear to be more likely to experience depression.
4. Environmental factors : Continuous exposure to violence, neglect, abuse or poverty may make some people more vulnerable to depression.

How can we, the younger generation of today; help those who face depression alone? We need to spot it and deal with it immediately. Some people are strong and brave enough to realize on their own that they need help, while others may need to be helped.

What are the indicators of depression? 

[symptoms can vary from mild to severe] :

·         Feeling of loneliness, helplessness
·         No excitement for his/her future
·         Crying without a reason/feeling like crying for small things every time
·         Feeling of being a burden on others
·         Eating too much or too little
·         Increased interest in sexual activities or loss of interest in sex
·         Constant pain in some parts of the body, precisely head
·         Avoiding social gatherings
·         Trouble in doing daily chores

Other symptoms may include :
• Feeling sad or having a depressed mood {more than week – 10 days}
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
• Changes in appetite—sudden weight loss or gain
• Troubled sleeping or sleeping too much
• Loss of energy or increased fatigue
• Increase in restless activity (e.g., hand-wringing or pacing) or slowed movements and speech
• Feeling worthless or guilty
• Difficulty in thinking, concentrating, or making decisions
• Thoughts of death or suicide.

Note that, it is not necessary that all the symptoms must be present in a person who is suffering with depression.
Apart from depression, anxiety disease, mania, bipolar disorder, hysteria and schizophrenia, are few other kinds of mental illnesses, which may also affect an individual : symptoms being more or less the same, varying with the intensity of the illness.


How is depression treated?

Firstly, Medication
Antidepressants may be prescribed to correct imbalances in the levels of chemicals in the brain. These medications are not sedatives but, tranquilizers. They are not habit-forming.
Antidepressants may produce some improvement within the first week or two of use. If a patient feels little or no improvement after several weeks, his or her psychiatrist can alter the dose of the medication or add or substitute another
 antidepressant. It is important to let your doctor know if a medication does not work or if you experiences side effects.

Psychiatrists usually recommend that patients continue to take medication for six or more months after symptoms have improved. Longer-term maintenance treatment may be suggested to decrease the chances of it happening again in the future.

Second in line comes, Psychotherapy, or “talk therapy,” is sometimes used alone for treatment of mild depression; for moderate to severe depression. Psychotherapy is often used in along with antidepressant medications. Psychotherapy may involve only the individual, but it can include others. For example, family or couples therapy can help address issues within these close relationships. Group therapy involves people with similar illnesses.

Thirdly, Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): ECT is a medical treatment most commonly used for patients with severe major depression or bipolar disorder who have not responded to other treatments. It involves a brief electrical stimulation of the brain while the patient is under anesthesia. A patient typically receives ECT 2-to-3 times a week for a total of 6 to 12 treatments.

What can we do to help those who are facing depression? Also, How can we avoid falling prey to this slow killer?

1.       Regular exercise helps create positive feeling and improve mood. 
2.       Getting enough sleep on a regular basis.
3.       Eating a healthy diet, and avoiding alcohol can also help reduce symptoms of depression.
4.       Rather than writing a diary, try talking to someone you trust.
5.       Try and be open, being a closed personality would only worsen the situation.
6.       Surround yourself with people who are positive and who love you
7.       Understand your self-worth, know that your life counts
8.       Engage yourself in doing things you like, pursue your hobbies
9.       Try to be positive and spread positivity
10.   Never leave a person who is suffering, never leave him to stay alone lest, he would fall prey to the negative thoughts.
11. Let them know that they aren’t alone in this / Know that you aren’t alone

I know of people who wrecked their lives because they weren’t treated for depression. I know of people who died because the environment in which they stayed didn’t support them to battle it out. It is high time we talk more openly about depression and take mental health issues with more seriousness.

Covid-19 and the imposed ‘quarantine’ has brought almost entire humanity facing something together. It has proven to be very hard on all of us. Feelings of doubt, lack of self worth, questioning one’s life choices, introspection and the uncertainty has literally brought some of our demons out in the open.

I’d say it is great. We can only heal ourselves once we acknowledge that there is something that needs to be healed. Talk it out with your loved ones and know that you will get through this. When you see people learning new stuff while you feel lost, remember, they’re the same mess as you. Just that, everyone chooses to show the side they want to, in a world where everything we do is for the gram! What’s more important is, remembering that you’re a survivor, like literally if you’re reading this, you are…and that my friend is like a major achievement this year for everyone, considering the Biblical times we’re living, with the pandemic, storms, floods and locusts!

Even though this is not how any of us imagined 2020 would be, we have to accept it and believe that tomorrow may not be the same as yesterday, but it will definitely be something better.

We all have the ‘Right to Happiness’. Let’s be conscientious.
The time is now!

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P.S. Inputs from: American Psychologists Association

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(19)30475-4/fulltext

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression

The images are not mine, they've been taken from Google Search