They say that happiness will find you, but why didn’t they mention that sadness finds you too?
Depression is debilitating. It is painful. It hurts. It is not only emotional pain, but it manifests in physical forms, too.
‘you haven’t tried hard enough’
Depression is like a demon running its black toxins through your head, poisoning your soul, your thoughts, your feelings.
You might be sitting in a room full of amazing people, sharing jokes, laughing your guts out, you think everyone is on the same boat as you but there might be that one person in that corner of the room who cant comprehend the good times, for them, it’s still dark in the day. Sheer silence. They might be falling apart like old copper pipelines and you don’t have a clue about it.
‘It’s just a phase, it will go away!’
People going through depression want to find solace, comfort, solidarity, and for us to better understand their experiences or at least not mimic them and their fears through our shallow attitude and behavior because one bad move on our part, towards a person going through depression, may dig into the realities of life and just add up to their darkness.
‘You’re just overthinking!’
It is our duty to identify someone going through this deadly mental disease and try to understand them. These people just need a rock, to lean on, to rest a bit, and something to keep them from drowning. Maybe you can be the rock in their lives but the first step is to identify that this person needs your help.
No single experience or indication can get it right or accurately depict what mental illness looks or feels like but at least we can try.
The accurate identification of depression is an essential first step in the treatment and care of people with depression, for this reason, we have collected a bunch of indicators of depression. If you suspect any or all of these indicators in your closed ones, it is time to act!
‘Try to find positivity and be happy’
Social media
For some people, Depression is like the pile of clothes lying around on THE CHAIR, but a depressed mind loses perspective and may sometimes share or upload what is relatable to them.
Through social media, we can detect depressive symptoms in individuals using linguistic data from their posts. We can do that by inspecting textual posts, Depressive quotes, songs, pictures among other things.
Loss of interest in hobbies that were once pleasurable
Things that were once a source of enjoyment for them, drain them now. They might stop taking part in group meetings, playing games, art, cooking, partying, or other activities that once were exciting for them.
Sleeping disorders
There is a strong link between sleeping patterns and moods of a person. Lack of sleep or excessive sleep may indicate depression in a person. According to a study proposed by the ‘National Sleep Foundation’ people with insomnia are 10 times more likely to have depression than those without insomnia.
Forced Happiness
Depression is not always obvious, sometimes it masquerades as something else. The term ‘smiling depression’ is used to describe such symptoms of the disease. Some people suffering from depression, choose not to reveal their pain to others, and put on a ‘happy face’. If you notice someone acting strange or being excessively happy and you know this behavior is not part of their actual nature, that is alarming. Such people are not able to hold on to their made-up attitude for too long and their mask may slip eventually.
Negativity
People going through this mental illness may be more pessimistic or paranoid towards others. They will have a negative view of things. They expect the worst outcome in every situation and it is hard for them to stay positive. We shouldn’t bash them for being this way, instead, give them some time to process things in a better way and not give up on them.
Loss of Faith
People in our society say that a person who is not close to God or is not praying is doing that due to loss of faith, but sometimes it can be depression. Constant darkness and life-long struggles may end up making people think that there is no superior being looking after them or blame the divinity for putting them in that place.
Loss of concentration
Memory is also associated with depression. These people might be unable to focus on daily chores or have difficulties concentrating on work, relationships, or even basic conversations with friends. They may take longer to process your words and take longer to concentrate.
Mood swings
Constant irritability and mood swings play a major part in depression. They might lose their cool on little things or conversations like food not being cooked on time, or the weather being too hot.
Even though it is hard to suspect depression through some typical symptoms of sadness or despair but if we pay close attention to people around us and hunt for these signs in them, we might be able to save a life.
If you notice any of these signs within your family or friends the first step is to try talking to them about their symptoms and offer non-judgmental support and then consult them with a mental health professional if need be.
Its high time that we identify and rectify the problem before its too late!
