Written by: Areeba Motan
According to the survey conducted by JMPA (Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association), around 6% of Pakistan’s population is suffering from depression, out of which 5% of the sufferers never takes any form of treatment and the trend is going upwards with each passing year. But do we ever care to understand why? what are the underlying reasons? And most importantly, what are the consequences? A rapid increase in the number of suicide attempts in the last decade is the direct outcome of depressive illness.
Depression? What is depression? You often hear your friends and family say “I feel so depressed today” “this color is so depressing”, “this weather is making me feel depressed”
Why is it that we tend to not raise the question in its literal meaning of the word “depression”?
Depression is not in the air or things surrounding us, it’s not a temporary feeling that one has for a while and then once they do something cheerful, it goes away, that’s sadness. Depression is a feeling of emptiness, it’s a void one sometimes doesn’t even know that they have and they tend not to have the will to do anything anymore. Depression is a mood disorder that is defined as losing interest in important parts of life. And I don’t mean that they stop living, what I mean is that they stop doing things that they love, they stop loving life. They stop taking care of themselves, sometimes they don’t even know what’s eating them up inside, it’s just there.
Since, in today’s world, especially in Pakistan it is such a taboo to talk about mental health, because that means you’re broken? You’re crazy? You’re mental? Why is the word “crazy” such a negative word? Why is it a bad thing to be crazy? Why can’t be as okay as being a human?
We are wired and conditioned in such a way that when anyone says the word crazy or mental, our mind automatically jumps towards it being something bad or negative. Why can’t it be a normal thing? Why can’t we acknowledge that it’s okay to be derailed sometimes, it’s okay to feel crazy and it is most certainly okay to seek help about feeling this way!
Why is it that when someone breaks their leg, we take them to the doctor and get a plaster around their leg but when someone says they are depressed, we ask them to pray or eat healthy? Why don’t we encourage them to get a treatment? Go to a real therapist? God has told us to take care of our body, our soul and brain is also a part of our body that we need to take care of! It doesn’t make us crazy or a mental patient. It only makes us human, similarly how we get our leg repaired, we can easily get some medicines or required treatment for what we might be feeling inside of ourselves and we can’t quite figure out what might that be.
There is another misconception with depression, that it can only occur to people who have some unfulfilled desires. People suffering from depression are often asked why are you feeling depressed? You have such a supportive family, good job and a successful career. You are just being ungrateful. But, they tend to forget that diseases never look at your career graph, your wealth or your family before hitting you. Have you ever heard someone asking the same question to people with flu or for that matter a cancer patient? No.
Kate spade, a renowned fashion designer, was found dead in her apartment. Her medical reports and suicide note specifically mentioned her struggles with depression. Kate had all the wealth in the world, a successful career and all that anyone could wish for. But she was still depressed, why? These are the questions we need to ask and educate ourselves about. Why is it that when one has a bleeding hand, we take them to the hospital but when someone has a bleeding soul, we tell them that they are just seeking attention? Then one day when the unfortunate event of someone ending their life occurs, we as a society gets a wakeup call about ‘what has happened?’ ‘Why did it happen?’ ‘Why did we not do anything?’ That’s because of our mindless attitude, we are so oblivious of the fact that depression could deter the patient from living their life.
Therapy is a beautiful thing, if one has the right perspective towards it. Therapy is not about some stranger telling you what to do and what not to do. Therapy is all about getting things into the right perspective and getting to know the untapped side of yours, getting in connection with your own self, learning to love yourself, learning who you really are and why you do certain things. It is about growing; it is about learning. It’s high time that we as a society should start preaching this.
In conclusion, depression can affect anyone at any age and patients, who lives with depression, their family and friends have enormous challenges to conquer. Hence, if a person with depression does not seek primary medical care then the mental disorder may become worse and affect us as a society in large.
