Depression and anxiety are some of the worst sufferings of the human mind. Anxiety is a universal emotion but an excess of it becomes a painful experience to deal with and often leads to prolonged depression, which becomes an illness of the mind. This illness can be caused by biological factors such as chemical or hormonal imbalances, genetical vulnerabilities etc. and negative life experiences like bereavement, trauma, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and a myriad of painful life events. Often accompanied by an underlying anxiety, depression surfaces with experiences of sudden crying spells, lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities and disturbances with sleep and appetite. Sufferers find it difficult to drag themselves out of bed, focus on work and do simple tasks like answering phone calls or take up challenges at workplace, things, other people seem to do with ease.
Often confused with an experience of sadness, depression is however much intense and worse.
The low mood sinks deeper into the muscles making the body feel lethargic to daily activities and physical exercises. Depression is often experienced as a freefall into an engulfing darkness with little or nothing to hold on to. The experience is annoyingly crippling as the person becomes incapable to feel better either by willingness or positive thoughts. A person in such a state of mind can compulsively continue with routine chores of the household or execute professional obligations and internally get depleted of energy and enthusiasm while he/she drags through the day.
Depression is not deliberate lethargy or an intentional avoidance of responsibilities. A householder will not contemplate giving up the obligations as a parent, as a caregiver, as a friend, a sister, a brother. He/ she will simply not be in a physiological or psychological state of wellbeing to carry on with his/her roles.
Depression is gradually becoming a global pandemic. WHO shares an approx. number of 280 million people suffering worldwide. We can assume an escalation of this figure in the future because, if the world is complex now, it is not expected to be simpler going forward.
Various factors such as family setup, marital status, financial condition, age, etc. will continue to be concerning areas of human life.
Social media has added a different dimension altogether. Young generation is increasingly getting obsessed with it. Redundant information in the form of reels and videos is flooding the young minds. Moreover, they are giving abundant access to others in their personal lives by posting every detail of everything they do. They are programming themselves to be dependent on the society approval, “likes” and “comments”. A generation slowly and gradually becoming obsessed with success, name, fame, happiness can sometimes fake them just to be accepted and appreciated by others. This behavior is already perceived to bear disastrous consequences. Anxiety, anger, irritation, sadness are strong emotions, and they are progressively on the rise.
Depression can have a debilitating effect on a person. As it is increasingly becoming a common mental health concern for many, its time we talk about it openly without worrying about the stigma. We, as a society, need more awareness on this. If it is disabling, it is making a large number human resource unproductive as well. We may consider how it will impact an organization. It’s time we destigmatized “mental health” and allow the sufferers to seek help and talk about it openly. If dialysis or chemotherapy is not shameful, therapy and counseling should not be either.
Dr. Sreystha Beppari
Psychologist
Apollo clinics Pune
