It is easier to say my tooth is aching than to say my heart is broken – C.S. Lewis
Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also harder to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden.
As per a recent study made by WHO, nearly every thirteenth Indian is at risk of developing an episode of depression during his lifetime. The majority of us would laugh at these findings, but deep within we all accept and realise that ‘It is True. This is because we all are subjected to heavy-duty tension & stress in our day to day life. However, we do not realise that remaining under constant siege of mental stress gradually transforms us into depressed people.
A person suffering from depression would never accept his/her condition in the first place because a majority of us do not believe that it exists.
One of the hardest things for people to understand about depression is that it can’t be seen visually as the pain is very deep within, subtle & not visible. This lack of visual impairment makes depression difficult to deal with and be identified by both, those suffering from it and for those around them. Due to our double standards, we fail to understand a fact that someone who looks completely normal from the outside, could be going through absolute hell and experience a meltdown within.
There are umpteen reasons in the world for a person to get depressed. Some feel depressed because their efforts to achieve something have ended in utter failure; some may feel crest-fallen and low-spirited because they think that they have been let down by those from whom they expected help or support, some others feel that they have been left alone and that there is no one who really loves them or cares for them.
There are also many such people who feel that society has no useful role for them whereas others feel frustrated to find that there are hurdles all the way in this vitiated social set-up. The pressure of these thoughts is so severe that in some cases a person may feel that life has become an unbearable burden for him/her and is, therefore, not worth living.
It’s quite common to talk about lingering stress or tension as silent killers or major causes of crime and psychosomatic diseases. But a look-around on a quick count gives us the impression that it is actually depression which is more disastrous and fatal for humanity because, in the current scenario, it is not only a cause for the major addictions among people in society but it is also the reason for break-down of family life, rise in crime-graph and even the high rate of population growth across the world. When one feels that quite a large number of people in this age are congenitally selfish, transparently exploitative and cruelly competitive and jealous and that there is an utter lack of sympathy or fellow-feeling in the social environment, one feels deeply depressed.
In fact, the behaviour of even those who are not visibly depressed may have been influenced directly or indirectly by an undercurrent of depression as it gripped them earlier today or yesterday, or a few days ago.
Also Read:
Depression is curable if diagnosed early
Fish oil may help fight depression: study
Successful medical experiments over the years have proved mediation to be an effective tool for curing chronic cases of depression. A society, which consists of a very large number of tense and depressed people would certainly march towards gloom and doom if it does not use this remedy which is psychological, biological and spiritual.
As a part of society, each one of us can play a constructive role to help such people by empathizing with them and just standing by their side & let them know that we are there & will go out of our way to fight their personal battle against depression. Let them know that you don’t and won’t think any differently of them because of their illness. Remember !! you may not be able to visually identify that someone has depression, but it’s important to think about their normal behaviour, and if they are acting differently then you should encourage them to see a doctor.
So let us all come together to break down the stigma around Depression so that we don’t see it claim any more lives of our brothers & sisters.
