What Depression is Not

This week is Depression Awareness Week 2015 (April 20 to April 26).  By 2020, WHO estimates that depression will be the number 2 cause of “lost years of healthy life” worldwide.

Yet not many people understand or even appreciate that depression is a disease and more than just a feeling. 

Lets take a look at what depression is not:

##1  Depression is not sadness

We all feel sad now and again.  We all use the words feeling depressed loosely when we feel very sad.  Depression yes, encompasses sadness, but  depression is a complex and serious disease.   For someone challenged with depression, there is persistent sadness, worthlessness, loss of interest in things they generally enjoy, along with a host of other symptoms.   

Telling someone that is diagnosed with depression to chin up, perk up, get a grip, and so on,  is just not really going to work or help them, anymore than telling them to put on a pair of socks!

##2  Depression does not always necessarily arise out of circumstances

Traumatic situations can lead to depression e.g. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).   And we can really understand how difficult it is to cope with what some have to endure and even continue just breathing. 

But life circumstances do not always lead to depression.  Everyone is different and it is unfair to make comparisons.  For example, siblings may endure the same pain but one copes very badly  and the other appears to be just fine. 

Interestingly, studies show that that rates of depression of people from poorer countries that go through wars and very traumatic circumstances are less than those in other countries. The 2011 report actually said Depression is more likely to strike in high-income countries than in poor ones, according to new research on depression rates across 18 countries worldwide.

What this report actually portrays that there are other factors that one must look at.  It does not seem to be simply a open and close question and answer.

##3  Depression is not about selfishness and attention seeking

Granted that depression can be very draining for family and friends who have to relate with those challenged with depression.  It may come across that the party involved is selfish and just attention seeking.   This is not so and is unfair.   

However, on the flip side, if we think of it very deeply, every disease is selfish and attention seeking.  Come on.  Seeing someone reeling in pain, grabs any attention, does it not?  Does it not take you away from doing your business?  So lets remember not to throw stones especially when we live in glass houses.

##4 Depression is not caused by sin or is a sin

Without being critical, this ‘sin consciousness’… or ‘sin oppression’ as I call it… does not help anyone.  People challenged with depression do not need to hear that they are the community’s number 1 sinner.  Sin was dealt with more than 2000 years ago on the Cross, so lets get over it!

##5  People with depression do not crash planes

This is a highly emotive subject and was especially so after the very tragic and unforgettable Germanwings plane crash.  It is irresponsible to think that anyone that has or had a diagnosis of depression qualifies them as a serial killer or mass murderer. 

I have been on this earth not too long, but long enough to hear of any plane before this incident, being crashed left, right and center because someone had a depression diagnosis.  It has not been so or maybe I missed the reeling high statistics.  

I always say, if the likes of  Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and so on, who have well documented cases of mental illness can lead countries, then why discriminate against the application on your desk just because they have a ‘history’?

It is Depression Awareness Week.  Why not share this post with someone and create more awareness of Depression.  The more we know of Depression, the more we can fight stigma and get help for those in need of treatment.  Thank you!

About The Author

Zoe

Zoe met Eze (Chuck) in the 14th year of what turned out to be an 18 year ‘journey’ with mental illness. They got married less than a year of meeting with Zoe fully knowing Chuck had a diagnosis of mental illness. In the 18th year, Chuck defied the odds of mental illness. A consultant psychiatrist signed him off the mental health system with a bill of NO MENTAL ILLNESS. The consultant was so amazed by Chuck’s astonishing recovery that he even questioned how Chuck was diagnosed with mental illness all those years before, in the first place! Today Chuck is free from medication, its dependency and hospitalizations. Zoe’s award nominated book, DEFYING THE ODDS, chronicles the highs and ‘lows’ of this journey. Zoe, often writing from the standpoint of a caregiver, clearly understands that mental illness does not only affect an individual challenged with the disease, but also families, marriages and society as a whole.

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