#NotAshamed

This hashtag went viral after Deepika Padukone opened up about her fight against depression. I’m glad that people started to speak up about mental health and took it up like other illness and not treating someone as a lunatic.

What is Depression?

Well, usually we talk about depression when something wrong happens with us or we are sad. Is that it?

No, not all all. One should never think they are depressed over something that brings sadness for a while because, Sadness is a human emotion that everyone feel certain times during their lives. Feeling sad is a natural reaction to situations that cause emotional turmoil and pain. But like all other emotions, sadness is temporary and fades away with time.

However, Depression is a long term mental condition or illness. It Weakens a persons personal, social, professional, and other important areas of brain functioning.

Symptoms of Depression:

• Sulking
• Irritation
• Fatigue
• Loss of sleep
• Unusual eating pattern
• Losing Focus
• Loss of energy and enthusiasm for things that gives happiness to oneself.
• Chest pain and forever guilt
• Constant headaches or body aches without any major illness.
• Feeling worthless
• Need to cry but unable to shed tears.
• Constantly being in dark places without talking
• Forcibly smiling to hide emotions.
• Suicidal thoughts

Some of these symptoms also occurs when we are sad but like I mentioned above they are temporary and fades away with time, on the other hand when a person enters this dark tunnel of clinical depression without any ray of light that’s when this mental illness overpowers them.

Sadness can be there if there is a fight or argument between two people or if we lose something precious or even when we are scolded by our parents. But what causes depression?

There can be multiple things which leads to this illness and can be found in anyone irrespective of age or sex. But most common factors are:

• Any trauma in childhood or teenage life.
• Inability to cope with a devastating life event, such as the death of a child or spouse, or any situation that causes extreme levels of pain
• Low self-esteem
• Societal pressure on body shaming or lifestyle.
• Bipolar or multiple personality disorder.
• Substance abuse
• Lack of family or community acceptance for identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT).
• Trouble adjusting to a medical condition, such as cancer, stroke, chronic pain, or heart disease
• Trouble adjusting to body changes due to catastrophic injury, such as loss of limbs, or paralysis.
• History of prior mental health disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or anxiety disorder
• Lack of support by friends, family, or coworkers.

“Depression is living in a body that fights to survive with a mind that tries to die.”

This was all about what exactly depression is and why is it important to understand the difference between depression and sadness.

The question is why do we find such kind of clinical disorders in today’s world and where was all this years ago ?

Let’s ask ourselves, Have we and our society really evolved enough to open up and speak our minds ? Are we living in a world where we can accept oneself the way we are? Can we really look for happiness within ourselves without caring about what the world thinks? Are we free enough to follow our dreams? Can we truly express our feelings towards someone or something? And many more…

I don’t think so, yes we are changing with times but still there is a long way to go, in a world where every eye can sparkle with happiness.

As I grew up this topic became really sensitive for me, not because the hashtag was fancy but I became sensitive and realize how people around me are, and there are so many problems in the world that goes unnoticed.

I saw how people are drowning in their own pain but can’t speak about it because the society will tag them as lunatic. The fear of talking to someone or expressing our feelings is still there and I guess it will remain unless we start to accept ourselves with our flaws. A silent persons mind can be screaming sometimes.

It’s not easy to accept our problems or speak about it. Even my mind sometimes cries and screams too and I am not able to tell what and how I feel, while I try to fake a smile. But I am blessed with some lovely souls around me who can always read my face past that fake smile and take care of me.

A friend of mine had a troubled childhood, she was always looked down because of the way she looked. She was dusky and chubby. Is that a sin? But her relatives and neighbors always use to make fun of her and never counted her in anything. Initially she ignored all this and focused on playing games and sports as she excelled there but as time passed things became really tough, her classmates made fun of her and called her names. During family gathering people just ignored her and keep telling her parents ways to make their girl beautiful. She kept quiet and only her pillow knew what she went through, she never said a word to anyone and kept smiling and making others laugh because she never wanted to be a reason for anyone’s sadness but these wounds killed her confidence and the words kept ringing in her ear while she was growing up. Years later when we became friends and we talked about everything that’s when she told me all this and it breaks my heart every time when I think about that phase. It took sometime, little medication and some therapy to bring her out of that shell, making her realize what really her worth is.

“No one wishes to have dark days, sleepless nights,grumpy morning and this endless dark tunnel with no sign that it never ends. Depression is not a choice.”

This is just one story but there are so many more buried deep in people’s heart making it too heavy for them to walk everyday in this world and it’s not that they can’t speak about it it. The problem is that they can’t explain and can’t make others understand it. So they keep their pain to themselves making their heart heavy.

Remember, every human needs help fighting against this illness. It can be either self help or from someone who loves us.

All we need is some empathy, some compassion and love for people around us. I’m not saying to invade someone’s private space but we can watch people who mean something to us. Everyone is busy with their own lives but if we truly care for someone then we will make time for them no matter what.

I am no expert to tell anyone what to do, but I have seen this phase closely and have gone through it which is why I am wish to speak and spread awareness as much as possible.

To conclude, Depression is not a weakness or end of the road. It is just an illness like any other disease.

YES, it can be cured and to end this blog, here’s my favorite quote.

“You will win, not immediately but definitely..!!”