Do you have off days?
Days on which no matter how much positivity we try to bring in and cheer ourselves we can’t help but feel gloomy and sad ?
Depression is just that — a very hopeless and gloomy day that basically never ends.
People suffering from depression experience these feelings intensely, for long periods of time (weeks, months or even years) and sometimes without any apparent reason. Depression is more than just a low mood — it’s a serious condition that affects your physical and mental health.
Some common signs of depression include — Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, loss of interest in daily activities, appetite or weight changes, sleep pattern changes, anger or irritability, loss of energy and self-loathing.
Let’s talk numbers -
Depression is on the rise among the population of the world -
A WHO study states that 322 million people are living with depression worldwide and nearly half of them live in South East Asian and Western Pacific region, reflecting relatively large populations of India and China. Looking at it closely, another study by WHO shows that over 5 crore people in India alone suffer from depression.
Managing depression -
Fighting depression requires taking care of all parts of your health. There’s no clear-cut solution and it’s different for everyone.
However, there are some general first steps you can take -
1.Talk to your physician: either a general practitioner or a psychiatrist to get a diagnosis.
2. Get a referral and start going to therapy.
3. Consider medication, if you and your physician think this is a good course of action. You may not need to do this if your depression is circumstantial, but it’s worth kicking around.
4. Improve diet, exercise and sleep health. Poor health in any of these areas can aggravate symptoms of depression. A balanced diet, regular exercise and solid (but not too much) sleep have really helped many feel better.
Outside of these steps, there’s a lot of things you can do in the meantime to cope:
5. Practice mindfulness. Walking or meditation while listening to music can help clear your thoughts.
6. Get at least one hobby and dedicate yourself to it- For some, it can be yoga, for others — singing but the objective is to keep yourself distracted from other thoughts, and dedicating yourself to it can help cope with depression.
7. Set dates with friends and family. You might have to force yourself into social situations and groups because it is emotionally taxing to initiate that, but it’s definitely worth it. Depression tends to make us isolate ourselves, which is actually worse for us.
8. Make a commitment to others. This can help you feel better by improving your social life while also getting you up and out of bed. Volunteering is a really great way to go about doing this.
Meeting the challenges of depression management with community support -
People with serious mental conditions like depression are challenged doubly.
On one hand, they struggle with the symptoms and disabilities that result from the disease. On the other, they are challenged by the stereotypes and prejudice that result from misconceptions about mental illness. As a result of both, people with mental illness are robbed of the opportunities that define a quality life: good jobs, safe housing, satisfactory health care, and affiliation with a diverse group of people.
Even now, the public seems to disapprove of persons with psychiatric disabilities significantly more than persons with related conditions such as physical illness.Severe mental illness has been likened to drug addiction, prostitution, and criminality. Unlike physical disabilities, persons with mental illness are perceived by the public to be in control of their disabilities and responsible for causing them.Furthermore, people are less likely to empathise with people suffering mental illness. Instead, they start reacting to psychiatric disability with anger, believing that help is not deserved.
With all this baggage of social stigma on their shoulders, depressed people generally be hard to find people who really understand them, someone with whom they can relate to, someone who has been through it all and lived to tell the tale.
It’s primarily the reason why online communities surrounding depression like the one on the CareSpace platform were formed — to provide a platform where people come together to give each the other support they require strengthening the bond between each member over time.
- Once you’ve become a member of CareSpace, you will be able to connect with others who are going through depression or have successfully conquered over it. This ensures that you get the right advice on what to do (and what not to do) regarding the management of depression.
- Meeting others who are also suffering from depression allows you to open up to them, and creates a sense of being a part of a big family, wherein every member will receive support from one another, thus eliminating the possibility of being isolated.
- Since you will be in the company of others sharing the same difficulties as you are, you will be able to get help and receive suggestions regarding matters such as finding the best counsellors or psychiatrists in your area, and since it will be the suggestion of a fellow member who also suffers from depression, you will only get the best of the best possible answers.
- With the guidance of other members, you will also be able to find and attend support group meetings which are being held nearby, this will ensure that you will meet others who will remind you that you are not alone in this journey.
- Out of the many features of CareSpace, the one that truly stands out is the ‘expert sessions’ feature wherein members get to ask questions and suggestions to experts, in this case, professional psychiatrists and others who have successfully overcome depression.
By taking part in these sessions you will be able to get solutions you didn’t think of before as getting the opinion of a psychiatrist or another member can do wonders for your path towards fighting depression. - With the help of other members (as well as yourself), you will be able to provide motivation as well as get motivated in those days when you don’t feel too good or when you feel gloomy, as every member of the CareSpace family will lend you a hand whenever you fall down, because that’s what family does, period.
- Since most people don’t fully understand what is depression and what someone suffering from depression goes through on a day to day basis, asking your family members to join the community so that they can converse with the family members of others who suffer from depression can help a great deal in making them understand what you’re going through.
- Only a person who has gone through the same problem will understand what others are going through, by joining the support community on the CareSpace app you’ll be able to provide the support and guidance to others who are going through depression right now. you can suggest the routines or lifestyle changes that helped you in your journey, as it can help someone get back their life.
“Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.”
-Jack Ma
Come, join or create support groups for depression on the Carespace to find others and help them grow along with you and to find the happy ending that everyone deserves.
