What is depression and how to overcome this mental disorder?

Emotions are essential to a human being. People feel sad, happy, angry or loving etc, depending upon the life encounters they had. But it is also significantly important that some of the negative emotions do not linger for long and become chronic, thus leading to depression.

Depression is a serious mental illness that negatively influences how you feel, the way you think and the way you act. It causes feeling of sadness and loss of interest in daily life It can significantly impact a person's ability to think and react rationally and can be fatal if not kept in check. Below mentioned symptoms if persisting for a longer than a month, individual must get help:

• Feeling sad or having a bad mood
• Loss of interest in your favourite activities
• Insomnia i.e. trouble with sleep
• Guilt
• Thoughts of death or suicide

It is very important to understand that depression is curable and if one gets help early, this can be easily dealt with. The problem arises when people don't want to talk about it or hide it due to social pressures or family pressure. When not discussed these symptoms turn chronic and leads to depression.

As a society, we need to stop ostracizing this disorder and treat it as a normal illness. Unfortunately, in our society people start stigmatizing people with this kind of disorder and start calling them names as well. This is one of the biggest challenges we face as a society. In developed countries it is taken much more positively if somebody comes forward and talks to others about it, there are therapy sessions, even self-help groups to help people who are having any mental issues. But developing countries have a long way to go before we reach that stage. 

This is going to take a generational change. Most of the time we see elders in our family not taking such matters in a positive stride, rather they bring up their understanding of faith and other unscientific reasoning to cloud the conversation. It is also imperative that younger generations must be taught in childhood that this is no stigma, and it should be discussed openly among friends and family. Teachers should not bring their baggage of unscientific temper to crowd out this topic. Rather it should be actively debated and talked about.

An individual must be able to decipher between feeling sad and depression. Most of the times in casual conversations we talk about feeling depressed because of some trivial issue, that is not exactly depression, it is just a feeling of sadness. Now, this distinction is something that comes from discovering the topic and talking about it to specialists, people who have been through that stage and in general forums. The natural grieving process of individual should not be misunderstood as depression. 

Depression is perfectly treatable among most of the mental disorders. There are very high chances of people responding positively to its treatment. Individuals who are normal and do not have this mental disorder should also take precautions and should indulge in meditation and other brain exercises. Pets, specially dogs are considered to be one of the best companions to people suffering from depression and usually they are advised to spend time with therapy dogs. This has helped a lot of people with their depression. So, if you have a furry friend, good for you. They will make sure you stay in the best of your mental health.

Conclusion:

Depression is a serious mental illness that needs to be discussed and talked about. Society must not stigmatize and ostracize people with this kind of mental illness. This is a prolonged form of sadness and loss of interest in usual life. It can become chronic and may turn into suicidal tendencies if not detected and treated early. People should seek help from practitioners, talk to family and friends, join self-help groups and talk to people who have experienced it. Accompanying and having pets can help a lot in keeping depression tendencies at bay. It should be tackled head on and dealt with as soon as detected.