Stop trivialising depression

Author: Arshiya Zahid

Depression never ends. It is always etched on your mind; it always remains with you. No matter wherever you are, no matter how much you are happy, no matter how many times you take sessions with your psychiatrist, no matter how often you feed yourself with your daily dose of medicine, the frustration never ends. All you want to do is cry out loud, without any care in the world, without any reason. It, really, hardly ever ends.

Many of us are victims of this major depressive disorder, especially youngsters, and we do not even consider telling our condition to our family or our friends. Why is that so? Maybe because we are afraid of being judged, or maybe most of us do not even consider depression to be a ‘mental illness’. You know what they all say? They say depression does not even exist, that it’s all in our minds, and it experiences shifts according to our willpower; let’s just get over it.

Really? Is that the only answer? Nobody wants to live in this miserable condition, people. Depression can leave you in a deplorable condition: you lose weight, your sleeping patterns change, you start to notice slight changes in others’ behaviours, and much more.

Happiness does not depend on how famous you are, how much power or money you have. Mental peace is something else, and we have to find it

Recently, we have been witness to a series of successful suicide attempts of famous people due to depression. Avicii, the popular musician, took his life with a broken wine bottle; Linkin Park’s frontman, Chester Bennington, hanged himself at the age of 41; American fashion designer, Kate Spade, and songwriter, Chris Cornell, both suffered from anxiety and hanged themselves. A few days back, the gifted chef, Anthony Bourdain took his life at the age of 61. Even Hitler killed himself, though nobody knows, up until today, the real reason for his suicide.

So, clearly, happiness does not depend on how famous you are, how much power or money you have. Mental peace is something else, and we have to find it.

A recent event of suicide committed at the Holy place of Makkah, depicting the gravity of a haunting depression, can leave you distressed to the core. It shows that you can suffer from depression even if you find yourself present in the holiest place of the universe. Imagine, just how much pain the person was going through, that he found no answers, but to end his life in front of the Kabah.

Do you even realise how dreadful it is to share your mental trauma with others? How much courage does it, actually, need for a person to share? If not, try to reach out to those in need. We need you, we need your condolences, and sometimes, a few words of affection from someone can change our lives.

When will people start taking this matter seriously? How many more cases of depression-suicide does a society need as proof in order to accept that depression DOES, in fact, exist?

The writer is a recent graduate of Mass Communication from University of the Punjab Lahore and is interested in lifestyle, culture, arts, and history. She can be reached at arshiyazahid@hotmail.com.Twitter: @Arshiayzahid

Published in Daily Times, June 26^th 2018.