Accepting Depression And Anxiety

How often do you hear people make snide comments about "those" dealing with depression or anxiety? Quite often I guess, it doesn’t matter whether you are a male or female making these comments. It’s how a collectivistic culture and patriarchal society like ours has been functioning since decades. Our grandparents or even our parent’s generation display shock when we youngsters talk about it. According to them, how is it possible for someone so young to get anxiety or depression? We never had it in our times, It’s all because of the changing global scenario is something we've often heard. It becomes even harder to talk about it if you as a person are going through it because it’s not viewed as a mental disorder but more like a problem your child cannot have at any cost. This is also the reason why especially children dealing with it are hesitant to talk about it, if they seek counselling the child is looked down upon by his or her friends plus the society which adds on to the anxiety or depression one is going through. Anxiety might sound very common but it hardly is one, the racing heart, the constant fear, sweating, overthinking and sometimes fatigue too. One never knows when the other may dip down to. Depression is not something everyone gets and the way it’s being romanticised on social media nowadays. Parents are embarrassed to accept the fact that their child has depression and therefore they are not ready to provide them with clinical assistance. Some are quick to question their parenting techniques and some are quick to make judgements about such things. The fact that the older generation is also unable to understand all this is because lets quote it “ In their times the person was completely unaware of what he or she was feeling and even if they knew they had it they were quick to hide it as nothing and lived with it until death”. This is how poor their condition was that they were not aware, ever. The sad part about belonging from a collectivistic culture is also that we do not ACCEPT CHANGE easily. Even if we do we are quick to put the blame on others. Teaching the older as well as the younger generation to accept mental disorders as something is a huge concern rather than putting those down who are dealing with it. Anxiety and depression can also drive people towards suicide which is one of the leading causes of death in children and adolescents. Once we accept them the death rate might slow down a bit. It all starts with acceptance and how one is able to see it and not criticise it and help those who need it. So the next time you come across someone who is going through depression or anxiety you can hopefully lend a helping hand. You might be the reason someone learns acceptance in a world full of criticism.