Let's Fight Depression Together

In a developing country like ours, there are plenty of reasons why one feels depressed, anxious or is unable to cope with his surroundings. Depression doesn’t have a specific range of age. Anybody, irrespective of age, gender, background and caste, who is capable of controlling his/her mind and actions is prone to suffer from depression.

Causes of depression
The environmental causal factors that attribute the occurrence of depression is widespread. Depression can affect an individual due to his surrounding environment, or the events taking place around him or even the people around him. It is very much possible that the extent of this illness varies from one individual to another and so does it cause. Depression can also occur in an individual due to his own self. When an individual has set some specific goals for himself and is somehow not able to fulfil or reach his goal, he tends to get depressed.

Why is it important to acknowledge depression?
As like any physical illness, depression is declared as an important mental illness that needs equal attention from the person suffering from it and others surrounding the patient.

The present attitude of our society, when it comes to depression is either very ignorant or indifferent. People are not aware of depression as an illness which causes the patient to suffer within himself. People suffering from depression are afraid to come out and tell people about their illness. Their fears come to be true as depression or any sort of mental illness is treated as a stigma or taboo in our society. There is very less awareness about mental illness in our society causing an increased number of suicidal cases and self-suffering.

Thus, the focus of this issue lies with the role-playing of society. It is now time for people to acknowledge mental illness and treat them with care and patience. It is time for us to stand by those who need nothing but our support and acceptance. If and when you come across a patient suffering from depression or any other mental illness, make sure to urge him to come out and seek help. Do your bit to support him and encourage him to come out and talk to others. Make the family of the patient understand the importance of treatment for the illness and that it can be diagnosed and cured, just like a physical ailment.

Being the open-minded generation that we are, I urge all of you to understand that depression is a serious illness that can be cured with a bit of support and acceptance and professional help. Let us all discard our beliefs and practices of treating depression as a taboo, and let us all stand up for the ones that need our care and concern. I urge you to do your bit in making sure to convince the patient that it is okay to be where he is and that it is temporary and he will get rid of it sooner with the help of a professional. Let us all put our contribution and take one step towards being a well aware society.