Depression | Mental Health

'Depression', something where we have failed big time as a society or an ecosystem. Yes. We have failed. We have failed as parents, friends, teachers, colleagues, husbands, wives, lovers, or whatever relations we share with the person suffering from a mental breakdown!

?

We all love someone conditionally, mostly based on emotional expectations. It’s all about oneself. We live with a checklist and expect it from the other person. But then we overpass this with anyone and everyone apart from us!

?

Everything seems funny?as long as it’s happening to someone else and that is what it has exactly to do with Mental Health.

We never talk about it. We try to impose on the other person. We just start a?generalized thought process over it. A person always keeps smiling, so we assume them?to be happy only! What the other person doesn’t understand is that mental health isn’t about the things happening outside, it’s more of what’s happening inside. It’s more of been dying inside. It’s more of hiding inside. It doesn’t look like what you always see. People may not be able to tell you about how they feel about life or what’s going on with them, but then they always show the symptoms. The problem is we hardly care about anything related to the other person.

?

If we’re so kind, we’ll say, stay strong and take care and then we move on from that person. We don’t listen to their stories, no one has the time.

If someone gets enough time to listen, we start judging with every sentence we listen to them! That’s where the strong people tend to say it’s okay, I’m good. Weak people get them isolated.

The feeling of feeling that no one understands is the worst! It’s more dangerous than cancer! Cancer kills you once, but this feeling kills you every minute!

We have talked so much about success and failures that we don’t even care about the mental health. Why?!

Just because depressed people might not look depressed!

Depression is not just a feeling of feeling dull and down out of the blue for few days! It’s often mistaken as just feeling bad. It’s a complex situation & a serious illness. Symptoms can be different for every individual, because everyone operates differently. A depressed brain looks/thinks differently. It’s more than ordinary sadness. You don’t wish to wake up when you sleep in those nights!

It’s as deadly as anything. Several times people who’ve gone through it, even they can’t figure out the other person with a bad mental health. They’ve so much inside! Which eventually never comes out. What’s worse is that generally they get the feeling that no one understands them.

?

Sometimes even the right kind of people misunderstand the other person. They don’t understand that there is something which is beyond right or wrong. And that’s where a person with such mental health thinks that there is nothing left with the conversation because the other person already started making judgments about what’s wrong or what’s right. Again, they go into the black good night.

?

We need to understand and we need to make others understand that it’s okay not to feel okay.

We need to understand and accept that sometimes listening without asking is the key. A gentle hug is worth more than anything!

You’ve to make them feel that crying isn’t a bad thing at all. Crying isn’t a sign of weakness.

?

As a society, we need to stand together to make them feel comfortable about speaking up.

This is not something which can be cured only by medicines.

Speak to them. Acknowledge their feelings, good, bad, mixed, out of context or whatever it may be. Just respect that feeling. Try to love them & support them unconditionally. Tell them you care, if they don’t believe that you care, you show them your care. Actions speak louder than words. Just make that count. Invest time in them.

Check on them. Keep checking on them. Remind them you’re there for them. Ask them, what they want from you. How can you help them? Let them talk only when they want to. Make them feel important. Tell them you understand them, if you really understand them. Keep checking on them. Remind them that it’s okay to have this feeling. Make them understand that sometimes it’s okay to just survive, not every war ends in winning or losing. Tell them it’s okay to ask for help, seeking help is a sign of strength.

Tell them it’s okay to pause?life for a while and restart. Make them understand survival is winning. Tell them it’s okay to take their own time. Make then understand .01 is greater than zero. Tell them they've done wonderful till now. Tell them they’re as strong as anyone. Tell them you believe that they’ll make it through!

?

Ask them what’s that one thing they would do even if they are dead tired. Try to make them do that. You ask them to teach you how it’s done. Do with them. Laugh with then. Win with them.