Depression

It is 1.20 am now.  Still finding it difficult to sleep. This cycle has been continuing for months now. Lots of things in my mind, as always. Strange, because I never planned it this way. Through self analysis, I discovered that I have always been anxious throughout my life.

When I first realised this, in my early childhood days, I could not make anything out of it.  I continued with my life and with anxiety also came depression.   I thought I was different, strange, felt like I did  not belong in this world.  I kept this notion of mine to myself as I did not want people to perceive me as a weirdo. This eventually began to take a toll on me. Without going into the details, I finally ended up suffering from insomnia. There were days when I could not sleep for five continuous days.  I sought treatment and am now gradually recovering from it.

The reason why I am mentioning this is because, yesterday I read somewhere on the internet blogging column, where a person said that he/she found it difficult to be understood by people.  This person was disappointed with life and was contemplating of ending it once and for all. This person obviously was not aware that he/she was experiencing depression and did not know how to deal with it.

As far as I understand, depression unlike any other illness, does not leave any medical mark in the body and hence sometimes goes unnoticed. Therefore, the public needs to be educated about depression and its early signs, and how to handle it.  Fortunately, New Zealand and most of the western world has now taken this approach.

People tend to take the view that the process of recovery is the same for everyone who is suffering from depression.  I believe that this may not necessarily be correct.  However, in my opinion, one constant element in the process of recovery is for the person to realise that those who are important in the person's life truly understands him/her and will standby the person throughout the process and does not regard the person as a burden. Unfortunately, this very much depends on those surrounding the person suffering from depression. Hence, what I am trying to say is that if you know of anyone suffering from depression, try your best to understand what the person is going through inside, before you take any standard approach.

And, for those who are suffering from depression, do know that you are not abnormal at all and not alone.  Just take your time to understand yourself and open up yourself, eventually everything will turn out just fine.