There has been a high rise in the incidence of suicide among Nigerians. Nigeria is the 30th most suicide prone nation in the world with 3% of the Nigerian population attempting suicide in their lifetimes. This is at odds with the impression of Nigerians as the ‘Happiest people in the world’. Nigeria is actually ranked 95th out of 155 countries in the recent World Happiness Report.
Depression is an illness that needs professional help. Leaving depression unchecked can affect our long term mental wellbeing and spill over to our personal and professional lives. Depression is different from sadness. Everybody feels sad from time to time, it’s a very natural human emotion.
Sadness is a normal reaction to an unwanted situation. You feel sad about something. When the unwanted situation changes for the better or when we’ve had the time to adjust and accept the situation for what it is, our sadness reduces and gradually fades away.
Depression on the other hand is a very serious illness and depressed people should seek professional help. It is very wrong to just tell a depressed person to cheer up and be happy. It simply doesn’t work that way. A depressed person can, like a sad person, be sad for a reason. But when the issue is solved, the feeling of sadness doesn’t go away. A depressed person can also be sad for no reason whatsoever and is unable to feel simple day to day pleasures. Severe depression can lead to thoughts of self-harm and even suicide.
It is very important to know this difference as it determines our approach. We shouldn’t confuse depression, an illness that requires treatment for sadness, a normal human reaction. This distinction helps us and our loved ones.
Ways of Dealing with feelings of Sadness:
Identify the cause of your sadness: Sadness can have psychological causes like loss of a loved one, loss of status, health, income. It can be a response to illnesses like diabetes or cancer. It could also be due to loss of mobility or brain functioning. A big part of managing sadness is identifying the cause or causes.
Don’t Judge Yourself: It’s okay to feel. Sadness is a perfectly legitimate reaction. Don’t feel embarrassed or inadequate. Accepting your feelings the way they are help you to manage them.
Focusing too much on your sadness or your mistakes will make it more difficult for you to recover. Distracting yourself by focusing on more pleasant things should help you get over your sadness
Seek help from Family and Friends: Studies show that withdrawing from people can worsen feelings of sadness. Try and interact with friends and loved ones, go out, see a movie. Interacting with loved ones help improve happiness and will help take your mind off things.
Try exercise and meditation: Exercise helps release endorphins that make you feel positive and energetic. Meditation helps center your mind making you feel calm. These feelings help lift your mood
It is important you talk to your Doctor if you experience feelings of sadness for more than two week. If your feelings affect your ability to function or enjoy your day to day life, try speaking to a trained professional.
Yeah, I think there should be a revisit to suicide. You know there was a time that it was said to be "unAfrican" to commit suicide. But nowadays there has been an upsurge in suicides. So now it's established that African could and can commit suicide, it's now time to address the underlying factors and see if prevention could be possible. Nice writeup boss
In complete agreement with your article. Without being depressed (or maybe I was a bit), until very recently I was in a sort of vicious circle of not feeling satisfied, and having no energy for anything, and as a result I kept on unconsciously looking for excuses not to do anything about it and keep complaining about everything.
I recently decided that was enough and I could not carry on like that si I got a personal trainer to force myself to exercise.
Sports combined with a complete change of my eating habits has changed completely my frame of mind. I feel a lot more energetic, see already big changes in my body and this is super motivating to keep on climbing the mountain of positivity.
I find that if you feel better in your body, your mind is more positive and your start to be more confident about yourself.
The key is to find the trigger that will push you to take the first step and boost your motivation to climb this high mountain.
Thanks for sharing @onequality
Thank you. And well done. Exercise really helps to lift your mood.
"Depression is an illness that needs professional help. Leaving depression unchecked can affect our long term mental wellbeing and spill over to our personal and professional lives. "
Indeed. Get professional help.
Just do it. People do want to help. You can't solve all your problems by reading blog articles or merely meditating.
Very true indeed. But the very bane of most people that are depressed is the fact that the shut out the whole world from themselves. Even the closest of their friends and family.
This doesnt help really, because one who wishes to help if not let in cannot do anything. My earnest desire is for those who are suffering from this to read works like this and see the need to let people in.
Well done sir
It is very important to let people in. However it is sometimes difficult to know who to let in. That's why it's important to be grateful for the good people in our lives.
We also have a part to play in sucide mission of people around us.
Most of us are too glued to our phone and pay less attention to our neighbours.
Lets be more observant and help those in need
Its not usully easy for them to speak out
It's important we let the people in our lives know we're there for them. I think a problem with being glued to our phones is that we don't make deep conversations anymore. Our conversations are reduced to emojis and memes. Face to face conversations force us to really connect with the other person.
Sometime ago, I was watching a documentary on NTA about the Nigerian depression issue and the statistics were really bad!
It has led many of the youths, who are supposedly leaders of Tomorrow into many vices and unwholesome practices, the likes of which are only found in fictional worlds. I think everyone needs to turn their attention to finding a lasting solution to curbing this menace from its roots.
I think the first thing to solve it is terming depression as a sickness to me
I love you terming it as a serious sickness
Which explain why most of them don't seek help
Depression is such that it is accumulating in nature, if given space to
And most of the depressed people tend to exclude themselves and have this saying of i am fine
Only to hear he or she has commit suicide
They should seek for help ans nevertheless we should help them by identifying them and talking them out of it
Nice post
Yes exactly. Depressed people should be encouraged to speak about their experiences. There shouldn't be a taboo. Depression is made to seem like a state of mind you can just snap out of. Thank you.
YOU GOT IT. YOU ARE WELCOME
Thanks for sharing this with us..i believe it will help a lot,because a lot of people are going through these things every single day..nice one
This is really helpful but what about people with health conditions who are not fit for exercises?
This post is helpful.
Many people that are addicted to taken some certain drugs just to wine away their depressed state just need somebody to appreciate them for whom they are.
You can save a soul by committed to doing this to people arround you.
Thanks for this insight @onequality
one issue with most depressed people is that they keep too much to themselves,thus making life more difficult for themselves.
A problem shared with someone who has a good mind is a problem half solved so it is important to surround one self with people who have good and great minds. Thanks
Sadness are always triggered by negative thought.
That's why, what you feed your mind with, is very vital and important. Because it will influence your thought. This will either lead to saddness or happiness.
Well said sir. Some others thinks it's a spiritual issue and constantly pray for it to stop.. While some others are caused by our parents when they constantly transfer aggression on us from there place of work. I survived that by engaging to social activities in my school and church..i always wanted to stay outside till late night.
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STOPGreat Work My Friend
great article bro