DEALING WITH DEPRESSION IN THIS RECESSION

Depression refers to feeling of sadness and rejection which result to the loss of interest in enjoyable feelings. The dictionary defines it as the state of feeling very unhappy and without hope for the future. According to statistic released by the World Health Organization (WHO), February 2017, about 300 million people worldwide suffer from depression. It is common in people between the ages of 25 to 45 year of age. Studies have shown that 1 at of every 10 Nigerian suffers from depression. 

It is a form of mental illness, a clinical condition if not properly checked could result to suicide. According to the report by the World Health Organization (WHO), Suicide is the second leading cause of death. It is more common in people between the ages of 15-29-year-olds. The report also state that close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year. You can see how serious this issue is in the present economic climate in the country.

With Nigeria in recession it is advisable to government and the relevant health officers to look closely into this issue in a matter of urgently so as to found a way of offering proper help and solution when needed. Over the past few month, Nigeria has witness a higher number of suicide cases with large percentage of those been related or attributed to depression. It could be recalled that the theme for the April 7, 2017 World Health Day by the World Health Organization (WHO) was titled “Depression: Let’s talk.” this became necessary to improve the awareness of the public about the symptoms of depression, its causative factors, preventive strategies, and ways to access evidence based care which will ultimately improve the outcome or prognosis of the illness.

The question next is how to identify depression and also how to deal with it. Although a good number of the world popular may be suffering from depression, but most time, it was one of the most difficult symptoms to detect. This is largely due to lack of prepare public sensitization of the illness and also lack of proper friends and family time together. To be able to understand this and also the proper way of dealing with depression, this post will highlight some facts and process to achieving this.

1) Identifying Depression: depression can be identified both psychologically and physically. Signs of depression psychologically include Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities, poor concentration, Feeling miserable at everything and place also feeling worthless and guilty almost everything. Signs of depression physically include Loss of appetite, excessive loss of weight, Slowed activity and speech, Loss of energy, even when not physically active, Loss of sleep.

2) How to deal with depression: There are many ways to deal with depression how to choose to approach and implement these may vary for every individual. Clinical treatment of depression includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), antidepressant medication, and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). 

HOW TO DEAL WITH DEPRESSION IN THIS RECESSION

While these may seem a more expensive method, there are other less expensive method which requires softer approach. Dealing with Depression in this recession could be achieve with these simply processes. 

1) If you are suffering from depression, try as much as possible stay in touch with friends and family. withdraw from these people means withdrawing from life which is a bad thing and may lead to risk of your committing suicide.

2) Stay away from alcohol as this is a depressant. You are more likely to make bad decisions under the influence of alcohol. 

3) Try to eat healthy diet. I know depression leads to loss of appetite but to effectively deal with it, you should try to eat more combination of balance diet. You may not have the capital for it but having vegetable, fruit and less red meat, including lot of water you can beat depression.

4) Exercise: Regular exercise is good for a healthy living. You can help yourself out of depression by regular exercise. This can include taking a walk to clear your head, engage in outdoor sport such as football and basket ball.

In conclusion, I will like the federal government and the citizen of this great nation to see the danger and treat depression has on this country. We should all focus more effort in fighter this as a health population means a healthy nation. Thanks 

Written by Ufuoma Onogbake.