Depression and Anxiety | what is it?, Signs, How to avoid.

Depression and Anxiety | what is it?, Signs, How to avoid.

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY

In this era of Internet and social media, where we are used to showcase to the world how happy we are, or how successful our life is, we are forgetting how to actually live. People are not as happy as they seem on social media. They have problems and are way too lonely compared to the ones who keep their life activities to themselves.

It is often said that a person who laughs a lot, even on the smallest matters, tend to be the loneliest inside. As shown in dramas and movies, the person who is depressed does always cry, shout or something like that. He instead isolates himself from the world, society. Suicidal thoughts are what I have heard they have had their minds full of.
So in this blog, we will get familiar with these topics:

• What is depression?
• Its early signs and symptoms
• When to visit doctor?
• How to avoid being depressed?
• What is anxiety?
• Its early signs and symptoms
• How to avoid it?

            Also in the end, I would familiarise what it is like to live with people who are suffering from depression, how it affects your living and how to deal with such people. So keep reading. J

WHAT IS DEPRESSION?

 Major depression disorder (MDD), clinical depression, unipolar depression, unipolar disorder, recurrent depression or simply the term ‘depression’ is a state of mind having low mood or apathy towards any activity. Depression can be long term or short term.

Signs of depression

People suffering from depression often tend to be alone, their minds are filled with negative thoughts and if ignored, it can worsen. So here are the depression symptoms you can look out for which can help you or your loved ones:

1. Reduced appetite and loss in weight
2. Hopelessness
3. Short temper
4. Impatience
5. Tiredness
6. Sleeplessness
7. Head ache
8. Feeling worthless
9. Tendency to be alone
10. Growing suicidal
11. Lack of interest

There are other signs of depression too, and it changes from one person to another. Causes for depression vary depending on an individual’s situation. Some of them might be:

• Loss or death of dear ones
• Failure
• Break up
• Work stress
• Living alone, etc

How to avoid being depressed?

While approaching a doctor when you know the condition is worsening is a great idea, can help to a very good extent, there are some things that can be done at the initial stages in order to avoid depression and start afresh. Some of them are listed below:

• Getting some good sleep is the key
• Exercise regularly
• Yoga and meditation
• Getting enough rest after work
• Listening to calm songs
• Find ways to balance your work life and personal life
• Making new friends in real life
• Spend as less time as possible on social media
• Scheduling plans a week ahead
• Stay away from toxic people
• Eat healthy
• Maintain healthy weight
• Cut off on alcohol and drugs

When to visit doctor?

Psychiatrist is the type doctor you should seek help from when you are suffering from depression. Even when the person suffering from all the symptoms mentioned above, he fails to recognise them in himself.

It is the responsibility of his colleagues, friends, co-workers or the ones who live with them to watch him if he is acting weirdly or has such symptoms and let him know. Especially if the person starts talking about loss of hope, how he feels no interest in his daily routine, being alone most of the time, talking about how his life has become meaningless and how he wants to escape from it, it is a red alert that he has something going on and should visit a psychiatrist ASAP!!!

Visiting a mental health care is not big issue. It is as common as visiting a physician when suffering from common cold. Even our mind sometimes feels sick and seeking help for it is not a big deal. Thinking that approaching a mental doctor only when you are mad is such a myth.

WHAT IS ANXIETY?

Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry, usually misunderstood for overreaction towards a situation. Anxiety is common, if it does not last for long. If it recurs, then it is anxiety disorder. People suffering from anxiety withdraw themselves from situations which have provoked anxiety in the past.

Signs of anxiety disorder

Anxiety may show either physical or psychiatric symptoms, depending on the trauma an individual will have faced. Most of the times, these traumas would not even be a real incident, but just a bad dream would also make a person so anxious that he feels like it would happen in real life, or in near future.

Some of the symptoms of anxiety are:

1. Bad dream/nightmare
2. Panic attacks
3. Itchy skin
4. Shortness of breathing
5. Palpitations or chest pain
6. Sudden break down
7. Nausea, diarrhea
8. Frequent urination
9. Head ache

How to avoid being anxious?

There may be some situations that we might have faced, which made a very huge impact on our minds. Still, we can think positively and overcome such bad impressions so as to avoid anxiety. Some tips to avoid anxiety are:

• Enough sleep
• Sit and relax after a rough day
• Balanced diet
• Spending quality-time with friends and family
• Be grateful
• Meditation and yoga
• Breathing exercises
• Think positively(most important)
• Plan ahead

As I had mentioned in the earlier part of the blog, now I’m going to proceed with how I dealt with people who were suffering from depression and anxiety (yes, both of them). And most importantly, these were the people I had to live with.

These were the people I was extremely close with, the most important people I can say. First of all, seeing those suffering from depression were itself a pain, it was really hard to digest. Adding to that, they did not know what was wrong with them and suffered for years before seeking medical help.

Being a close member to both of them, it broke my heart to see them suffering and not able to help. Besides, it started affecting my life as well. I could not study properly, witnessed a lot of domestic violence at a young age and even started to suffer from chronic anxiety.

Because of all this, I started to distance myself from them. Avoiding them was the escape I knew to get away from them. But instead, it made me suffer from loneliness.

After years of shouting and suicidal attempts, finally one of them sought medical help and within a few months, started recovering. And after sometime, we both were able to convince the other that he needed to see doctor and get him treated.

Even though both of them are recovering now, the one who witnessed all this throughout these years, I still live with the fear that something might go wrong in the near future and am still trying to recover.