Are You Really Depressed or…?
Mental health is nothing to be played with, neither is depression. Statistics show that an increasing number of young people are developing mental health issues at a staggering rate. The rates of depression and even suicide are alarming. The WHO states that one in 4 Nigerians suffers from mental illness and Nigeria ranks 15th in the frequency of suicides in the world.
Stress, trauma, the economy and more recently the pandemic are possible contributory causes.
The availability of professional help is also on the decline, especially in Nigeria. There is currently a massive brain drain of healthcare professionals.
This notwithstanding, the trend these days is for everything to be labelled a mental health issue. Everything from tardiness to outright criminal behaviour.
It is amazing how depression is quickly brought up these days even before a logical assessment is undertaken of the situation.
Am I Depressed?
Sometimes we are sad that we’ve had setbacks, upset by people or even disappointed, this causes us to reflect and become unhappy. This does not mean we are depressed! I’ve also found lately It is fashionable to hide character flaws under the banner of ‘Mental Health’. Flaws a good talking to, reprimand or even proper discipline would easily solve.
We should be careful before labelling everything as mental health. By doing so, we may allow the character to slide into a never-ending spiral of negative behaviour. Depression is a serious clinical disease.
Do many people that claim mental health excuses actually seek therapy? More often than not, the answer is No.
No doubt there is a thin line between mental health issues and normal behaviour. Anyone can cross the line at any instance even with the slightest provocation. That notwithstanding we shouldn’t be so quick to excuse poor behaviour, childishness or pure foolishness as mental health disease.
Otherwise, we would waste resources and prevent those that actually need help from accessing it.