Are you Depressed?

Are you Depressed?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine buried their middle aged old friend who committed suicide in his house. He was found hanging from the ceiling in one of the rooms in his house. About two months ago, another friend of mine attended a burial of his 24 year old friend who committed suicide. He too was found hanging in his house. Not long ago I counselled with four clients in a span of a week who were depressed with thoughts and some had plans of committing suicide. As if this is not enough almost every other day counselors are helping clients come out of depression and having them sign the 'No suicide contract'. Yes it's that serious.

In 2017, World Health Organization reported that in there were 7,000 suicide deaths in Kenya annually and tens of thousands more reported on failed suicide attempt. The report indicated that all these suicide deaths and attempts were as a result of prolonged periods of depression. Another report by WHO revealed that there were 1.9 million cases in Kenya between 2016 - 2017.

In March 2018, World Health Organization published a report showing that there were 300,000 million people affected by depression. In addition, 800, 000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide was mentioned to be the second leading cause of deaths among those aged 15 - 29 years.

Well, let me not bore you with all the available facts around depression and suicide. How many times have you heard someone say I am depressed? How many times did you pay close attention to them after that statement? What exactly is depression? Depression is a common mental illness/disorder that affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression causes extreme feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in people and activities previously enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and most of the times it decreases a person's ability to function.  It is usually categorized into mild, moderate and severe depression. And its symptoms are as follows;

Please help! I am depressed!

• Feeling sad 
• Loss of interest/pleasure in activities once enjoyed
• Loss of interest in people
• Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
• Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
• Loss of energy or increased fatigue
• Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., hand-wringing or pacing) or slowed movements and speech (actions observable by others)
• Feeling hopeless and discouraged about the future
• Feeling worthless or guilty
• Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
• Thoughts of death or suicide

So is it that bad if you find yourself with almost or all of the above symptoms and/or you just discovered you are depressed? Take it easy, because depression can be treated. Yes, it doesn't matter.
There are different ways that depression can be treated depending on the type. If it is clinical, one must seek the care of a psychiatrist or psychologist for medical advise. However, if it is only mild there are behavioral strategies towards one's healing with the help of a counselor. So please let a counselor walk with you do not die alone. And above all, trust in God for your healing and restoration for God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can imagine or think of.