Depression is not treated like any other disease that one goes through. Usually when you have a fever or cough or cold, or even diabetes or blood pressure, people recommend you to take care of yourself, exercise, diet, take less burden of work and other responsibilities; they even call you up and keep a regular check on you so that you are supported in your journey. But unfortunately, we do not treat depression the same way, as if your mind is not a part of the body at all.
Depression is like a silent pandemic. It affects more individuals than we know of. At times, people become functional despite their symptoms and assume that they have healed, whereas in reality the problem has not gone anywhere.
Depression is a condition of prolonged sadness for most of the day, nearly every day for at least two weeks, with accompanying feelings of hopelessness, social withdrawal, loss of appetite, aversion to light or loud sounds, etc.
As per the DSM 5, one is diagnosed with major depressive disorder if they experience five or more of the symptoms given below, for most of the day, nearly every day, for a minimum of two weeks at a stretch :
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Depression is in fact the third stage, in a series of five stages, whenever a person experiences a loss of any kind. The loss of a job, a relationship, money or even a loved one can leave a huge impact on our life. And it leads an individual to cover an emotional journey of their own, from struggling to accept the reality to feeling angry as to why it happened to them, to realising that no matter what we do, what we have lost is not going to come back to us. This brings in a sense of hopelessness, helplessness, wherein you don’t feel motivated anymore.
You feel sad for most part of the day, nearly every day, often breaking into tears; Sometimes for a reason, sometimes without a reason. Life seems difficult. You have difficulty concentrating on basic details and even the most trivial tasks can seem like an uphill climb. At this time, it is a task to even get out of bed, wherein as you wake, you are overcome by sadness and hopelessness. Even self hygiene goes for a toss as you develop an aversion to showering or even doing basic acts of self care. You may not eat at all or eat too much together.
At times even explaining it to people is not that simple. You need help, but you don’t feel like taking it either. You distance yourself from people because you don’t know when you may need your own space again to break down. In fact you don’t even have the energy to sit through a full-fledged conversation. There is a tendency to be irritable and a feeling of “just let me be”.
Whenever we are in a crisis, we can either fight or flight. But there are situations in life where you feel you can neither fight the situation nor flee from it. In that state, one exhibits a third instinctual response, which is play dead. In the jungle, if you are a small animal who has been spotted by a leopard, you cannot fight it. Nor can your speed while running match up the leopard. So if you act as if you are dead and the leopard comes close, thinking you are dead from consuming something poisonous or due to an illness, the leopard does not eat you and hence you are saved.
The modern day equivalent of play dead is Depression. It occurs to those people, in those situations where they can neither fight a perceived threat, nor escape it. Say you are a student of class 9 going through academic pressure and are also pressured by your parents. You can neither stand up to your parents nor can you quit writing exams or assignments. So the best you can do is play dead. The hopelessness of your situation, the loss of freedom, pushes you to feel sad, even the basic rituals of everyday life become a task for you. Sleep gets difficult, you don’t feel like talking to anyone. And you certainly don’t want to be pressurised.
As much as depression is a cry for help, it is also self soothing, because in the given situation you can only think of this response. The day either of your copings of either fighting or coping up with the situation or escaping from it is restored, you will once again be able to live your life the way you used to, before any of this had happened.
When you are in depression for a while, after a point, you begin to question your situation and are no longer satisfied with your life continuing the way it is. So you start bargaining with life, the fourth stage of loss, where you keep questioning what else is possible and are internally motivated to make a change. You either visit a therapist or try something else to pick up the pieces of your life.
Once you are able to do this, you come out of the prolonged helplessness and actively take charge of your life, your happiness, your situation, ultimately leading to the last stage of loss, which is Resolution.
We have worked with numerous clients who have completely healed and resolved out of various kinds of depression, even suicidal and self harm tendencies. Several of them were on psychotropic medication while others were not, out of their personal choice.
We are a completely Drugless approach, which is Complimentary any other treatment which you may be undergoing, including psychiatric medication or homoeopathic or ayurvedic remedies etc. And even if you are someone who is not on any alternative treatment, Integrated Clinical Hypnotherapy is a Non-invasive approach which can help you trace the root causes of your issues in your subconscious mind and resolve them completely without relapses.
If you are someone who is looking for hope to come back in their life or know someone who may need help, then reach out to us in the comments section below or message us at +91 888 146 2000 to begin your journey of healing.
Onwards and Upwards
Team Happiness SOULutions
Website : www.happinesssoulutions.com
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