Is there magic pill to get incredible life to heal depression?

That day, I had a chit chat with an online friend on Facebook messenger.

I introduced myself that I am doing freelance counselling to deal with Human behaviour and the psychological/mental aspect of human beings.

The friend laughed. She told she is absolutely fine and had no problem of any kind to discuss.

I said ok. I am just introducing myself that does not indicate that I am hinting something to you for your validation or for any sort of promotion of myself.

I just told what I am doing now in addition to my profession.

After three days, that same Facebook friend started a messenger chat with me and informed  that she had a big problem to discuss with me. But she was afraid of and seemed hesitating.

I made her comfortable and  assured everything will be fine and confidential.

Because, in this line, maintaining secrecy is the key.

I told her to be worry free.

The discussion will be like inside the grave.

She described she had a problem with her mother–in–law.

Her problem was –whatever she did in her in-law’s house, her mother–in–law simply disliked it.

She was so frustrated that  she even had a feeling to  kill her mother in law someday!

Things went to that extreme.

But it’s too common.

I tried to console  her giving so many tips and counselling.

She said it’s ok.

I will do all these.

She described  as long as she is in her mother’s house, it’s ok. But whenever she arrives in her mother-in-law’s  house, problems started.

After 45-minutes of Facebook messenger counselling, she seemed relieved and expressed her happiness.

After that, two weeks no contact.

After two weeks, I saw in her Facebook wall :

I am in depression!

Depression!!

This ten-lettered word is something you may now come across everywhere!

He is under depression!

He is under medication for depression!

He or she committed suicide after being in depression!

As we all know, with the demise of Actor Shushant Singh Rajput, the word Depression is rolling over the news and most people are aware of what depression is.

Every time a celebrity or a high-profile personality commits suicide, it brings issues related to mental health and depression into the limelight. The question we end up asking ourselves is, “Why would they want to take their own life when they had everything in terms of wealth, fame and skills?”

But not only in India, but the international level also, you will  find the biggest celebrity was in depression in various forms of their life.

You will find the biggest celebrity who is under depression at some point in their life.

Hollywood’s highest-paid actors Dwayne Johnson, popularly known as “The Rock” recently opened up about depression to the Express, a British newspaper. “Struggle and pain are real,” said Johnson, who saved his mother from a suicide attempt when he was 15.  “Depression never discriminates,” he tweeted later. “Took me a long time to realize it but the key is to not be afraid to open up.

Who does not know Michael Phelps? The swimmer who’s won 28 Olympic medals said his first “depression spell” happened in 2004, but his lowest point came after the 2012 Games, according to CNN. Phelps said he sat alone in his bedroom for 3 to 5 days “not wanting to be alive,” and he knew he needed help. After he sought treatment and started talking about his feelings, he said “life became easy.” Now he understands that “it’s OK to not be OK.”

You may be aware that Depression is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act.

In this era of information overload with fast track life and especially in this pandemic, we must ask ourselves individually.

Am I depressed?

If you find one of the symptoms like below:

• Feeling sad or having a depressed mood that persists longer than 2 weeks
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
• 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., inability to sit still, pacing, hand-wringing) or slowed movements or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable by others)
• Feeling worthless or guilty
• Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• IT a matter to pay close attention to it.
• frequent crying
• a big drop in self-esteem

You have to pay close attention to your mental health.

Though sometimes medical conditions (e.g., thyroid problems, a brain tumour or vitamin deficiency) can mimic symptoms of depression so it is important to rule out general medical causes.

The most important point is: Symptoms must last at least two weeks and must represent a change in your previous level of functioning for a diagnosis of depression. Click here to know more.

While depression is often thought of as a mental illness, it also plays a heavy role in appetite and nutrition. Some people cope by overeating or bingeing. This can lead to weight gain and obesity-related illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes.

You may even lose your appetite entirely, or fail to eat the right amount of nutritious food. A sudden loss of interest in eating in older adults can lead to a condition called geriatric anorexia.

Eating problems can lead to symptoms that include:

• stomachaches
• cramps
• constipation
• malnutrition

Aside from affecting your mood, thought processes, sleep schedule and digestive system, depression also impacts one of your most vital organs – your heart. When a person is depressed, stress hormones surge through the body, causing the heart rate to quicken and blood vessels to tighten. This puts your body into a prolonged state of emergency, which can eventually lead to severe chest pain, heart attack or stroke.

But it is not a matter of worry.

Fortunately, it is also treatable.

As we already know, depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.

Before knowing about the magic pill, let’s see exactly where depression arises.

Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals.

Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems. It’s believed that several of these forces interact to bring on depression.

It is evident that certain chemicals are involved in this process, but it is not a simple matter of one chemical being too low and another too high.

However, many chemicals are involved, working both inside and outside nerve cells. There are millions, even billions, of chemical reactions that make up the dynamic system that is responsible for your mood, perceptions, and how you experience life.

Researchers have learned much about the biology of depression. They’ve identified genes that make individuals more vulnerable to low moods and influence how an individual responds to drug therapy.

We know, One day, these discoveries should lead to better, more individualized treatment but that is likely to be years away.

Although researchers know more now than ever before about how the brain regulates mood, their understanding of the biology of depression is far from complete.

Increasingly sophisticated forms of brain imaging — such as positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) — permit a much closer look at the working brain than was possible in the past. An fMRI scan, for example, can track changes that take place when a region of the brain responds during various tasks. A PET or SPECT scan can map the brain by measuring the distribution and density of neurotransmitter receptors in certain areas.

The use of this technology has led to a better understanding of which brain regions regulate mood and how other functions, such as memory, may be affected by depression. Areas that play a significant role in depression are the amygdala, the thalamus, and the hippocampus.

Research shows that the hippocampus is smaller in some depressed people. For example, in one fMRI study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, investigators studied 24 women who had a history of depression. On average, the hippocampus was 9% to 13% smaller in depressed women compared with.

Hippocampus: The hippocampus is part of the limbic system and has a central role in processing long-term memory and recollection. The interplay between the hippocampus and the amygdala might account for the adage “once bitten, twice shy.” It is this part of the brain that registers fear when you are confronted by a barking, aggressive dog, and the memory of such an experience may make you wary of dogs you come across later in life. The hippocampus is smaller in some depressed people, and research suggests that ongoing exposure to stress hormone impairs the growth of nerve cells in this part of the brain.

Thalamus: The thalamus receives most sensory information and relays it to the appropriate part of the cerebral cortex, which directs high-level functions such as speech, behavioural reactions, movement, thinking, and learning. Some research suggests that bipolar disorder may result from problems in the thalamus, which helps link sensory input to pleasant and unpleasant feelings.

Amygdala: The amygdala is part of the limbic system, a group of structures deep in the brain that’s associated with emotions such as anger, pleasure, sorrow, fear, and sexual arousal. The amygdala is activated when a person recalls emotionally charged memories, such as a frightening situation. Activity in the amygdala is higher when a person is sad or clinically depressed. This increased activity continues even after recovery from depression.

Researchers are exploring possible links between the sluggish production of new neurons in the hippocampus and low moods. An interesting fact about antidepressants supports this theory.

As you know, depression can not be treated completely with medication. Medication can only help during the healing process. Antidepressants reduce the feeling of depression but that’s always temporary. The problem here is that as soon as the patients stop using the medication, the depression will come up as it was before.

Now, the million-dollar question comes up: what is the magic pill to heal depression to get incredible life?

Is there really a magic pill to heal depression?

The answer lies in your hand only!

As depression is much talked about the subject now, you will find so many methods to heal depression like:

• Medication
• Behavioural activation
• Cognitive-behavioural therapy
• Interpersonal therapy
• Problem-solving therapy
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Social skills therapy
• Supportive counselling

But the Magic pill is awareness!

One has to make himself or herself aware that depression is in the doorway!

Once you are aware that you have depression symptoms, it will prompt you to take responsibility to deal with it.

But where from awareness to build?

You can check following aspects closely to avoid future risk factor which may triggers and sets in depression:

• experiencing certain life events, such as bereavement, work issues, changes in relationships, financial problems, and medical concerns
• experiencing acute stress
• having a lack of successful coping strategies
• having a close relative with depression
• using some prescription drugs, such as corticosteroids, some beta-blockers, and interferon
• using recreational drugs, such as alcohol or amphetamines
• having sustained a head injury
• having had a previous episode of major depression
• having a chronic condition, such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or cardiovascular disease
• living with persistent pain

You’ll be shocked to know over five crore Indians suffered from depression, a major contributor to global suicides which occurred mainly in low- and middle-income countries like India in 2015, a WHO study has said.

As per the Time of India review,  mental illness is still not talked about in the open but the sad reality is that more than 300 million people are falling prey to it. The number of people with common mental disorders globally is going up, particularly in a country like ours, where mental sickness is confused with ‘madness’ and considered a taboo topic. That is one reason why, cases of depression, anxiety and other serious mental disorders go largely unreported in a country like ours.

Depression is ranked by WHO as the single largest contributor to global disability. It is also the major contributor to suicide deaths. Worldwide, depression increased by 18 per cent from 2005 to 2015.

A recent WHO report provides evidence about the same. India is the most depressed country in the world, leaving USA and China behind. The maximum cases of anxiety, schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorders were found in India, with most cases going unreported. With 6.5% of the population suffering from some form of mental illness, this goes on to prove that there is a huge gap between patients and mental health care professionals to be filled. The ratio is quite staggering, with 1 doctor for every 1,00,000 patients.
The numbers are very sad for India, where help does not come easy. With a suicide rate of 10.9 for every one lakh people, suicide is one of the biggest causes of death in the age group of 15-24. The average suicide rate in India is 10.9 for every lakh people.

The report also threw light on another disturbing fact. Almost 80% of people diagnosed with mental sickness do not seek any kind of treatment and there are 150 million more who need access to therapy and this is projected to increase by 20% by 2020.

Once responsibility is taken, yes, I am under depression and I can take well care of it. There is a big shift.

You will surely start a check on lifestyle. You will into your inner world rather than the outer world!

You will start doing exercises and you will join a mastermind group that will encourage you to deal with depression and You can Rise as  Healthy Person.

You will start seeing the possibility of healing to get incredible life.

-End-

For other interesting blogs:

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Why a mentor/Life coach is must  for extra ordinary life?