The World Health Organisation consider depression to be a leading cause of disability & almost 264 million people suffer from it annually. When we hear the word depression often the common features pop up in our minds such as low mood, insomnia, fatigue, suicidal tendency etc. The picture where as is much large & the illness can manifest numerously. These symptoms are as real, as confusing & as distressed for individuals. Today i am writing about the lesser known symptoms to create awareness & eventually wellness. Let’s get into these.
Anger & Irritability. There you go, all of us do that, anger!!! That’s normal! Right? If something is not being done or said we get angry, someone not responding we get angry, kids not behaving we get angry, parents not lenient we get angry or whatsoever. The society has normalised the symptom itself. We don’t even consider it a problem then how are we going to treat it & how are we going to stop it from giving us the bigger mental health issue. Put an end to justifying anger & Irritability because it may be an evidence of underlying depression. Anger and irrigation are indicative emotions to inform you that something about the thing or relation or job is not okay & need to be taken care of. So look into the matters where you get frustrated & bring peace to yourself. Listen to the signs as you know prevention is better than cure.
Ruminating. Although the word originally means an action of cows when they re-chew their food over & over. The contextual meaning would be repeatedly playing a scenario in our mind & thinking about varied responses. For example someone asked you a question about carrier and you answered spontaneously without thinking. Now the event plays in your mind over over like some horror movie you would rather not see. In these thoughts you respond to that question in different ways & keep feeling horrible about how you actually responded. This reliving of that moment is exhausting & almost involuntary. It may go on for weeks depleting your energy & taking you down low to the illness.
Hampered decision making ability. Focus is something extremely important while maing decisions. When you are not in the right frame of mind it gets difficult to pay attention hence poor ability to choose the best. When deciding we need to weigh the potential risks & rewards of a particular thing. If we are depressed we tend to focus more on the negative impacts & have a biased outcome. If you find it difficult to choose things, make choices on a regular basis it may be because you suffer from depression. You have somewhat lost trust upon your choices or maybe you got robbed of self reliance & confidence.
Physical pain & tolerance can be reduced if you are emotionally weighted down. People who are not aware of their emotional health experience physical pains more often. The mind & body relationship is still being worked upon but there are many examples like your heart rate goes up when you get anxious, the butterflies you feel when you see your crush etc. When the mind has positive & calm thoughts you are full of energy, you feel motivated, always on the go. Just because you have had some emotionally ill experience you lay low just being. The example of being less motivated in normal routine would be not getting groceries, not putting things in place, not a thought about the messy hair, no workouts and other lifestyle changes. So i am saying that your mental health may have physical manifestation. Look for sings before it’s too late.
Depressed without beind sad. Yes,not every sad person is depressed like not every happy person is okay. People don’t even know whether they are sad or not specifically if you were bought up in a controlled environment. Some cultures call sadness a weakness so the people never accept themselves to be sad. Some people assume they are bored of routine and need change but don’t relate that they are sad. Also sadness doesn’t grab attention so people looking sad are not even offered help until they show more symptoms. People move on with these lesser known symptoms as if that is their life & learn to live with it.
Symptoms known or unknown depression impacts negatively, takes away quality life, saperates happiness from persons, hampers relationships, destroys families, dents childhood & what not. So talk to people around you about how you feel. How little the problem may be it will have a solution you just need to look for it. Take care of youself & everyone near you. This is Gunjan signing off. Love & Peace ✌
Gunjan writes 