Recently, I could interact with two people who had different fortunes in life and their attitude towards life. This is also a testimony of how intense is the effect of depression.
The first person had everything in life. The person was well-educated, had a well-educated husband and a sweet baby. The person was rich and was well taken care by family. The only problem was the person couldn’t find happiness in anything. Always moody and complaining. The person was a depression patient.
The second person didn’t have any fortunes as the above person. She had a lot of health problems, not taken care by family, divorced twice and was very poor. But she was very happy, and had a positive outlook.
The depression state is such a horrific health status were in a patient cannot find happiness in anything even if there is everything to be happy. It will affect the whole family also.
This reminds me of a story. A person was chased by an elephant. While running, he fell into a pond. Accidentally, he could catch hold of a shrub. When he looked up, he could see elephant trumpeting. When he looked down, there was a crocodile ready to eat him if he falls down. When he looked at the shrub, it was being gnawed by a rat, hinting that anytime he can fall down. But there was a bee hive in the shrub and honey was oozing out. He opened the mouth and started licking the honey and enjoyed it. Life is like that. Always throwing challenges and failures is an essential part of life. But at the same time there will be honey pouring from somewhere which makes life enjoyable.
Happiness cannot be found fully from material demands, but it is a choice. The depression patient should be taught to find a choice that gives him maximum pleasure and be motivated to pursue it.
The number of depression patients in the society is increasing day by day due to loneliness, lack of family support, divorces etc. There should be a strategy to take care of such patients devised by health sector, social workers and NGO’s.
MBH/AB