There is no doubt that depression has become a worrisome problem in our society today. To be down in the mouth is a syndrome that clouds a depressed man. Following the syndrome, one would say that depression is a dreaded illness which every human being would never want to experience. Or, to put it mildly, it is better imagined than experienced.
It is a feeling of serious loss of hope and dejection. It is a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless and unimportant and is often unable to live a normal life. This illness negatively affects how one feels, the way one thinks and even how one acts.
This illness can decide just to invade anyone’s life at any point in time when given the opportunity. It comes as a threat and bedevils its victim. At a point in a person’s life when self-doubt creeps in due to situations and circumstances, a door of opportunity is open for depression.
Like an African proverb says “The frog does not run at noon except it is being chased by something or it is chasing something”. So is depression. Depression doesn’t just appear in someone’s life except something attracts it in. Many factors attract depression. At the initial stage, it could be of little or no concern to the individual until it gets to a disturbing point.
One factor that causes depression is failure. This factor affects almost every human being. When an individual fails to achieve a goal, attain a certain height in life or still, could not get their dream job, could not study their desired course in school and many more, this could cause depression, leaving the individual low-spirited and dejected. Sometimes, the individual becomes anti-social.
Another cause of depression common in young ladies is body shape. More often than not, most young ladies dislike their body shape, especially those who feel that they are not as curvy or sexy as their friends. With that belief, they begin to withdraw slowly from their friends, live their lives in isolation and, before long, depression sets in.
Financial challenges and poverty may also be a cause of depression that cannot be overlooked. When people lack the finances to get what they want and live in some comfort, it becomes a cause of concern for them. This situation alone leaves the individual prone to depression.
Serious ill health, more often than not, also leaves the sufferers low-spirited and in perpetual sadness, always thinking if there would ever be a way out.
At other times, depression is triggered by maltreatment and abuse; physical abuses such as husbands battering wives and vice versa. Similarly, boys raping girls, women maltreating their maids, to mention a few. The victims of these fall into depression and would not want to associate with people or become suddenly withdrawn.
It is important to note that this illness comes in many stages and once it exceeds two weeks, it becomes clinical, needing serious medical attention, as experts have advised.
Depression comes with many symptoms. It comes with signs like feeling of sadness and dejection, isolation, behavioural changes, loss of pleasure or interest in most activities, changes in sleep, appetite, and energy level, frequent mood swings, lack of concentration and even thoughts of suicide.
Such illness causes its victims to venture into unthinkable things like indulging in hard drugs, contemplating suicide with the delusion that they may find solace there. Studies have suggested that factors responsible for depression may cause changes in brain function, including altered activity of certain nuclear circuits in the brain.
A popular saying states that, “No one climbs the ladder with his hands in his pocket’. Victims of depression need not relax thinking it would go the way it came. They should reach out to people and stay connected to them or seek help from experts such as doctors or psychologists.
Embracing positivity or becoming optimistic is also the way to go. There is the need for them to think about themselves in a fair and realistic way. Always do your best to recognize your goal when you achieve it, always turn your attention to something positive. Indeed, one can also make the best of one’s misfortune or misadventure.
However, there is no best way out of depression. And suicide is definitely not an option at all. The thought of suicide is defeatist and evil. The one and sure way out is the way that works for you. Even your thought pattern is a treatment for depression; so, find your way out by being open and make conscious efforts to seek expert help.
It is said in religious circles that a closed mouth is a destiny foreclosed. So please, if you are suffering from depression, speak out, if you know someone who knows someone that is depressed, help them know that the solution to their problems or state of health is not far to seek.
Opara wrote from Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt.

Charity Opara