Common Myth about Depression



Depression is a real illness that affect a lot of people, yet there victims who continue to be stigmatized and condemned by people. The myth on depression contribute to the stigma these people recieve, let's get the fact and stop beliving these myths.
1. Depression is not a real illness. Most people believe depression isn't a real illness but is rather a severe form of sadness, this is untrue as depression is a real illness and should be treated as such. Depression might not be like a flu with a one time treatment, yet is as real as any other illness, people with depression deserve  to be supported like people with other illness.
2. Depression is a spiritual problem. Despite medical advances it revealing defective genes, brain chemistry and others as possible cause of depression, people still believe depression is entirely a spiritual problem and suicide is an affliction of the devil, some think depressed people are possessed by demons. Well depression is a real illness and suicide could be a symptom of clinical depression, if we accept fever as a symptom of malaria then we should also accept suicide as a symptom of depression. Depression is also treatable so if you believe depressed people are afficted by demons, then medicine has certainly done a good job fighting demons.
3. Depression is a sign of weak will power. Some people believe that depression is an attitude of weak people with weak will power, this is untrue as depression is an illness that can affect anyone irrespective of will power it will be wrong to say that depression can scan the power of the will before afflicting people.
4. There must be an obvious reason for depression. People often tell depressed people to stop being  weak " you have no reason to be depressed, just look at your life everything is good" they say, sometimes this comes from love one's with the intention of helping, but unfortunately this can worsen the situation as it can increase guilt. Some people believe depression is caused by bad circumstances, these can increase the chances of having depression but is certainly not the cause.
5. You can overcome depression by positive thinking. This is a common myth yet very untrue, positive thinking might help, but you can't tell someone with malaria to stop having fever, first handle depression( the cause of negative thoughts) then the person will think positive.
6. You can easily know if someone is depressed.
Yes depression has symptoms but you can't just tell by observing the person, the person could laugh and smile, they could even pretend to be more happy but inside they're suffering from emotional pain, this is a very terrible myth as its result to a vast population of people living with untreated depression, so we can't always tell if our friends and family members are depressed, it is very important for every family to create an atmosphere of emotional freedom, the society should start seeing mental illness, discuss freely and openly so there victims won't be ashamed to ask for help.

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