DEPRESSION: OUT OF THE SHADOWS
The number of people affected by depression increases every year. Every day someone in the world will take their own life because of depression. This silent epidemic is affecting more and more people across the globe. In 2015 the WHO (World Health Organization) published a paper in which it pronounced that in the European region occurrence of depression is from 3.8% to 6.3%, while in Lithuania this number is as high as 5.6 %. And the severity of depression is largely unknown as no-one is talking about it and millions are suffering in silence. Because of this, the number of people affected by depression is increasing each year.
We should be speaking about this massive problem in order to solve it. So today we will hear one girl's story about her experience concerning depression. The girl's name was changed for privacy reasons. We will call her Lucy.
She describes her situation like this: ”I didn’t want to communicate with anybody, leave the house or eat. I was constantly feeling tired, exhausted. I spend most of my time at home in my room. During the day I was usually sleeping, that was the only way to free myself from others, while at nights I would hold my breath crying, so the parents couldn’t hear me cry.” To think that it’s normal to feel this way would be foolish. Depression is dangerous because it’s very hard to identify it and properly react to the diagnosis. If you don’t pay attention, this can lead people to suicide.
Lucy also went through this, as she said: “I even wrote farewell notes to my loved ones. Sometimes I would hurt myself, because short-term pain helped me to forget the pain I felt inside. I still have a scar which reminds me of this difficult time in my life”.
When I asked Lucy, what made her think of committing suicide, she told me that there were a lot of reasons, for example: unhappy love, complex relationships with loved ones, dissatisfaction with her looks and fear of the future. It’s not only Lucy who thinks this way, there are more people who are suffering from similar problems and this may lead to an increased number in suicides.
There are many ways to overcome depression. Lucy found help in “Project Semicolon”. Project Semicolon is an organization dedicated to the prevention of suicide. Their motto is “Your story isn’t over yet“. Also, you can overcome depression by talking about it with a psychologist. The most important thing is to recognize that you have a problem and search for help.
Youth helpline number 8 800 28888
Child helpline number 116 111
Hope line number 116 123
We should be speaking about this massive problem in order to solve it. So today we will hear one girl's story about her experience concerning depression. The girl's name was changed for privacy reasons. We will call her Lucy.
She describes her situation like this: ”I didn’t want to communicate with anybody, leave the house or eat. I was constantly feeling tired, exhausted. I spend most of my time at home in my room. During the day I was usually sleeping, that was the only way to free myself from others, while at nights I would hold my breath crying, so the parents couldn’t hear me cry.” To think that it’s normal to feel this way would be foolish. Depression is dangerous because it’s very hard to identify it and properly react to the diagnosis. If you don’t pay attention, this can lead people to suicide.
Lucy also went through this, as she said: “I even wrote farewell notes to my loved ones. Sometimes I would hurt myself, because short-term pain helped me to forget the pain I felt inside. I still have a scar which reminds me of this difficult time in my life”.
When I asked Lucy, what made her think of committing suicide, she told me that there were a lot of reasons, for example: unhappy love, complex relationships with loved ones, dissatisfaction with her looks and fear of the future. It’s not only Lucy who thinks this way, there are more people who are suffering from similar problems and this may lead to an increased number in suicides.
There are many ways to overcome depression. Lucy found help in “Project Semicolon”. Project Semicolon is an organization dedicated to the prevention of suicide. Their motto is “Your story isn’t over yet“. Also, you can overcome depression by talking about it with a psychologist. The most important thing is to recognize that you have a problem and search for help.
Youth helpline number 8 800 28888
Child helpline number 116 111
Hope line number 116 123