Depression is a common but serious mood disorder among people. Some people attribute it to just sadness, but it is much more than that. As part of Mental Health Month, Twitter users shared their firsthand experiences with depression in an effort to raise awareness about the condition's effects and how it is not just a mood that people can snap out of.
According to the World Health Organization, depression affects around 350 million people of all ages globally. A report from the Columbia University found that more than 10 percent of young people aged 10 to 24 years old have depression.
Depression, which is more common among women, is the leading cause of disability and diseases. Most times, depression can be fatal especially if it leads the sufferer into committing suicide.
Depression affects people's work, school and family. There are effective treatments for the condition, but fewer than 10 percent of countries receive those medications. Effective care for depression is often blocked by the social stigma linked to mental disorders, deficiency of resources and lack of trained health care providers.
People with depression cannot be easily spotted in a crowd, and most times individuals with the condition appear happy and alright on the outside. Some symptoms of the depression, however, are hopelessness, lack of energy, appetite changes, trouble sleeping, physical pain, low self-worth and poor concentration.
Here are some truths about depression people with the condition shared on Twitter.
#MyDepressionLooksLike continually trying to convince yourself that you're worth being alive.
— PushingUpRoses (@PushinUpRoses) May 22, 2016
#mydepressionlookslike a wide smile cut short because my mind decided to trigger a negative thought while I'm supposed to be having fun — J (@younggwhite) May 23, 2016
#MyDepressionLooksLike trying to make everyone around me happy while feeling like I don't deserve to be.
— Wine Daddy. (@TRYVNS) May 23, 2016
#MyDepressionLooksLike Nothing. Not sadness, not panic, not dread, just awful nothingness that stretches on for months at a time. — Hutch (@z0mgItsHutch) May 22, 2016
#mydepressionlookslike wanting/needing to be alone for days on end but feeling indescribably lonely even if somebody actually shows up
— smiggy (@sadmayonnaise) May 23, 2016
Treatment For Depression
There are effective treatments available for people battling moderate and severe depression. There are psychological treatments (behavioral activation and cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT), interpersonal psychotherapy, or IPT, and antidepressant drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, and tricyclic antidepressants. or TCAs, WHO listed.
Magic Mushrooms: Cure For Depression?
A hallucinogenic compound called psilocybin derived from magic mushrooms could be used to treat depression. When mixed with supportive therapy, the compound helped lessened symptoms of depression among patients after treatment, according to the Northamptonshire Telegraph.
Like majority of antidepressant medications, psilocybin targets the brain's serotonin receptors. The compound, however, has a different chemical structure and can show results faster than antidepressant drugs.
