Here’s the thing about depression –it can affect anyone, regardless of race, age, gender or status. As one of the leading causes of suicide, this is a problem.
Based on a study by the World Health Organization,the country has one of the lowest suicide rates in the Asean region, but the highest depression rates.
Depression is one of the most trivialized mental illnesses in the country, believed to be interchangeable with sadness.
Seriously, how many times have you said that you were depressed over your one true pairing breaking up?
People cope with depression through a number of ways; some develop anorexia nervosa while others binge eat; others find themselves incapable of doing any activity while others push themselves to work hard in order to escape.
Those with the latter are categorized into what is called high-functioning depression, a classification of the disorder that is harder to detect and not as immediately treated.
No one really expects the bibo kid, the kid with all the medals and the first places under his belt, to be the one who can’t breathe when they’re left alone.
I have met people who keep their emotions in a bottle because they were raised in a certain way – to use their head, to control their emotions and to be practical. Crying was seen as a pointless endeavor whenever they found something displeasing or unfortunate.
That ideology was reinforced by our society, particularly for men who are expected to be “manly.” Society degrades and ostracizes those with mental illnesses. This negative image leads to people keeping things to themselves.
High-functioning depression challenges the stigma of depression as dark, moody and “emo.” Those with high-functioning depression manifest the symptoms through active involvement in schoolwork and extracurricular activities.
High-functioning depression chooses no one. It could take anyone regardless of race, social and economic status, physique, age and gender.
Depression is highly linked to suicide. Depression is like cancer: you can’t cure it with one pill and the person who suffers from it needs all the support they could get.
