DEPRESSION

"Depression is like a war. You either win or lose because of trying."

Depression is a major depressive disorder, it is a common and serious medical

illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Luckily,
it is treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness or a loss of interest in any
activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and
can decrease a person's ability to function at workplace, schools and/ or at home.
Sometimes and the most heartbreaking part is, when a person who's engaged in
depression will end their life.

Depression is an illness, but treatable. All you need is someone to talk to. But as
I read some news or articles about depression, 6 out of 10 people who's suffering from
depression kill themselves instead of asking for help. This disease can be passed down
through genes, can follow external events or might be caused by a chemical imbalance
in the brain. It affects twenty percent of all people, some without even knowing it, or at
some times during their lives. Depression is not a just a disease that only influences
males or children of the age three to eleven. Every human being is prone to depression.
Everyone is prone to it. Although, some studies says that women are three times more
likely to become depressed than men, men are five times more likely to commit suicide
when depressed than women. Some think that women have a less pleasing social role
and their hormones make them more susceptible to depression. Men are more subject
to keep their emotions bottled up inside of them because of their role in society and
that they do not have the society's permission to express their feelings openly. In short,
men can handle their emotions very well, unlike women. This one thing shows about
the famous debate topic "Men are superiors than women". Sigmund Freud believed that
a person's oblivious anger over a loss weakened the "ego," which resulted in self hate
and self injurious behavior, however Aaron Beck steered in a very different way. He
believed that depressives looked at everything in a negative thing and will blame
themselves for everything that went wrong. This negative way thinking made situations
appear much worse than held true and raised the chance of depression. Martin
Seligman, an American psychologist, thought that depression came from "learned
helplessness," an idea that one cannot control the effect of happenings. All of these
theories may hold true in some cases.

But as we might think, depression is more likely to sadness. However, this belief
is not true. Depression is different from sadness or grief. The death of a loved ones ,
loss of job or the ending of a relationship are difficult experiences for a person to
endure. It is normal for feelings of sadness or grief to develop in response to such
situations. Those experiencing loss often might describe themselves as being
"depressed." But being sad is not the same as having depression. The grieving process
is natural and unique to each individual and shares some of the same features of
depression. Both grief and depression may involve intense sadness and withdrawal from
usual activities. Also, people who are engaged in depression feels like they are
'worthless', 'helpless'. It is also happens to someone who has low self-esteem they are
easily overwhelmed by stress. People who are engaged in too much abuse, neglect, or
poverty will make people more vulnerable to depression. Now let me give you some of
famous musician who died because of depression. Heard about Nirvana? Their frontman
Kurt Cobain killed himself through firing a shotgun. He gets addicted to heroine because
of depression. The other one was Donny Hathaway, he's also enlisted as one of The
Greatest Musician Who Died before 40, also in The Greatest Ukulele Players of All Time.
Hathaway died at the age of 34 after falling from a 15th floor window on January
13,1979. Before this, he was brought to the hospital due to his emotional problems. He
was hospitalized, twice. Next one is Chester Bennington. Heard about him? Yes I do.
Bennington is also the front man of alternative rock band Linkin Park. Yes, he died at
the age of 41 at Phoenix Arizona, United States of America. He did the usual way of
committing suicide. He hung himself in Los Angeles in his county home. The singer had
a history of depression and openly spoke about contemplating suicide after he was
sexually abused as a child. The other one is INXS singer Michael Hutchence he was
choked to death in an apparent suicide in 1997. He was found naked with a belt around
his neck, leading some to belief that his death may have been an accidental result of
auto-erotic asphyxiation. He was reported to have made several "dark" phone calls in
the hours leading up to his death. Now death is really horrible as well as depression.
Depression isn't one of the most talk issues here in the Philippines for the past years.
Its been ages since the last talk. But one person pulled the trigger and woke me up. His
name was Kim Jong-Hyun. He died last 18th of December 2017 at the age 27. He's
really young. He debuted as a member of South Korean band Shinee. Jonghyun is a
singer, song writer, record producer, author, radio host, and the main vocalist of his
band. He's under SM Entertainment "The Ballad". Jonghyun died because of depression
due to pressure. It was said that he rented an apartment where he died and checked in
for only 2 days. He was died because of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Kim
Jong Hyun was a great friend, an idol, a great man, a talented musician, and a lovable
son and brother to his family.

Depression can be cured. It is treatable through the process of Psychotherapy, or

"talk therapy," it is sometimes used alone for treatment of mild depression, for
moderate to severe depression, psychotherapy is often used in along with
antidepressant medications. Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT has been found to be
effective in treating depression. CBT is a form of therapy that focused on the present
and problem solving. It helps a person to recognize distorted thinking and then change
behaviors and thinking. Also, there's a lot of hotlines where you can call and talk to
someone. The hotline numbers were issued to all places in the whole world.

"When you're depressed, you don't control your thoughts. Your thoughts control
you. I wish people would understand it." It was said by an anonymous person.
However, it is true. Like its really insane! Judging person who suffers depression? I
believe it is ridiculous! They want to escape from it, they want to step out of darkness
but its just they can't. Why? Because instead of cheering them up, or helping them
some are judging them. Like, "she/he deserves it". We should not do that thing.
Because seriously, depression is a serious talk. A serious problem that anyone might
experience. So if you ever know someone who suffers depression, better help them
now.
 As my paper ends, I can say that depression is something that anyone should
not take easily. Let’s end depression. Fight and end depression.