Exploring the Depths of Depression: An Argumentative View
You’ve lost connections with friends and family, you can’t bring yourself to go outside, it feels like the world is against you. This is the life of having depression, a horrible cycle of low moods, sadness and an overall feeling of dejectedness. I chose to write my argumentative essay about depression as I believe that an issue like this deserves to be talked about and not just swept under the rug, this affects huge amounts of people because they are unaware or too embarrassed to seek out help.
Depression is not just a bad mood or day, but it is a feeling of loneliness for long periods of time, or as a US government website that defines depression as losing interest in the key points of life, theories used to suggest depression was only a western illness but studies show that depression now affects every society today. People can have an increased risk of depression if family members have previously had it, if they have low self-esteem, illness and drugs and alcohol. The earliest accounts of depression date back to the 2nd millennium B.C. where people believed it was a spiritual issue. During the 50s and 60s anxiety was a major problem in the US, this was passed down over multiple generations inevitably evolving into to depression. It is estimated that 60% of Americans that commit suicide or attempt to have major depression.
Depression is also an interesting topic because there are numerous risk factors associated with the condition. The risk factors are identified as genetics since it runs in the family, biochemistry as certain chemicals contribute to the symptoms, personality as it is associated with low self-esteem and environmental factors like child abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence. Hence, this topic is relevant to contemporary counseling and mental health because studies continue to link depression to risk factors and also recommend solutions that are tailored or aligned with the specific risk factors. For instance, pharmacotherapeutic interventions are meant for biochemical causes while cognitive behavioral therapy would be linked to personality and environmental factors. A report from WHO estimates around 264 million cases of individual confirmed cases suffering from depression with 800,000 dying yearly because of depression-induced suicide. The report also linked suicide as the second killer of adolescents, those between 15 and 19 years old. Hence, this research focuses to explore depression among adolescents and how substance abuse (as chemical and environmental risk-factor) can be addressed as an approach to reducing depression among this population. Besides, it is aimed at inducing a change in perception about the risks of substance abuse by linking it to major depressive symptoms and risks among teenagers.
Juliette Jowit, a writer for the Guardian says “Depressed people don’t shuffle around with a long face, or cry at every provocation… Symptoms include eating too much or too little; pulling away from regular activities; having low or no energy; and thinking of harming yourself or others... At any one time it is estimated that more than 300 million people have depression… Women are more likely to be affected than men”.
Sravani Saha told about her experiences with depression in 2017 and how she got over it in, “In moments of calm and peace, I dug into myself. I wrote and wrote trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Reading up online also helped. It was not very long when I found out I was depressed…” She also says “The most important step for a depressed person is to know and acknowledge they are depressed. That done, half the battle is won”.
All in all, depression is a horrible thing affecting millions of people at all times and in some cases ending in people killing themselves or harming others. I believe that depressed people are not mopey and obviously depressed, but I do think if people payed more attention, had more awareness and cared more about their friend’s depression would not be as prominent as it is today.
