Depression: unrecognised pandemic

It is the need of the hour to formulate a coherent and consistent mental health policy

Far from being a modern ailment, the history of depression dates back to antiquity. What is new, however, is its extent and scale. Clinical depression has grown to the proportion of a psychological pandemic. It has now been assuming the form of taboo. People talk about cancer, about hypertension and even HIV-AIDS. But hardly a few suffering from depression dares talk about, and keep suffering in silence. Depression has been tightening its noose around the people of all ages and across the globe. It’s indeed a mental pandemic of great concern. According to the World Health Organisation, 280 million people, or 3.8%, are suffering from depression globally.

I recently encountered a school friend who appeared in low mood. When enquired, I was shocked to hear that he had been taking self-prescribed antidepressant drugs for over two years. On asking why has he been suffering in silence and getting no psychiatric help, he said did not want to be labelled a ‘psycho’. This friend of mine is not the only victim of stigmatisation of the condition, nearly everybody around us encounter it in varying degrees in the different stages of life. Despite being the victim, we are least likely to discuss and get efforts to address it.

Even though the medical science has identified the roots of this disease into neuroscience and neurotransmitter imbalance, the myopic social psyche has failed to recognise it as a threat to reckon with. Unless it’s recognised as such, the victims would continue to undergo the agonies of depression.

Depression differs from usual frustrations and short-term mood swing responses. A serious level of depression takes time to develop before it worsens. It makes people suffer in cognition, judgment, workplace and in the social interplay. In severe cases, this leads to suicides. Approximately 700,000 people commit suicide globally and depression is among the leading causes.

The common symptoms among the depression victims include difficulty in concentrating and recalling events, dwarfed judgment and decision-making ability, irritability, hopelessness, anger, feeling guilty and worthless, joblessness, insomnia or oversleep, alienation, severe headache, digestive problems and suicidal thoughts and tendencies.

Untoward life events and incidents, genetic predisposition, financial setback, poverty, chronic illness, bereavement, drug addictions, and loss of loved ones contribute to the growing incidences and prevalence of depression.

According to the WHO, less than half of those with depression are getting treatment. Given its pandemic proportion, the countries across the world need to prioritise this mental health challenge and put in place pragmatic remedial therapies. Apart from pharmacological treatment modalities, there’s need to institutionalise behavioural therapies as effective response to depression. Cognitive behavioural therapy helps break down the cycle of detrimental thoughts. Other therapeutic modalities with promising outcomes include psychoanalytical therapy, interpersonal therapy, physical activity and art therapy.

The case in Pakistan is quite deplorable. Estimates suggest that about 50 million people in Pakistan suffer from psychological illness, including depression. A survey jointly conducted by Sindh Mental Health Authority and Edhi Foundation this year revealed that of 1,494 people (757 in rural and 737 in urban areas of Sindh) interviewed, 42% reported to have been suffering from depression.

It is thus the need of the hour to formulate a coherent and consistent mental health policy. The first and foremost is to recognise the scale of the challenge and dispel the social stigma linked to it. Carrying out public awareness campaigns through mainstream and social media as well as national curriculum and establishing community centres would go a long way in helping to recognise the malady and redress it.