Mental health is the psychological, social, spiritual, and emotional well-being of a person. The moment any of this is not as it should be, then there is a mental health illness. There are many factors that cause illness or instability; childhood abuse, trauma, social isolation, social disadvantage, poverty, or debt, bereavement, severe or long-term stress, having a long-term physical health condition…etc
Mental health illness is experienced in different ways, anxiety disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Schizophrenia, Eating Disorders, Disruptive behaviour and social disorders, Neuro developmental disorders. In our conversation with Anthony Njenga, life coach, counselling psychologist, and mental health advocate we look at Depression as a mental disorder. Depression is an illness that negatively affects the way you feel, how you think, and how you act.
What Are the Common Signs of Depression?
Sometimes you might be undergoing a life challenge, and mistake it for depression. Some of the signs of depression are; Withdrawal; individuals withdrawing themselves from activities they love doing, withdrawal from social interactions, family, and even professional settings like the workplace. Feeling worthless; this is a symptom of depression where individuals feel like they are a ‘nobody’ in the
workplace, home, church, etc. They begin to feel like they are not wanted anymore and that they are not useful.
Isolation; this is where individuals shut down, and want to sit by themselves. Those showing this symptom will sit alone crying, or finding solace in drugs. Isolation may come off as arrogance, but at that time, the individual usually is down emotionally and just crying for help from the inside.
Overindulgence of something; an individual might begin to overeat, over drink, over workout, overdo things that they were probably doing, and some that they begin to adopt. Once you observe an over-indulgence in some things, it is a red flag and could be a sign of depression.
Sudden life changes; An individual going through depression may make sudden and unlikely changes in their life such as quitting their job, relocating to unlikely places as well as simple things such as their hairstyle; colouring or even completely shaving for women.
“For you to say you are undergoing any kind of these mental health illnesses, you need to be assessed by expertise in the medical personnel.” Says Anthony Njenga counselling psychologist, and mental health advocate In our families and social circles, we are able to identify if our loved ones are going through depression.
We are able to tell when our friends, brothers, sisters, and even neighbours are in depression by observing these signs and symptoms. People with depression also tend to have a very different mindset from people who are feeling down. “A person feeling down usually has hope that things will change for the better. The person with depression feels that their situation is hopeless and will not change.” Said Anthony Njenga “