Awareness of the Invisible
October is officially here!
Some of us might tack on the word “already?” while others exclaim “finally!” Changes in seasons are a mixed bag of experiences for all of us. We all know that the biggest day of October is the very last day of the month. However, October is also filled with a number of other significant days. If you’re a fan of knowing what days the national committee has planned for us this month, you may be interested to know that this month has important fun days such as National Coffee Day (October 1st), National Dessert Day (October 14th), National No Beard Day (October 18th, which I won’t be participating in), and National Youth Confidence Day (October 20th).
On the other side of things, October 8th is National Depression Awareness Day. While this may be less exciting to celebrate than National Taco Day (October 4th), it is actually one of the most important awareness developments that we can have to improve the quality of life for those around us. Depression is a mental health condition that can leave us feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. The more we become aware of what depression looks like, the more we can be prepared to better support the people that we care about.
How aware of depression are you?
When was the last time you encountered someone who is depressed? If you interacted with at least five people within the last week, the chances are high that you encountered someone who is depressed. According to research done by Statista*, 21% of people reported experiencing symptoms of a depressive disorder within the last week. As we move towards the holiday season, the national depression rates tend to increase significantly. Depression tends to rise during seasonal changes. We’ll talk more about why major holidays, particularly the upcoming bundle of festivities, tends to also increase depression as the season progresses.
Why is awareness important?
To put it simply, “knowledge is power” (Sir Francis Bacon, 1597). The more we know, the more we can change. When I sit with clients, my first goal is to create awareness, not just for myself about the valuable human life in front of me, but I also need to create an environment in which my clients become more aware of themselves. The more aware of themselves they become, the more power they have to change themselves.
The more aware we become of depression, the greater opportunity we have to change the trends and help move people away from feeling alone, isolated, and stuck, and into feeling a sense of compassion, connection, and community.
What it is, and what it is not?
What does depression look like? We’ve all seen those antidepressant commercials that portray people stricken with debilitating depression that causes them to lay around in bed with a sunken, sullen dreariness about them. That depression can be easy to spot, if you happen to be near a person suffering from depression when they show their true feelings.
But most of the time, depression is invisible. Many people become professionals at hiding their feelings. Why? Because people have been taught that showing emotions is something to be corrected, and most of us don’t like to be corrected. Er go, we have a society teeming with high functioning depression.
“High Functioning Depression” is a relatively new term that came up in psychology as our awareness of depression increased. People can be very successful and yet still be struggling with the invisible turmoil that leaves them feeling that life is meaningless. Even with the fanciest toys, the closest friends, unforgettable experiences, and wealth out the wazoo, people can still feel stuck in hopelessness. Because depression is not just being sad. It’s being stuck in being sad.
Clinical Depression
Clinically speaking there are specific things that people suffer from that contribute to a diagnosis of depression, though depression can be seen in many different mental health diagnoses. Since we’re working on developing awareness, it is important to be generally familiar with this, though having a basic knowledge of this list is not enough to make a legitimate diagnosis, for yourself or another person. Only someone with sufficient training, such as a doctor or mental health professional, can make a diagnosis.
Clinical depression can happen when you, or someone you know, experiences five or more of these symptoms during the same 2-week period and at least one of the symptoms should be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.
Having a depressed mood almost every day for most of the day
Decreased interest or pleasure most of the day, nearly every day
Significant changes in weight loss or appetite
Physically slowing down
Fatigue or loss of energy almost every day
Feeling worthless
Decreased ability to concentrate
The most important thing to be aware of with having a basic working knowledge of clinical depression is that it significantly impacts the quality of life. Not the “productivity” of life, the quality of life. If you notice that your overall enjoyment of life is taking a serious hit for 2 weeks or more, perhaps it might be time to seek help to get you back on track to increasing the quality of your life.
Be Aware of How to Respond
This might sound obvious to say, but people who are depressed don’t need to be corrected. It takes a lot of courage for any of us to openly tell someone that we are feeling sad, let alone that we are feeling hopeless and alone. The worst response to that type of vulnerability is to correct them.
Compassion, not correction, is what people need.
Action Steps
If you’ve read this far, thanks for joining. But we’re not done yet, because reading about becoming aware of depression does not actually make you aware of depression, nor does it give you the power to change the world around you. Now comes the challenge: What do YOU need to do to become more aware of depression?
The first step is to find out what you already know. Become self-aware of the current knowledge you already possess, about what depression is, where it comes from, what it looks like, and how to solve it.
The second step is to add to what you know. Watch some videos, read more articles, talk to people around, and keep asking questions. Questioning your own knowledge is your opportunity to check yourself, and to help you determine if your knowledge is helpful or hurtful. Perhaps you know how to overcome sadness because you’ve done it before. Will this help someone else? Or will your quick solution come off as correction instead of compassion? More often than not, our quick solutions to the problems of friends and family are invalidating. Our expectations of what we think can be helpful can sometimes get in the way of what is actually helpful. To help overcome this, keep adding to your awareness.
The third step is to find out what the unmet needs are. Reach out. Discover what action you can take to address the depression around you, whether it’s within yourself or within your friends and family. Spend quality time with others, create new meaningful experiences, help out around the house or the community, or get in contact with a local therapist.
My final challenge to you as we end this: As we move into the holiday season when the weather becomes colder, who do you need to reach out to?
