In my last column, we talked about how common mental health problems like depression have become, and how people are willing to open up, discuss and address them, which is a very positive development. Like any illness, prevention is better than cure.But can we prevent depression? I would like to say this is possible. I feel acceptance, contentment and finding a meaning in life can be preventive, interventional and remedial when it comes to mental health. And it’s not the gift of the haves alone —people from the most unimaginably impoverished conditions cope with whatever life deals with resilience, and they resurrect without resentment.
But other problems remain. Today, several institutions imprint strong influences on children and adults with regard to depression. In a recent tele-serial: a young teenager is chided by adults and peers for being disappointed with her exam marks and is asked, “Are you depressed? Are you planning self-harm?” What kind of a suggestive dialogue is that? Sure, the script meant well, but it did not etch a positive mindset of the so-called ‘helpers’.
Similarly, in another soap opera, an authoritarian mother tells her daughter, “You will feel depressed for long time after childbirth; you have to deal with it and get over it.” This even as her daughter is rejoicing over the birth of her first child! Is this prevention or a recipe for post-partum blues, which affect only a few? Again well-intended perhaps, but pretty scary in the way it missed the elements of protective, caring and supportive nurturanceWe, as lay people or professionals, have a responsibility to make life look better, more hopeful, and normal as normal can be. People who are diagnosed with depression must be enabled to seek help so that procrastination does not elongate their confusion and suffering.
From a very young age, it’s important to nurture potential, to make others see and accept their realities, to strive towards positive change and inner well being, so that if and when the inner or outer dam bursts, we have dykes in place.
A colleague once remarked that ‘life is like a game of snakes and ladders’. That’s so true. So many of us have gone through predictable and unpredictable ups and downs, and somehow we have clutched onto others and ourselves and come back to the earth on which to stand, gradually yet steadily. Nothing on the outside will change, what will really make the difference to us and our suffering is when we change the inside, and accept life in all its glory.
And depression does not discriminate, we do. To oppose depression by expression is a means to emerging stronger. Try to think that way that and you are almost hitting your first goal post of successful accomplishment.
Dr. Lakshmi Ravikanth is a psychologist, corporate trainer and executive coach.
Email: lokhee@gmail.com
