Over the years, your support has made Women’s Web the leading resource for women in India. Now, it is our turn to ask, how can we make this even more useful for you? Please take our short 5 minute questionnaire – your feedback is important to us!
Depression is real. It may not be visible, but it exists all the same. To battle depression, an individual needs the support and love of those around her. Be that friend.
I have spent the last few days tending to my little one who was unwell. I have spent the last few weeks worrying over someone in the family. Amidst all this, I have tried to maintain a balance between home and work. I have tried to maintain a presence on social media, I have watched snippets of my favourite show on my phone and I have even sighed over the #deepveer wedding.
To some, it may seem like I have lived a perfect life and yet, those who are the closest to me know the mental battle I have been trying to fight.
This post isn’t about how easy or how difficult life can be sometimes. Neither does this post intend to gather empathy and sympathy around the everyday struggles one faces in life. This post is however meant to educate you that there is something known as depression.
Depression is a disease and it needs to be cured. It’s not a mental state or a phase that will get better with time. It needs to be attended to!
Depression can be caused by various factors, the common one being emotional, mental or physical trauma. The extent of trauma can be small or large.
I have had multiple changes in lifestyle, work culture and certain set backs when it came to a few emotional issues and the only reason I have been able to sail through all of it is because I had family to hear me out. I constantly had people to ask me if I was feeling ok, on days when I didn’t!
I often say that there is nothing that communication cannot solve. The biggest of issues arises due to lack of communication skills. Be it professional issues or personal issues, the right manner and sources of communication play a big role.
Depression is not always known to people. It may not always be visible, like a muscle pain or a flu. The best way to gauge a person affected by it is by knowing that they aren’t their usual selves for the longest period of time.
There are a lot of speakers, self help videos, and motivational videos available online that can boost someone’s morale. Helping someone battle depression can be exhausting, hence you will have to strike a balance between your life and their life. The best you can do is to help them accept the situation and get them to seek help. Make sure there is someone around them always which would keep them away from indulging in any self-harming activities. Family and friends can be your biggest support, reach out to them.
Love and hugs to everyone out there who is battling depression, has battled it and is a winner and to everyone who is helping someone deal with it. More power to you!
Image via Unsplash
read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
He said that he needed sometime to himself. I waited for him as any other woman would have done, and I gave him his space, I didn't want to be the clingy one.
Trigger Warning: This deals with mental trauma and depression, and may be triggering for survivors.
I am someone who believes in honesty and trust, I trust people easily and I think most of the times this habit of mine turns into bane.
This is a story of how a matrimonial website service turned into a nightmare for me, already traumatized by the two relationships I’ve had. It’s a story for every woman who lives her life on the principles of honesty and trust.
And when she enters the bedroom, she sees her husband's towel lying on the bed, his underwear thrown about in their bathroom. She rolls her eyes, sighs and picks it up to put in the laundry bag.
Vasudha, age 28 – is an excellent dancer, writer, podcaster and a mandala artist. She is talented young woman, a go getter and wouldn’t bat an eyelid if she had to try anything new. She would go head on with it. Everyone knew Vasudha as this cheerful and pretty young lady.
Except when marriage changed everything she knew. Since she was always outdoors, whether for office or for travelling for her dance shows, Vasudha didn’t know how to cook well.
Going by her in-laws definition of cooking – she had to know how to cook any dishes they mentioned. Till then Vasudha didn’t know that learning to cook was similar to getting an educational qualification. As soon as she entered the household after her engagement, nobody was interested what she excelled at, everybody wanted to know – what dishes she knew how to cook.