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Health | Share This Page | |
Depression: A Baneful Malady |
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by Dr. Frank S. K. Barar |
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The Times of India (TOI, August 2) carried the news, "WHO says India is a depressed nation?".Prof. S.K. Chaturvedi, Head, Dept. of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore has refuted the statement that "India is a depressed nation". He says that the WHO figures could be highly inflated, and very few Indians suffer severe depression (MDE), and most of the people have mild to moderate forms of depression. The statistical methodology may be at the root of the problem based on a western population which does not match India. Truly, the socio-economic scenario in India and the west is quite different. Moreover, I remember a statement once by my medical statistics teacher, "One can use statistics more for support, rather than illumination". Today life is being lived in the fast-lane, sprinkled with stress, worry, competition, loneliness, pride, envy, multiplying aspirations, marital discords, and a quarrelsome neighbourhood. It is said, "You can be as happy as your neighbour wants you to be". Contentment as a virtue of human behaviour seems to have been lost in the wilderness, and one yearns for more and more. Definitely this has led to an increased incidence of depression where one develops a feeling of helplessness and worthlessness, with other dire consequences. Depression is an 'affective' disorder which afflicts many individuals during their lifetime. Benjamin Franklin said, "Nothing is certain in the world but death and taxes", Franklin perhaps missed 'sadness'. The psychiatric term "affect" refers to feelings - pleasant and unpleasant - which man experiences during his lifetime. Such feelings regulate the emotional and mental state at any point of time. Certain simple steps outlined below can alleviate the malady to quite an extent:
All these measures applied diligently will revive one into a new personality leaving depression behind. |
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06-Aug-2011 | ||
More by : Dr. Frank S. K. Barar | ||
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