Depression is Silent
Everyday millions of people silently struggle with depression, it affects every single aspect of our lives from our work, our families, friends and loved ones, and it especially affects are relationship with ourselves. We start to lose focus, we lose motivation to do anything. The things we used to enjoy doing just doesn’t feel enjoyable anymore., and we just feel like shit and everything around us is turning into shit. Like there’s a heavy weight slowly increasing in strength pressing down on you to the point that sometimes it’s even hard to get out of bed, to brush your teeth, to shower. Other common symptoms include sleeping too much or too little, loss of focus, anger, substance abuse, sexual dysfunction, pain and even suicidal thoughts. For people of the culture unfortunately, we are disproportionately affected by depression with even more stressors than our non-black contemporaries face such as racism, culture shock, poverty, survivors guilt, PTSD. Additionally, depression often goes under-reported and under-diagnosed because depression may look different for us than it would from most others. While the previously mentioned symptoms can hold true for many sometimes depression feels like an overwhelming feeling of failure. As Black people we have become used to not showing negative emotions outwardly as it typically is not something we are allowed to showcase in public and often times even at home with our families. This just means that these emotions, with nowhere else to go, turn inward and can manifest as irritability, anger and a sense of wrongness/failure. I mean, if we can’t show that we are sad or angry or frustrated that must mean there is something wrong with us if we do feel these things. What are we to do with these emotions? The short answer is to feel them. Sadness, anger, frustration, and any other negative emotion are all normal and natural to feel. We don’t have much control over what we feel but we do have control over how we choose to do with these emotions. I choose to acknowledge them. Ignoring them does not make them go away. The more you ignore it the louder they become until you can’t ignore them anymore. That day may not be today, or tomorrow but eventually that day will come and it won’t be during a convenient time for you or those closest to you. Some common activities is prioritizing self-care (you will see me mention this a lot in the future.)
1. Take time out of your day or week where the time is solely based on something you enjoy doing that is NOT tied to being productive. I know how we do, it may feel like a “waste” of time but doing something you like doing is never a waste, YOU ARE WORTH IT!
2. Journal: Either write, voice note, video note something where you can get your thoughts out of your head and put them somewhere else for a little bit. You can burn the paper, delete the file or whatever you want right after but the key is to help gather your thoughts and get it out.
3. Sleep well: This one is often slept on, but sleep is a major key. It balances hormones, and is essential to good mental health, also not getting enough sleep will literally take years off your life.
4. Eat well: Maintain a healthy and balanced diet, Our diet is for real one of the leading causes of our shorter lifespan than everyone else, diabetes, heart disease be taking us out. Chill out on the butter, sugar, and the salt; It’s killing us. I know it tastes great but I want us to live longer lives and to taste more good food with that extra time.
5. Take care of your health: Go to the doctor, the dentist, move your body. Walk a little bit around the block, park your car further from Costco and walk in, just get them steps in.
6. limit the amount of work you bring home from the office. I understand that all jobs aren’t the same but there has to be a clear delineation between work and personal time. If you mix it your body and mind will remember and then you’re wondering why you feel like you can’t relax while sitting in your favorite chair in your home, its because your body still thinks you’re at work!
7. Take all of your PTO and use it for leisure/personal activities, not chores or errands. Take vacations, preferably weekend trips. It’s more about the frequency of the vacations than it is about the length of them. 5-vacations of 3 days is better than one vacation of 15 days (there’s stats for this).
For me, one of the things I like doing is reading fan-fiction during my down-time. Didn’t see that one coming did you?
There’s many more ways to prevent depression, you may already have a routine (if so, I’d love to hear about it, shoot me an email at community@weupcounseling.com and let me know how you maintain your energy/mind/spirit/peace.) What matters is that it works for you.
Check out the stats below for depression, they’re pretty wild.
Key Fast Facts
1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness (SMI) each year
1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
Annual prevalence of mental illness among U.S. adults, by demographic group:
Non-Hispanic Black or African American: 21.4%
Non-Hispanic Asian: 16.4%
Non-Hispanic white: 23.9%
Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native: 26.6%
Non-Hispanic mixed/multiracial: 34.9%
Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 18.1%
Hispanic or Latino: 20.7%
Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual: 50.9%
Annual prevalence among U.S. adults, by condition:
Major Depressive Episode: 8.3% (21 million people)
Schizophrenia: <1% (estimated 1.5 million people)
Bipolar Disorder: 2.8% (estimated 7 million people)
Anxiety Disorders: 19.1% (estimated 48 million people)
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: 3.6% (estimated 9 million people)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: 1.2% (estimated 3 million people)
Borderline Personality Disorder: 1.4% (estimated 3.5 million people)
47.2% of U.S. adults with mental illness received treatment in 2021
65.4% of U.S. adults with serious mental illness received treatment in 2021
Annual treatment rates among U.S. adults with any mental illness, by demographic group:
164 million people live in a designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Area
If you are in crisis or feel like you need someone to talk to immediately please dial 988: Someone is available to speak with you 24/7.
