Mental Health in The Society

Mental Health in The Society

Figure1: Slipping Deeper and Deeper into Depression Like, by Me.Me (2020), retrieved April 1, 2020 from: https://me.me/i/slipping-deeper-and-deeper-into-depression-like-trending-memes-7721201

Figure 1 above represents how one can get into depression without even realizing that they are actually depressed, which is common in today’s society. The image depicts a child who is enjoying themselves on a slide, and suddenly, the movement on the slide becomes a little more intense than they expected. The same applies to our lives when depression starts to manifest itself. As we are getting by our normal lives, some triggers begin to take over our normal behavior, and we eventually begin struggling with depression.

The reason behind this idea is to help people understand the symptoms of depression and how they can transform our lives really fast. We, therefore, need to be keen on any behavior change, mainly when it affects our daily lives and even people we interact with every day. This idea calls for a self-assessment, especially after a life-changing event or when we find ourselves dealing with the pressure that was not there in the past. This idea could be successful in identifying mental health symptoms before they get out of control. It could fail due to the fact that the image has a child in it, and some people might find it offensive.

Figure 2 : Depression Memes adapted from Neuroscience News, by Akram, U (2020), retrieved April 1, 2020 from: https://neurosciencenews.com/depression-memes-15716/

Figure 2 illustrates the way society tries to offer remedies to depression without a deep understanding of triggered depression. The image depicts a sarcastic response to the numerous solutions an individual might have thought of while the person advising them assumes they have not tried to cheer up. Sometimes people think that the cure to depression is cheering up while there are so many things that should be considered. In a simple guide on how to help a depressed person, BlurtItOut (2017) suggests the following ways to help the individual: staying in touch with them, offering to help them in some of their daily routines, helping them in prioritizing self-care and providing your listening skills and presence.

This idea could be successful in helping people realize that they need to educate themselves on how to help someone suffering from depression. Through educating ourselves, we are able to give support that can actually help the individual get better and fully recover from depression. This might fail because of the sarcasm that is used in the meme, which to some, might sound rude, especially if the person is making a genuine yet uninformed suggestion.

References

BlurtItOut (2017). Blurt’s guide on how to support someone who has depression. Retrieved April 1, 2020 from: https://www.blurtitout.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Blurts-Guide-to-Supporting-Someone-who-has-Depression_WEB.pdf