"Because wherever I sat - on the deck of a ship or at a street caef in Paris or Bangkok - I would be sitting under the same glass jar, stewing in my own sour air."
- Sylvia Plath, the Jar 
Mental health and physical health are not only intertwined but are also equally important. Here it will do us well to note that mental health has hitherto not received the recognition that is essential to provide it for every last individual's well being. Thus, it will be safe to assume that in several cultures many people face mental health issues and that more often than not, they are dismissed as excuses or nonsense or nonsensical excuses to avoid doing what they need to overcome a challenge.
We do know that everyone has a challenging life in ways specific to them. But it is one thing to overcome a challenge and another altogether to try and conceal that something just as specific is happening to someone else.
One such thing is depression.
In pop culture, the breakup of a one week long relationship and betrayal at the hands of a friend you didn't really know is called depression.
'Man, I am so depressed' can be a response to anything from an actor dying to being alone on Valentine's Day to getting a B on one's Math test.
Let us be very clear that, even though depression is only a mood at the beginning, the aforementioned type of depression is not being discussed here.
The following is with what we, at CC, decided to reach out to you.
Someone who is always irritated with everything, lashes out at people for no good reason, demands to be left alone and is often spotted with blotchy eyelids and cheeks is in a depressive mood state. It is important to note that such a person wasn't always like this. In fact, their sudden lack of interest in things they formerly enjoyed doing, leaves peers and family perplexed. Extreme unhappiness, blocked desires and a resultant feeling of being unfulfilled are manifested by such people and such people are not hard to find.
The extent to which they are depressed varies. It varies so greatly that someone may have a spell of depression for a month or two and someone else may be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder if given professional help.
The thing about depression is that it is real. It is one person at war with themselves. Biological, genetic and social approaches to mental disorders all state that some people are more likely to develop a psychological problem than others.
It is similar to someone being at risk of heart disease if someone in their family died of it.
It is a problem; one that can be managed. And to manage it, we must understand it first.
We have put together a mini-guide to identify the signs of minor depression, which is essentially the first step in understanding it:
They don't want to hang out or stay up late in the night.
A loss of appetite is observed.
They hardly ever talk now.
Crying a lot has become a normal thing.
They act like they want isolation but also like they want attention.
Saying they're being overly dramatic won't help them but it sure will take them further down into depression. At the end of the day, the idea is to pay attention and listen, and to give their situation rightful credibility.
Listen to them, that always helps.
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