Seasonal Blues

I have a good friend who experiences a deep depression during the holiday season each year. This year's harsh and troubled economy has made his depression more severe. He, usually an upbeat person, becomes moody, despondent and anti-social. Several different times I have suggested therapy and shared with him my positive and somewhat liberating therapeutic experience. His response is to inaudibly mumble, yeah maybe I'll see so one. He never does. Neither do the millions of blacks who silently suffer from depression.

Terrie M. Williams, author of Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting, poignantly states:

In the African-American community, there's a tendency to hide or ignore symptoms of depression, which include sadness, energy loss, feelings of worthlessness, thoughts of death or suicide, change in weight, and oversleeping or difficulty sleeping. That tendency means missed opportunities to hit the disorder with effective treatments, including talk therapy, antidepressant medication, or both. More than 20 million people in the United States are clinically depressed.

There's an entrenched negative stigma in our community regarding therapy. I remember, as a college sophomore experiencing an acute depression, I was told by many of my peers, at a small tight-knit HBCU (Historical Black College and Universities), I was feeling the blues because I did not have Jesus in my life.

As Psychology Information online explains:

Depression is a "whole-body" illness, involving your body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way you eat and sleep, the way you feel about yourself, and the way you think about things. A depressive disorder is not the same as a passing blue mood. It is not a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. People with a depressive illness cannot merely "pull themselves together" and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people who suffer from depression.

We advise a person with a broken leg, high blood pressure or diabetes to see a doctor ASAP. It's time we overcome our phobia, machismo and ignorance of the importance of our mental and emotional health.

In my next post we will examine effective and affordable depression treatments.