Depression

The recent budget has underlined the fact that mental ill-health is the major health issue facing Australians in the early part of the 21st century.

Responding to the reality that Australians now regard mental health among the top three national concerns, just behind the economy and climate change, all sides of politics now support substantial growth in investment in mental health care. 

Let me tell you about depression. 

It is an illness that lies hidden within a person and in my case, I wasn't aware of it and refused to acknowledge I had it until very late in my life.

The symptoms exhibit themselves as character flaws such as short temper and anger issues. It's strange to associate anger with depression but that is a fact. Uncontrolled anger is such a debilitating symptom that goes untreated most of the time.

Anxiety, panic attacks and palpitations is another symptom. You can try meditation and if that works for you then good. But if it doesn't you life can be seriously disrupted. 

Put anxiety and anger together and you see behavior that is appalling but you don't immediately think, that person is suffering from depression. 

That is the reason why depression can remain undiagnosed and untreated.

Sure there are periods of lethargy, lack of motivation and low spirits, the symptoms that identify depression but eventually that feeling goes away whereas the anxiety and the anger are always lying just beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest provocation.

Depression can have dire consequences on the life of the sufferer, especially when called to cope with stress, and who doesn't have stress in their lives?

People with depression don't deal with stress very well because anxiety, panic and eventually anger take over their thinking processes.

For example, a person with depression who sits for an exam or attends a job interview, will be subjected to stress and this will trigger anxiety and palpitations and probably the mind at some critical point will just go blank.

Failure is no stranger to anyone who suffers depression and anger always follows stress, frustration, hurdles, setbacks and rejection. 

If you think about how you've dealt with such situations and maybe your whole life seems to be governed by your inability to remain calm and rational, then chances are you're suffering from depression.

I know that my life would have been very different if I'd known that something was wrong with me rather than put my failings down to character flaws.

There is medicine available to treat depression but I've been told of cases where the medicine has caused suicidal behavior. I'm talking about SSRI drugs. 

Although doctors tell you that once you start this medicine you shouldn't stop, I disagree.

Personally I think that SSRI drugs should be taken like analgesics, once the headache goes away, you stop taking the medicine.

But that's my personal opinion and only an opinion for what it's worth.