Depression, The Ignored Catastrophe that Should Have Been our Cause Celebre

Depression is an illness that leave its victim bereft of confidence, putting them in solitary confinement. Most people mistake them as antisocial people, and in effect, creating an even wider gap between people affected by depression and the world outside. What would be a worse bane to the possibility of a good treatment than solitary confinement? People who has depression often need ears that would listen and shoulders that let them lean in.

There are people out there who suffers from depression but are less than aware about what’s hitting them. Abraham Lincoln, the highly celebrated 16th president of the USA who suffered from depression, once said “I might be the most miserable man in the entire world. If my sadness is shared to the entire human race, there would be no smile any longer.” He suffered from this affliction for his entire life until he was assassinated, because he could not understand what happened to him.

There is an adage saying: If you broke your arm, everyone will queue in front of your door to pay your hospital bill. If you tell people that you are depressed, everyone will run to the exit door. This is not just an exaggeration. It is really happening in our society, that people will care more for those who are tangibly hurt. We must realize that latent problems are also real. Because you can not see it does not mean it did not happen.

Last, mistreatment to the depressed people is quite common even in the modern time. In 2016, there was a piece of news in Kompas saying that many people in Indonesia are locking their family who has afflliction of mental illness in their basement. Such a vile act does not need to happen if they are more literate about this problem.

Those reasons are sufficient to spur us to do something, or at least, aware of the existence of this threat. It is no longer the time for us to be blissfully ignorant about this global epidemic. If we did not know what we are facing, how could we overcome the obstacle? It’s about time we provoke people interest on this problem through the media.