介绍:
Intro:
In 2012, a young netizen whose screen name was known to the public as "Zoufan", dropped a bombshell on Chinese social media.
On the morning of March 18th, on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like micro-blogging site, this undergraduate student posted her final note.
Several hours later, local police confirmed that Zoufan had passed away. The 23-year-old had ended her life on her own terms.
The incident shocked the whole nation. Depression, a clinical disorder that had not been widely recognized in China before, finally stepped into the limelight. As Zoufan's social platform lay out her years-long struggle in the open, the public started to get an idea of how a soul succumbed to depression.
In the following years, Chinese social media has witnessed a growing outpouring of emotions among Zoufan's followers. So far, her last words have been reposted more than 90,000 times and received over half a million comments.
Though most of the comments are full of encouragement, sympathy, and condolence, some are sending certain alarming messages.
According to a 2012 report released by the World Health Organization, WHO, depression had already become the leading cause for disability worldwide.
Just earlier this year, during a news briefing held in Geneva, Dr. Dan Chisholm, a health system adviser from WHO, revealed a much more shocking fact:
"That is extremely common across populations. We estimate that for the depression, it's something like over three hundred million people suffer from depressive disorders. So if you put those in percentage terms at a global level, around 4.4% of the world's population suffer from depression."
As studies found out, the number of people who suffer from depressive disorders has increased by 18% within the decade.
"Rates, which is not a new finding, are higher among the female population than the male population, roughly 1.5 times more common. If we look at it from an age perspective, we see slightly high rates for depression in older adulthood. "
But what is depression exactly? What does depression feel like? Why are some people more prone to this illness than others? And most importantly, is it treatable?
In today's Ink&Quill, we try to search for answers to these questions.
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Highlights of this program:
1. What is depression?
Depression doesn't have a very concrete, clear definition. It's the general term that describes a number of mental illnesses. The symptoms could differ from person to person as well. Some may have trouble sleeping; some would suffer from mood swings; while others could just lose motivation. Why is it so difficult to treat depression? Because, if you look at its definition, symptoms, and treatment, nothing is certain.
2. How many types of depression do we have?
There are stand-alone depression, post-natal depression (happens to new moms), bipolar disorder (a combination of mania and depression, fluctuating in cycle), and seasonal affective disorder (relates to a lack of sunlight).
Misjudgment is pretty common. Lots of cases could not be confirmed. Unlike other diseases such as appendicitis and tuberculosis, the symptoms of depression are not that accurate and quantifiable. Blood tests and X-ray examinations are useless. Doctors have to fumble and observe in the dark.
3. Who gets depression?
Unfortunately, NO ONE is immune to depression.
So far, we still don't know what causes depression. However, there is a genetic factor behind it. It could be the result of neurotransmitter imbalance or the shrinkage of hippocampus in the brain.
4. Why is depression always related with suicide?
The suicide rate is pretty high among people with depression. At least one third of them have suicidal thoughts. Every year, at least 200 thousand patients have suicide attempts in China. Why? Because depression makes you feel like nothing is meaningful. For people diagnosed with terminal cancer, at least they can still feel happiness and affection at intervals of pain. They are still attached to this world. Yet depression utterly destroys one's ability to be happy.
5. Why is depression still a taboo in certain cultures?
We always develop a sense of shame towards certain illnesses. The three most humiliating diseases are HIV-AIDS, infections, and mental disorders. Sometimes, when someone around us is diagnosed with depression, we are so shocked. We wonder: 'How is it possible? He looks so happy every day!' But what we don't know is that some patients try to conceal their health conditions. Why? Because society lacks knowledge regarding mental illness. Discrimination does exist. If employees catch wind of an employer suffering from depression, they automatically question whether the individual is normal or not, or whether they are capable of carrying out important tasks
6. How many people suffer from depression in China?
According to a report released by the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, more than 90 million people in China were suffering from depression in 2009, and the number is believed to have increased since then.
However, it's estimated that only 10 percent of the patients go to see a specialist. The rest are either not aware of their mental problems; or reluctant to seek help due to the social stigma associated with the subject.
7. How to treat it?
Although there is no nostrum for depression, theoretically, medication and psychological intervention are the two major way-outs. Sport therapy is subsidiary. These three methods must be applied at the same time. As for every patient, the treatment must be determined on a case-by-case basis. But most important of all, go to some professionals!
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