NIPPING DEPRESSION IN THE BUD I

By: Agosu Sewanu Omoleye

Folks, let us start this write up by sharing this story Late Pa Gamaliel Onosede told me in 2008 as a fresh writer before my interview with him. My first major personality interview actually.

A boy went to the sea side early in the morning for fresh breeze and he saw the waves bringing Oysters to the sea shore. He wondered how he could save the beautiful Oysters and started throwing them back into the sea one after the other. Soon it was almost dark and an old man came to him asking how many of these creatures do you think you can save? The young boy answered and said 'At least these ones will be saved'. This is deep! We can not do it all but we can play our parts to heal the world. Read this line by line and we hope to educate someone.

Media in recent times has been agog with a mirage of content bordering on clinical depression, cases of suicide, suicide attempts, drug abuse and many more prevalently among the youth. Recent statistics have shown that the youth constitute over 60% of the Nigerian populace and sadly enough, this problem has eaten deep into the major population as the problems identified above has become a recurring decimal among them. One might be forced to ask what the future holds for our 'great' Nation going by this discovery and happenings rocking the media in recent times.

Experts and others in the Ivory tower have educated us in the media about this subject matter for the past weeks, religious bodies have admonished the people in this regards too only for it to be discovered that depression is not a respecter of age or religious beliefs. Recently a staunch member of a religious body was down with depression, went suicidal and took his own life!. Depression is a mental illness and is defined as a state of lowness and a feeling of zero self worth which comes as a result of a chain of unpleasant events.

A depressed individual according to experts is most likely to commit suicide or homicide. They bottle up a lot within themselves although they may put us a picture perfect appearances. Experts opined that the depressed person did not get to his current state overnight, he or she must have been fighting some hidden wars from within. If help does not come in time, he or she may resort to suicide, drug use and abuse then slide deeper into to some other desperate activities like the proverbial goat that has been pushed to the wall.

CAUSES of this mental condition is quite numerous and it is worthy of note that it is not age specific as mentioned earlier. People from any age range can fall victim of this disorder. In this part of the world where structured provisions are not made for people suffering from this problem. The affected persons slide more and more into depression and the result is always like the ones staring us in the face from the tabloids for the past weeks. Agencies where counsellors will talk to them should be available because it has been discovered that all a depressed person needs to save him may be a listening ear, someone to give him some sense of inclusion and self worth.

FAILURE is another factor. In this part of the world where we have little or no structural plans, failure is a common decimal and worrisome is the fact that the way failure is treated can further aggravate depression. People do not show genuine concern to the plight of others. We are quick to take to the media with hastags SAY NO TO DEPRESSION, SUICIDE IS NOT AN OPTION and so on after the deed has been done. 

 It is so unfortunate that we have a culture of going with trends and leaving the root of problems unattended to. We seem not to be interested in the problems, but the activities around them. The same man who came to you for advise and you stole his business idea, who needed a listening ear but was shooed off, extended a hand of friendship and you felt he is not fit for your circle, he asked for job after becoming a chattered Accountant and you suggested to him menial job slides into depression then dies and everyone suddenly turns into 'depression expert'?. Ironic and funny you would want to say.

Worrisome and quite pathetic is the case of a young man who poisoned himself after failing JAMB a number of times. The young man might have been mocked and taunted into suicide by comparing him with some of his contemporaries who might have even graduated. 

Verbal condemnation and social embarrassments occasioned by failure in this part of the world should be discouraged. The young man would have lived if someone showed him love, enrol him in a JAMB class, draw up a reading timetable and improve his reading habits. He would not be thinking about suicide as an option if these were done for him.

A case was also reported of a young handsome and brilliant chartered Accountant who was rescued before jumping into the lagoon from the third mainland bridge last week. We will also recall the Medical doctor who stopped his driver in this same bridge sometimes ago and took a dive into the lagoon. These are not scenes from the movie. They are real life situations. Depression is a disease that should be tackled headlong and very fast too considering the current trend.

Unemployed youths with brilliant academic records roam the streets in their numbers, have a word with them and you will almost touch the Neglect and naked hopelessness from their words. Many of them resort into vocational activities and enrol for skill acquisition programs but some that are not so lucky probably with no one to advise or support them resort to drug use and alcoholism to temporarily forget their woes. This confirms the saying that an 'idle man is the devil's workshop'. They gradually slide into use of drugs and depression comes in at a particular point. The very thought of their brilliant academic records vis-à-vis their current state either makes them go suicidal or engage in other desperate moves like cyber crimes and other social vices.

SIGNS of depression however are subtle but noticeable. Early discovery will prevent it from becoming a full blown monster. A depressed person is mostly withdrawn and lonely even in the midst of people, he enjoys his own company but secretly craves for inclusion and attention. He may always complain that his projections are not in sync with his outcomes. When these happen please take note.

OUR PART in addressing this problem is simple but quite pivotal. We need to show them love at all times and also show genuine interests in their affairs. We must also be careful about the narratives we put out there and discourage messages detailing how youths can get rich quick as we currently have scattered all over the social space. The ugly effect of these messages is that the moment they discover it is a hoax, some of them may slide into depression out of disappointment and frustration.

 The is a story a lot of readers here may be familiar with, and I will like to close this write up with it. In '93 Kane Carter won a Pulitzer Award with a photograph he took of a starving Child in the war torn Sudan (picture below) the child was weak and dying, Kane didn't touch him nor offered water or cookies from his supplies, a vulture was nearby waiting for the child to die so as to begin feasting on the body. Kane got his Award but depression Killed him in about a year later. He was variously criticised by writers and groups across the world for being Insensitive to the boy's plight. Some even argued that there was a second Vulture hiding somewhere in the picture  which was Kane Carter himself. 

He took his own life in 1994 after leaving a suicide note saying 'I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain' he waited till there was no time to help the child, now that we have the time let us do our part to save our brothers.

The child survived and succumbed to malaria fever year's after.