Chronicle of Depression.

Growling Darkness.

Never real, and always true, and tats how depression feels, you know that it is not real, that you are someone else, and yet you know that it is true”. (Andrew Solomon)

The wild scream from the next block hauled me out of bed and staring through my window. There was a small group of people, wearing pale faces, throwing

hands into space. That was her mother screaming and violently shaking the lifeless body. News had it that Abisola has committed suicide, leaving a note behind for her family:

I’m writing this with the last strength and will, I could gather, life hasn’t been easy and you and dad made it worse, I can’t do this anymore; depression is so real, and this world feels so lonely and empty.

I should end it all, call it a quit.

I’m sorry I let you and dad down so many times, not meeting expectations.

This is goodbye, forever.

Abisola. A.

Out of sheer curiosity, I got her ID going through her profile on the blue app, her last post two hours ago, was:

Depression is dark,

The color of death,

Pour me dark ink,

I have lots of sketches to make,

A touch of red ink, maybe, I see blood flowing.

Depression also known as a major depressive disorder is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how one feels, and the way one thinks or acts. It affects an estimated 1 in 15 adults in any given year, and about 1 in 6 people will experience depression at some time in their life. (American Psychiatric Association).

However, it is treatable. It causes feelings of sadness, worthlessness, loneliness, uncertainty, and loss of interest. This leads to mental, physical, emotional, and psychological breakdowns, affecting ones thinking and relationship with others.

Furthermore, depression has a wide and varying range of symptoms, which varies from mild to severe: insomnia, weight gain or loss, inability to concentrate, loss of interest in past pleasurable activities, awkwardly antisocial, feeling of fatigue, guilt, worthlessness, death, and suicide.

Consequently, upon that, it has been proven that women are more susceptible to depression, due to hormonal changes, puberty, premenstrual problems, pregnancy, and postpartum depression, menopause and, premenopausal. (Mayo clinic staff).

No one knows exactly the main cause of depression, but some factors trigger this fire, ranging from, abuse, aged people, living alone with no social support, certain medications such as corticosteroids and antiviral drugs, substance misuse, conflict, and genes. (Smitha Bhandari)

Nevertheless, there are various types of depression. There are also various means of getting through depression, changing environment, route of thoughts, support from friends and family, as well as professional help.

Picture the beauty of the world, if we can spread love, trust, and believe like wildfire, step out of our shoes into other people's perspectives and see reasons with them, not judging and urging them to be them.

Maybe, just maybe, there will be no life lost to suicide and depression. Love is a spice of life, sprinkle it!