When depression comes, just conquer it!
by Law Chui Shan (5B)

      Have you ever been extremely sad and lost the motivation to do anything?  If yes, you may be suffering from depression.

      Depression is a mental illness that involves the mind and body.  It could interfere with your daily life seriously which could even lead to suicides, since it bothers you with excessive negative thinking and makes you feel weary.  However, there is a solution for every problem. More importantly, we should be aware of how terrible depression is, and learn to fight against it positively.

      But alas, conquering depression is not as easy as a piece of cake.  Here is an example of one of my friends who had suffered from depression for a long time.  Sam is an outstanding student who always excels academically, and his parents have high hopes for him.  In order to push Sam to gain even greater achievement, they signed him up for plenty of tutorial classes and extra-curricular activities. These classes had cast a burden on Sam as they occupied most of his time.  Having not enough rest and being worried that he could not meet his parents’ expectations, Sam could not concentrate in class, hence, his academic results dropped rapidly, making him feel upset.  Worse still, his parents were angry about his declined performance which finally made Sam have a nervous breakdown.

      Although Sam was suffering from depression, he kept it a secret as he thought it was shameful.  Therefore, he left the problem unattended and tried to lighten his sadness by getting lost in the virtual world of computer games.  Unfortunately, the negative thoughts kept intruding into his mind which ruined his appetite and sleeping cycles.  Also, the depression broke the bond between Sam and his friends because he did not want his depression to be found out and was worried how people would judge him.

      Luckily, our class teacher, Mr. Lee, observed the drastic change in Sam.  He talked to his parents and referred him to the school social worker.  At first, he was reluctant to receive professional counseling. With the support of his family members and friends, he eventually recovered following the counselor’s advice and making much effort by taking anti-depressants and doing exercise regularly.

Suffering from depression is not a big deal when you are willing to seek help and tackle it with the correct methods. Firstly, find someone trustworthy and share your worries with them.  Do not worry about whether people will judge you, since having depression is the same as getting sick.  A good listener will listen to you patiently and offer you advice.  Also, you will feel better after having a conversation with friends as you will feel as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders by verbalizing your worries.

Additionally, doing exercise is a good way to release pressure.  Exercising your body, such as running and swimming, helps your brain secrete a chemical called dopamine which can make us feel happy and relieve our stress.  Moreover, doing exercise could bring you satisfaction like being able to finish the race, so that you can sleep well at night without negative thoughts.

      Suffering from depression is not embarrassing and it is not your fault.  If you keep your feelings bottled up inside, your negative feelings will mount up and your depression will grow bigger.  In contrast, you must conquer it bravely, so that your condition will improve and everything will become better.  Stop blaming yourself!  Let yourself out and beat depression!