"Bro, Depression Ho Gaya"

-

 Hey everyone!

Welcome back <3

This post is actually inspired from something I saw both online and in real life, and it irked me quite a lot.

"Bro, Depression Ho Gaya" 

like the tittle says, is something I heard in school. The context being: They didn't do so well in an exam or just think it's funny/relatable. 

My main aim in this post is to focus rather on why we should stop just throwing these words around rather than just being an "overreactive advocate" (Yes, people have actually said that to me.)

Without further ado, let's get to it. 

The Stigma.

There's a HUGE stigma surrounding Mental Health globally. People are afraid to open up because of this surrounding layer of apparent shame. 

When people use such terms and sentences, they unknowingly add more to the very stigma. 
It makes the victim believe as if what they are going through "isn't a big deal" and further burdens them from not opening up about it.

Their fears are undermined and simultaneously overpowered by society.     
Some people choose to use these terms as an excuse thereby increase the stigma.

You're indirectly invalidating the emotions of the victim when you choose to use such terms.

I've had instances of people saying such stuff, not just with depression but with literally every single mental illness we know of. 

"Bro your desk is so clean, *OCD alert*" 

There's also a flip side to this argument which is people use these terms to convey their hidden emotions. But when you see everyone around you using those terms, it impacts your self esteem and feelings. That's just the truth.

I have always been a strong recommender of not self-diagnosing, so if you feel you're struggling, ask for help. But go to the right people. It does work. 

Everyone makes mistakes when their unaware of something. I have too. I have used these terms in the past. I can't change the past but I can mind my future. Educate yourself on these and try to reduce the usage of such terms irl.

Also keep in mind the context. The word 'depressed' may at times mean sad too (English books *cough*). They're not always indicative of the mental illness, but as conscious and responsible members of society, we must contribute to using the term properly and not trivialising it.

That was it for today! Hope y'all enjoyed it. Don't forget to share and subscribe for more, every Friday!

Signing off,

Kuhu :)

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 16, 2022 at 5:12 PM

    Love the way you put such deep topics in such a light and convincing way!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blah Days

-
Image
  Some days rule: You feel like the most productive person in the world, everything seems to go your way and life feels good; you're on Cloud 9. Some days suck: They make you feel sad and all you want to do on those days is curl up into your blanket and wait for the day to end. And some days, are simply, blah: The middle ground. Blah days are ones where you don't feel your best - something just feels off; things don't seem to snap into place and the very idea of getting it into place leaves you with lethargy. But why are they important? Why do most of us experience it, regularly? Because these, unexpectedly, are the "scariest days": they make you question your current lifestyle, your environment, your life. I don't like the above thought. Instead, I like to look at them as perspective days. Blah days are those which help you realise what you're doing with life and what your goals are. See, when you're in a state of enjoyment or morose-ness, chances are...
Read more

"I'm Traumatised"

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to a bunch of people and ranting about the Hindi syllabus of ICSE . For those who went through the system, you and I both know the struggle of reading Sukhi daali and Deepdan. For those who didn't, just be glad. The thing that irked me the most about that conversation was that they kept referring to the chapters as "traumatic." And I realised that this wasn't the first time such an incident occurred in front of me. By introspecting my conversations with people, I realised the term was trivialised, simply because they didn't know what it meant . Google defines Trauma as an emotional response caused by severe distressing events that are outside the normal range of human experiences. Take a second to read the underlined words: severe, distressing, outside normal. Trauma is a strong word. Unfortunately, it has become ubiquitous in our lexicon, applied liberally to describe an ever-widening spectrum of experiences. When you use this word in ...
Read more

The Broken Hot Chocolate Machine

-
Image
 I've been in college for about over a month now. In the 40 days I've spent here, I've visited the food hall over 100 times - of which the Hot chocolate machine has been broken for over 90. Bombay's humidity was quickly replaced by Boston's "Fall" (it's winter guys) and the only thing helping me through the transition was a cup of hot chocolate every morning. But about 2 weeks in, the hot chocolate machine broke.       Initially, a piece of paper, closely stuck by tape, lay pressed against the machine: " Hot Chocolate Machine is Broken! "  4 weeks in, it's now a laminated sheet of paper, carefully stuck to the machine. Someone took the time to type it out onto a computer, print it, cut it, have it laminated, and stick it up to the machine. Do you know what they could be doing in that time? (Hint: getting the machine fixed!) This post is not about the machine. (Obviously Kuhu, it's a Mental Health blog - get to the point!) We often pro...
Read more

Mental Health Illnesses=Cool?

-
Image
  Hey Everyone!! Welcome to Mental Health Awareness Month! So, we all may have a come across with at least one person in our lives who might have used the name of a mental disorder incorrectly. I've had my share too. I have seen a lot of people claim that they are "depressed" or have "anxiety" without really knowing what it is. Took me a while to understand why they said stuff like this, but when found out the reason I was appalled. To look cool, duh "Seriously?!" That was my exact reaction-in every tone imaginable. Sarcastic, shocked, surprised, amazed, aghast and what not! This very encounter is the reason why I chose to write to write on this topic and throw some light on why having a mental illness IS NOT "COOL". For starters, why would you want to diagnose yourself with something you don't have? You wouldn't do that if  it were a physical illness, right? You wouldn't say that you've gotten a fracture when its simply a spr...
Read more