When They Realized They Had Depression
When I was in school, I felt like depression was almost like a rite of passage. I didn’t even know what depression was until 11th standard.
Hariharan didn’t realize she had experienced depression until it went away, and she didn’t get a clinical diagnosis of depression. Looking back, she said she always thought she just felt sad, but now thinks she was a little too sad for it to be considered normal sadness.
According to the diagnostic criteria, if a person experiences a depressed mood and/or a loss of interest or pleasure in activities, and at least 3 of the other symptoms listed in the DSM-5 for a continuous period of two weeks, they can get a diagnosis of depression.
Although Ravichandran was also not clinically diagnosed, he said he realized he had depression when he was in school, when he saw that he was lonely but also too scared to approach his new classmates to make friends with them.
Paveethran Ravichandran
It’s not easy to go see a therapist or psychiatrist about depression in India, what with all the stigma, which is why it is not uncommon for people like Hariharan and Ravichandran to go through their experience with depression without ever getting a diagnosis or seeking treatment.
Kumar said that even if a person doesn’t get a clinical diagnosis of depression, it is important to take them seriously.
“It is important because they are making an act of self-disclosure no?” Kumar said. “So that’s important for others to make a note of it, people who are in surroundings and friends and family and relatives. That’s important.”