As us humans have become more accustomed to high intellectual literature and with an overwhelming wide range of knowledge and what society has to present us with, we are more likely to fall to the mouse trap set by the devilish Nihilism. This is a problem we all face today in a multitude, and especially with the pressures of others yielding agaisnt us with malevolent unconscious judgements and expectations. My intention of such an article is making ourselves aware on how far we have come with such new struggles entering our perception, and how to combat this with a rebirth of perception.
Friedrich Nietszche, a philosopher from the 1800's in germany, encountered a similar issue on how humans were beginning to transform ourselves away from the divinity perspective of man and finding ourselves to have less meaning behind our actions, many begnning to appeal to hedonism, as from moving too fast away from the values and perceptions we once held. And how we have turned away from our large roles we held in small communities, to gain what seems to be small roles in such large societies, which really will impact us on our self-reflection and self-worth. According to the World Health organisation (WHO), over 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression globally. An eye opening amount, and may just be more with many not reporting their own mental wellbeing.
Jingwei Shen had been an individual who conducted a study to investigate the impact of rapid urbanisation on the mental health of rural to urban migrants in China, which was indeed found to have an increase in depression. Having a rapid movement to one social life to another can bring perplexity and how to adapt to the new life they have been given, which can often be found in the elderly with perhaps a too rapid movement to technology. What was found in the study by Shen was that many people were unable to adapt and had a lack of community, aditionally with an unstable income and lack of health services. All which account to how we perceive and our utility of hope. And it is very observable on how many in China and many more countries still have a tendency to submit to this critical condition. And societal wise, there could be many preventions for slowing down transformation collectively and foccsuing more on each and every person individually.
Now socially there is clearly an issue, but what are the enticing signs to find and fight. The first I will adress as hopelessness. Constantly in your blues and feeling as their is something missing deep within. Imagine a Veteran who had served in the royal arm forces, with pride and with a sense of belonging, but once he leaves, he has an existential crisis of not having the same roles he once held, and no communicatioin with the brotherhood he lived with for a long while. Now he will see no future, no place to stay, and will become incredibly depressed willing to return, even if he has some form of PTSD, which can be common to find with a few who left the forces. Which can be prevented if there were more resources provided for them when the return to their home country.
To be hopeful, you do need an outlook on the future, your main aim, the experiences you will need to endure to get to that position. Who is your mental image of yourself, how determined are you to become that? Yes, there will be an encounter to the chaos limiting your potential, but there is determination that comes with resilience that can embattle any negative circumstance, to rise back up to a known future. They are many reasons for hope being lost, many of the youth are confused with their futures and cannot commit to one aim, and many who have achieved their goals, such as those who participated into olympic sports, will feel as they need to keep breaking records and continuing into new goals, or they are for certain knowingly to feel lost. Success then does not matter in this case, as we need to continuously push the boulder of brave and bold objectives up the hill like the mythological figure Sisyphus.
Picture this scenario of a pirateer willing to explore and search for his desiring fortunes, yet he is not willing to plan his route with a map, one which specifially includes a hierarchy on what is the most important thing to do. He will get lost, and lose his way into the middle of the ocean, having despair and no motivation to find his way out. Such is like a man who can no longer find his passion and skillset, not having his basic navigation into his journey in the wilderness.
To conclude, hopelessness frequently emerges from a childhood or a sudden change in the environment devoid of meaningful goals and oppurtunities for exploration, were the absence of directed aims and the lack of encouragement to pursue intriguing hobbies stifle the development of curoisity and self-discovery. To address the hopelessness we exhibit, we should revisit and recreate the once strengethening belongingess we had previously, such as strong connections and the ability to speak freely, or starting anew to cultivate the foundational elements necessary for developing a noble aim. Self-journalism is one key beneficial step we can make on our own accord, and finding the will to find people alike, even if we internally refue it. After all, ourselves is what mainly saves us, and our souls can be beneficial for many more out there, whether others see this or not.
A second symptom arrises from the lack of motivation and goals. This is the diminishing of energy. Anhedonia, a reaction spewing out lots of boredom, no interests in any regular daily activity, and all seems mundane. The fireplace of their inner dimensions begin to extinguish, what the stoics would dislike as the fire is our rationality. Their navigational map was burnt, now they are removing the fire which has failed them. According to the WHO, depression is a major risk factor for suicide, and it is estimated up to 70% who die from suicide did have a depressive disorder.
From being monotonous, they will have a lack of energy to move, eat and other necessities. This could also be seen as a downward spiral entwined with this symptom, the more you experience hopelessness, the less enthusiasm there is to keep going, which of cause makes them less hopeful and with less ambition. Even changing one possibility can change the other. Yet there are posibilities with those who work too much, still having the energy to work, can begin to feel hoplesness as they do the same activity repeatedly and it doesn't enlighten them at the same degree as previously. There are two fatigues, mental and physical.
The physical; sluggishness, too much sleep, the inability to sleep. If they improve their physical fatigue by staying active and remaining to have vigilance to get the job done, they could improve in the mental slothness. But I'd say it is best to place mind over matter in this instance. Insomnia and Hypersomnia are likely the first symptoms which came to your mind when I mentioned sleep. Both os these can disrupt schedules and transofrm us to be afraid of time. We diminish energy levels, impede progress, and further exacebrate feelings of hoplessness. I would reccomend to deal with these promininent issues especially, if you are having these experiences with advice from others and new techniques.
Sleep is highly important for our physical energy, and having enough at the correct times on a schedule can improve us tremendioulsy. Studies have estimated the prevalence of hypersomnia in major depressive disorder is likely around 15-30%. Now the Military Technique and reaching out to meditation and breathing exercise groups, are all great places to research into to for an improvement in this area. Webistes such as Headspace and Calm can provide these resources. The Organisation Mind also promotes mindfullness and a way to release negative thoughts for better sleep.
Now another symptom which can fall under the diminishing of our energy in a mental direction, is the devalue of self-image and self-worth. Perhaps this can be explained as coinciding with an unkillable cockroach of nuclear misery. Cockroaches; as their body lives without a conscience for a long time, like our bodies are here, yet our light is not present. Nuclear; as any other trouble or plague will not alert them to stay secure and firm, bur rather be in a chaotic mess. They do this, as they fear they are not worth living in such an environment any longer. They live in self-illsuion, that they are unable to be saved. Often they feel as they cannot be excepted, so now their only motivation is to keep living in small pleasures, which doesn't help them with a sturdy direction, or maybe willing to harm others, as they can also not treat themselves in a respectful manner.
Now even giving them a role or career in society will not be enough, they will stil feel disapointed inside not being able to follow the past aims they were once directed by in their free will, so placing them into a work position they have no enjoyment in, will definitely be of no help, but make their depression worse. Now they are many organisations which can help with this, such as Salvation Army, but life is not just about work and career, but much more. David Burns has written a book which provides practical exercises on how to reframe the feelings of worthlessness, which is one I advise readers to look into.
But what really makes us feel as unable to fulfill any role and sit there in gloom unable to climb your way out of a rabbit hole? Social unrealistic expectations first comes to mind, or the world itself beaing a sandpit of death and horrors; the horrors addressing the breaking of bondage in love or close ties. Or seeing your potential lower contrasted to others with self pity and envy. Which, of course, we should only really create more on our own the expectations we set and how well we perform to past us, not others. No matter what background or experiences you have come from, or what you have become, there is always a potential you can showcase to others, even if that isn't as good as the very best of such an area. This could also be reflected by the study of Fernald and how he researched children in low-income settings, yet how they demonstrated high levels of intellect, yet were severely disadvantaged.
Many are unaware on how blessed they are with the things given to them, as there are always someone below you. But as an automatic response for those who self-crticise too much, they want to diminish what gifts have been given, like the camel speaking to Jupiter in Aesop fables. And I'm sure if society would begin to judge both the negatives and the positives of another, rather the negative alone, I'm sure many more will accept their positions and appraisals. Unfortunately, not everyone you encounter, and in fact only a few you do meet, will be willing to see you as the good character you are. So we should not be dissapointed, and we cannot change everyones choice in how they view others.
To quickly conclude what was covered as what to see in depression; is that it comes in extensive irregular forms through different psyche occurences, which often is incessantly constant from a recylcing downard spiral of hoplessness, to a lack of energy, to the devalue of self, or in no particular consecutive order but in a constant tr-directional proportion, leading to an indivual coinciding with suicdal thoughts, like a cockroach of nuclear missery.
This article was mainly to describe what comes with depression, and a few techniques which a person who is suffering with this widely shared psychological experience may be able to put into usage. But the most important action we should take, is to have the confidence to reach out, and being aware you will not be judged for doing so. We as human beings, should overcome these challenges together and be connected. I will provide sources of information which you can visit, and also places you can reach out. Especially if you feel as this article applies to you. I hope this can be of some usefulness to you, and thank you for taking your time to read this.
https://www.mind.org.uk/ - CALL Mind's support line on 0300 102 1234
https://www.samaritans.org/ - CALL 0330 094 5717
https://spuk.org.uk/ - CALL 0800 587 0800
https://www.papyrus-uk.org/ - CALL PAPYRUS HOPELINE247 on 0800 068 4141
https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/ - CALL (020) 7367 4500
