Protecting My Family From Getting Depressive Illness

Protecting My Family From Getting Depressive Illness

According to World Health Organisation research and other research in recent years, depression is a huge epidemic all over the world, even if not currently given a great deal of public attention or not diagnosed by doctors.  It is expected that twenty per cent of women and ten per cent of men will get depressive illness at least once in their lifetimes. By the year 2020, the World Health Organisation estimates that depression will be the second most common illness affecting society, when measuring the impact of illness on society. Depression is the main cause of suicide all over the world.

In an effort to protect your family members from getting depressive illness, it is useful if you understand the fundamental situation that DEPRESSION OCCURS WHEN THE STRESSES OF LIFE EXCEED OUR ABILITY TO COPE.  Accordingly, anything that can be done to reduce these stresses and anything that can be done to increase our abilities to cope, will lessen the risk of getting depressive illness in our journey through life.

Reducing stress

Facing challenges is a normal part of living.  However, increasing the number of challenges and increasing the amount of time in which one is faced with challenges, all put extra strain on our chemistry.  It may therefore be necessary to remind someone in your family that he or she is working excessively long hours or is taking on too many commitments or is obviously too time pressured (so that they are continuously under pressure to rush).

Reducing anxiety

Anxiety is a breeding ground for depressive illness and is the first stage along the pathway into depressive illness.  If you or a member of your family, are always uptight/anxious/nervous/tense, it will lessen the risk of developing depressive illness if you or your family members learn relaxation techniques.  These range from simple techniques of muscle relaxation, such as tightening then relaxing every muscle group in your body progressively and doing this a number of times per day, to simply sitting and forcing yourself to relax for ten seconds multiple times throughout the day.  Other useful relaxation techniques include yoga, transcendental meditation (TM) and tai chi. You can be shown the technique of self hypnosis, which for many people is a very effective form of relaxation.