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I recommend watching Orlando Jones' speech in American Gods, not the first but rather the one where he speaks to his fellow African Gods, and you would get a better understanding of what it is like. It is like feeling lost and alone because we know there is no savior coming, no freedom from the pain, and nowhere to turn to in grave challenges.
Over here, we ignore things like depression because we know that deep down no one cares. A lot of us feel hopeless and often abandoned. A guy who struggled through his diploma education for a teaching profession spends years scouting to be employed by the government while his family embarks on an insulting spree, comparing him to his colleagues and pinpointing to him what he should be contributing to his immediate family.
What do you think would be running through his mind? – hopelessness, rejection and abandonment. These factors contribute to the immediate thoughts of suicide. He feels he doesn't belong here and thus, better to leave this world than to go through shame.
For the layperson, the difference between being clinically depressed and “just being lazy” or symptoms of anxiety and “being a coward” can be hard to differentiate. For many cultures, the remedy for someone behaving in a way you don’t believe is ideal, is to punish the person, judge or shame them until they begin behaving in a way that you believe is ideal. This may work in some cases, for the normal range of human experiences. But in the case of clinical levels of mental illness, it often, unfortunately, can only make things worse.
We have a tendency to see mental issues like depression as “normal” because even if we did address the issue most people wouldn't care. We hardly give prominence to mental depression while associating it with superstitious beliefs. It is time for you to check on your friend who acts weird these days.
Talk to the person and welcome his frustrations with hope and assurance that relief is just a step away. Introduce them to relevant professionals who can manage it well. We are each other's keeper and we need to continue to be until the normal end of time.
Mental illness is very much dismissed and ignored here.
