PWDs: How to Deal with Depression and Become a Truly Happy Person

There is a suicide epidemic in the country, particularly among people with disabilities! Substantial evidence shows that people living with disabilities are more likely to experience depression than the general population.

Let there be no doubt, more people with disabilities are compromising with their challenges and giving up on life.

Understandably, for several members of the disability community in Nigeria and abroad, the challenges we face are great—poor education, unemployment, inequality, injustice, and denigrating misconceptions. And, frankly, we do have trouble engaging within the larger, non-disabled society. We are afraid about the future.

Perhaps, most concerning of all is the disquiet about whether or not we can realize our potentials to the fullest

Those are normal concerns, researcher agree.

Indifferent society and unequal institutional policies have taken their toll on our mental being, and people with disabilities are compromising with the challenges imposed by their disabilities.

It oughtn’t be.

Common episodes of depression include significant anxiety, increased feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, low self-esteem and lack of drive. Extremely worry, restlessness, and feelings of misery are other symptoms of depression,

Dealing with depression with Resiliency, mental toughness, and healthy relationships

You won’t find this blend of approach to beating depression anywhere in a contemporary textbook or the internet. Indeed, I went to great lengths to develop this practical self-care methodology to overcoming severe moodiness that impairs persons with depression from living sunny, emotionally-healthy lives.

Unlike the formal, theoretical intervention strategies that incorporate pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches (antidepressants and therapy), my trio of resilience, mental toughness, and “smart relationships” is handy, yet wholly integrative, as it gives individuals the capacity for self-knowledge, self-mastery, and for self-care, which ultimately assists to bring about a happier life.

The prescriptions have been condensed into an Executive Summary-like format for rapid reading and for periodic reference in the event of the event or a relapse.

Using Resilience for dealing with depression.

1. Understand that life is cruel- it will throw you a curveball- most of the time. This recognition will get you fairly prepared, and will minimize the aftereffects of life’s attacks.
2. Accept that you have a past that’s impossible for you to change, but your determination to live this present skillfully in order to influence the future is the real deal.
3. Accept the reality of your family’s past and present. There’s some things that are just the way they are.
4. Accept certain difficulties. Your long-term success depends on them.
5. Look up and within when life hits you hard. Look up to the spiritual realm and look within.
6. There’s a very thin demarcation between adversity and opportunity; learn to use adversity to your own advantage.

Using Mental Toughness for dealing with depression

1. Be hopeful! Things always get better, and they will.
2. Recognize that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger (F. Nietzsche).
3. Recognize that life is a marathon, not a sprint. The first could still be last; the last could still be first. It’s those that endure to the end that’ll be saved. Fall in line and run. Keep going!
4. Watch your thought pattern. The more negative thoughts you entertain, the more depressed that you are likely to be.
5. Be a master of your environment, rather than allow it to consume you. Keep it on a leash. Don’t let it get to you.
6. Avoid mental or physical inertia. It wears your brain out, and makes your body squishy. Keep going. Stay active. Stay alive.
7. Make priorities. Avoid stressful situations. If your name is not on it, don’t touch it.
8. If you are in pain, smile and say to yourself out loud: everything is going to be alright!

Using “healthy Relationships” for dealing with depression

1. Relationships are good. But it is even better and more beneficial when you’re with the right people. Break old and form new relationships, if you must.
2. Love God. But love yourself first and foremost. Then love others. It’ll be worth it.
3. Socialize more. Go out more. Give more. Laugh more and help more.
4. Don’t go overboard in your attempt to please others. You might never know; they might change their minds. They always do!
5. Don’t be afraid of criticism. But don’t let it give you fits in your bid to take to “advice”.
6. Don’t give a damn. No one does. Not everyone is going to like you, however hard you try.
7. Make yourself happy by doing what is convenient for you within certain acceptable social parameters.
8. Believe in yourself. Do not spend your precious time waiting for other people’s approval.
9. Don’t be a control-freak. Learn when to withdraw and let go. Let ‘em deal with it to avoid a burnout on your part.
10. Don’t be afraid. Others are just as and maybe insecure as afraid as anyone.

Your understanding of self (self-awareness), your understanding of the world (the politics and the game), and your mastery of human behaviors (emotional intelligence) are all fundamentally crucial to being a happy, healthy, and productive individual.

But above all, be encouraged by my favorite Winston Churchill’s quote, “Do not ever, ever give up.