Depression and Mental Illness

Our topic at the Women’s Business Council W2W Talk was: Crawling Out of the Black Hole of Depression and Mental Illness.

Resource speakers were Dr. Ma. Corazon Angela Cuadro, Pam Pascual, and Jeannie Goulborn.

(Left to right) Atty. Lorna Kapunan,  Monette Iturralde-Hamlin, Chiqui Go, Jeannie Goulbourn, Jeannie Javelosa,  Pam Pascual,  Mylene Abiva.

Pam Pascual

Pam’s first tattoo was just a tiny speck then her collection grew. I particularly liked the Rainbow Brite. It reminds me of my little daughter who was enamored with Rainbow Brite for a long time. Her pillows, blankets, notebooks, coloring books, etc. had rainbow brite designs. When I couldn’t sleep at night, sometimes I imagine Rainbow Brite riding on her pony at night sprinkling colorful dusts on our neighboorhood and turning everyone into good and happy people.

Lunch

Pam’s shoes

The discussion centered mainly on the triggers of this feeling of sadness and how to deal with it.

Pam seems like she has a happy disposition but she claims she’s been clinically depressed for the past three years. She takes medication and goes to psychiatrist Dr. Jercyl Leilani Demeterio in Cardinal Santos Hospital.

Dra. Corazon Angela Cuadra is a psychiatrist.  When the going gets tough, she goes to another psychiatrist to vent out.  She said a dentist also goes to another dentist to extract his tooth.

Overeating,  that’s me.   

I think every human is predisposed to some kind of biological disorder. We cannot prevent depression, we just have to be aware that it could hit anyone and we should be strong enough to battle it and win. I am for one is not immune to depression but I’ve been so far successful in avoiding taking any medication because I know it won’t make me feel better. It could affect me
negatively, lalo lang akong ma-de-depress. Taking some kind of medicines could throw our bodies off balance thus creating feelings of sadness and confusion.

When someone famous committed suicide, more suicide cases are reported in the following days and weeks. After Kate Spade took her own life, a teacher at the DepED succumbed to bullying by her co-teachers. After Anthony Bourdain died, two more teachers committed suicide again from bullying by the principal and co-teachers.

Borderline depression is hard to detect.

I have said it a few times before, as long as we live, there will always be something that will give us anxiety, feelings of emptiness, sadness. We all hope that when they come, they go as fast as possible and not linger. Because when that feeling of emptiness persists, then it’s already a pathologic depression that may require medical attention.

The problem with medication is that the medicines could create some negative effects on a person. Instead of making the person feel better, he could feel worse. After graduating from college, I felt at a loss. I became depressed. My internist referred me to the clinic next door, a psychiatrist named Dr. Walter, a relative of actress Mary Walter. he gave me some medicines to relax me I supposed. For two days all I did was sleep and when I woke up, I felt weird and more depressed. I stopped taking the medicines and I also didn’t go back to his clinic. I bought coloring books and crayons and just colored my sadness away. It worked! I still cried occasionally but other wise I became okay.

One out of 3 persons in the Philippines has mental illness. Seven out of 10 persons die by suicide daily but that number is understated because many don’t report it due to stigma and embarrassment. In the past, people who committed suicide were not allowed for burial in Catholic cemeteries. Priests didn’t bless the bodies. And we were taught that their souls would go straight to hell.

Causes of depression

Fashion icon Jeannie Goulbourn lost her beautiful daughter Natasha to suicide in 2002.  Natasha had been taking anti-depressants prescribed to her by her doctor and instead of making her feel better, the medicines made her hear voices,  hallucinate, etc.  The more she became depressed.

Jeannie is 71 years old and still is looking great. Despite the tremendous sadness she faced when her daughter died, she was able to turn around and she now devotes her time and resources helping people deal with mental illnes thru her foundation she founded in memory of her daughter.

A relative of one of the speakers committed suicide long time ago and to amend for her brother’s grave sin of ending his own life which was against Catholic teaching, the sister entered the nunnery to atone for his sins so her brother’s soul could eventually be accepted in heaven.

What is depression?

Don’t ever entertain the thought of hurting yourself because despite the chaos,  life is still beautiful.  Our lives will come to an end whether we like it or not.  Life is too short for us to experience everything we want to experience,  too short to explore this world,  too short for us to do the things we enjoy doing.  Let’s not cut short our own lives.  I know when we are in the midst of problems,  it’s hard to appreciate life.  Sometimes our problems are too much to bear and we just want to sleep and not wake up. But let’s rise from this challenges and find a way to live a more peaceful, meaningful life.   Let’s not compare our own lives with the lives of other people.  Kanya-kanyang buhay.  Do not envy people you see on Facebook.  They only post happy photos.  They too have problems maybe greater than yours.   Just hang-on.  Kapit lang.  Hold on to your faith that someone will take care of you. Ako ang dami ko ngang pinagdaanan. Kahit nung maliit pa lang ako, na de depress na ako. Iniiyak ko lang. Eto pa rin ako. Iyak, ngiti, pag may problema, iyak ulit. Tapos okay na naman. Ganyan talaga. Let’s just keep living. Sabi ng papa ko nung buhay pa sya, huwag daw tayong magpapatalo sa problema.