After reading the article written by spoilme (grace), which is full of true emotion, I am really so moved and greatly encouraged by his/her courage. It is true that he/she was once lost in a low spirit--- depressed, despaired and even committed suicide. But this doesn’t mean that he/she is weak and cowardly. On the contrary, he/ she is a brave man/woman because with the help of the doctor, he/she succeeded to conquer the disease in the end after, dealing with all kinds of difficulties and defeats. We should all learn from him/her in some degree I think.
Yeah, I am not a psychiatrist. I just have learnt some basic knowledge about psychiatry when I was studying in the university. Based on the lately statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 120 to 200 million depression patients in the world nowadays. And the prevalence rate of depression is about 8-20% now. It is true that depression has already become a more and more serious problem of our society, with the rapid development of economy and culture. So, not only the medical workers but also all people in our society should pay great attention to this problem I think.
However what is depression indeed? Actually, everyone (no matter male or female, young or old, strong or weak, rich or poor) has ever met with or is facing with all kinds of difficulties or defeats. And everybody (no matter male or female, young or old, strong or weak, rich or poor) has ever lost in a low spirit or is immersed in a sad mood. Is it called depression? The answer is NO. Actually this is just a kind of normal affective reaction but doesn’t belong to a disease. So what is depression indeed? According to CCMD-3, the diagnosis criterion of depression includes four items: 1)symptom criterion: the main manifestation of depression is having a low spirit and sad mood. Except for this, it must includes at least four items of the following symptoms----a) lose of interests in everything; b) lose of energy and vigor, undynamic or easy to be fatigue; c) low evaluation on oneself, think poorly of oneself, conscience-stricken or self-abuse; d)disability to think or study; e)always having the idea of dying, even commit suicide or hurt oneself especially in the early morning; f) insomnia, difficult to get into sleep or easy to awake; g) anorexia, emaciation or greatly lose of one’s body weight; h) lose or decrease of sexual ability.2)Serious degree criterion: all the above symptoms must have done great harm to oneself, or have had bad influence on one’s society function, or have brought about bitter results.3)The course criterion: the symptoms persist at least two weeks.4)The excluding criterion: the depressed disorder caused by organic cerebral diseases, or psychoactive substances should be excluded, which doesn’t belong to depression.
If you find yourself have such symptoms above, you had better go to see the doctor to get some help, especially go to see a professional psychiatrist I think. Drug therapy is still one effective method to cure depression until now. There are many kinds of antidepressants nowadays. Tricyclic and teracyclic antidepressants are two kinds of traditional antidepressants. And Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs) is a new kind of antidepressants, which include Fluoxetine (Prozac), Paroxetine (Seroxat) and Sertraline (Zoloft) etc. All these drugs have good effects on the disease. But patient shouldn’t take such drugs by oneself (This is really so dangerous!), but should be guided by a professional psychiatrist, since all these drugs have many side effects and the dose should be changed with different conditions of patients. Except for drugs, psychosocial therapy is also so important I think. Facing with the depression patients, we shouldn’t discriminate or misunderstand them. On the contrary, we should give our warm comfort, sincere encouragement, care and support to them. We should let them feel the love of family and society. In some degree, maybe this is more important than drugs.
Here is a little story which I ever read in a Chinese magazine. After reading the article written by spoilme, I can’t help recalling this story. The title of it is “A graceful melody played by a black left hand and a white hand”. This story is about two woman pianists, one of whom is called Margaret, the other one is called Roth. Margaret is a negro lady and Roth is a white lady. Both of them love music deeply and have a consecratory saintly heart to piano cause. However, one day, because of a serious disease, they both lost one of their hands (What Margaret lost is her right hand and what Roth lost is her left one).They were deprived the ability of playing piano from then on, which made them sad and even lose their hope to lives. By chance, they got to know each other in the nursing center and soon became good friends because of their common interests and cherish. In an occasional chance, they sat in front of the piano and played a melody together. To their great surprise, they succeeded to finish the graceful melody wonderfully. The hope re-arose in their heart. From then on, they played piano together everyday. Two healthy hands appeared on the keyboard---one black left hand and a white right one, and the fingers jumped rhythmically and harmoniously. A lot of graceful works of Chopin, Beethoven etc. were perfectly performed by Margaret and Roth, from which they shared beautiful music and happiness together. Their encouragement and hard workings created a great miracle in the world.
I don’t know whether this little story is quoted suitably or not here. But I do like it very much. It makes me understand---when the disaster befalls, we shouldn’t be sad or be defeated. Actually, as long as we brace up and help with each other, we are sure to conquer the difficulty in the end. I believe, love and friendship can create any miracle in the world.
Finally, wish everyone happy and healthy in the new year. And wish the world is full of love and warmth all the time.
Feier-Melody
