Magda’s Depression
Depression is a very serious issue and left untreated it can even prove to be fatal. However, not all cultures openly accept depression as a mental condition that needs to be treated by medicine. This week’s prompt asked us to consider a woman named Magda who is exhibiting all the tell-tale signs of depression. However, where she lives does not view depression as a illness that is treatable by medicine, and mental health treatments are not welcome. How could Magda respond to this based on the Self-Regulatory Model we considered this week?
The first thing Magda must do is interpret what exactly is going on inside of her (Ogden, 2017). Does Magda herself notice her behavioral changes as her friends do? According to our reading, she has come to notice she does not enjoy things that used to bring her joy and that she has anxiety in social settings. Magda has already determined at least some of her symptoms. But, how will she interpret her symptoms? Understanding that her area does not accept mental health care, Magda may try to find a different identity to her health problem.
Many people suffering from depression may attribute their feelings to being tired (Healthline, n.d.), and so she may do so as well. After some time, Magda may conclude that she is more then just tired. She may think of the consequences coming forward may mean for her and for those close to her. She may even worry what others she is now close to may think. Such thoughts could ultimately worsen her depression and cause further anxiety.
The next step in the Self-Regulatory Model is coping (Ogden, 2017). Since Magda realizes that there is a negative connotation to depression in the area, she may decided to avoid the situation, and continue to repress the problem as normal stress instead of dealing with the problem (Medium, 2017). Magda’s approach will lead her to step number 3: appraising how her decision helped the situation. Since denial would not yield any good results, it is possible that in time Magda will hopefully seek help outside of her local area before her depression worsens.
In conclusion, Magda’s illness could be unfortunately overlooked because of the beliefs of her country. This type of disregard for mental illness does not help the problem disappear, but only makes it worse. That is because instead of addressing what is harming their population, those ones are forced to repress their pain until they can no longer bare it. This prompt helps me to appreciate the deep need to be understanding of the limitations of others and help support those around us who may be in deep mental pain. Mental pain, after all, is just as damaging as physical pain. It’s just harder to notice and even harder to understand.
