The Truth About Depression

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  Posted by shravya yennam October 8, 2013 - in Health - #depression 
  License: Public Domain
  
  
  This documentary film lifts the curtain on the stigma surrounding depression and gains a better understanding of this illness. Stephen Nolan meets people whose life is a constant battle against it and examines the science behind this potentially life-threatening condition.
  
  We’ve all heard it and perhaps we’ve even said it ourselves: ‘Catch a grip’, ‘Pull yourself together’, ‘Sure what have you got to be down about?’, ‘Ach, it’s all in your head’. Some people seem to believe depression is a mood or emotion – like grumpiness or anger – that can simply be snapped out of. Others seem to think depression is for the weak and some are even under the impression that it doesn’t even exist.
  
  In The Truth About Depression, Nolan wanted to separate the fact from the fiction and clear away the stigma and misconceptions around the illness. We also wanted to give some people with depression the chance to tell their story.
  
  Dr Chris Kelly from Belfast City Hospital is one of Northern Ireland’s leading psychiatrists who has treated people with depression for three decades and he is in no doubt that the illness exists. He tell us: “I’ve worked as a psychiatrist for 30 years and I sadly have looked after people for [whom] depression has been the fundamental cause of them taking their own life. I have also seen people who have come into hospital severely malnourished who have been lying in their bed neglecting themselves. It exists, I’ve seen it for 30 years, trust me it exists. It’s severe, it’s life threatening.”