<div  class=text-justify>

This topic is one I'm not very excited to write about because of the stories I've heard or read or seen about it, how people go into depression and some even lose their lives to it is alarming but somehow, people don't talk much about it as they should.

Depression is more than it is being talked about, depression kills and like someone said, ***"Depressed victims can be healed"***. If only more people will talk about this mental illness and learn ways to curb the rate at which it is affecting humans today, people would live happier.

![20240326_200727_0000.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/merit.ahama/23vhyXEmVHs6H8FQsSSJwkrYv3tCrnuuKaZFp3SS7wA4mpWKmrAo4zzXLwwRFtSQptiW7.jpg)
<sub><sub>Image designed with Canva</sub></sub>

**The history of Depression dates back to the second millennium B.C**.

*Why am I sharing the history of depression?* I came across it while I was doing some research on how to help a friend out of what I thought was depression. Sadly, I wasn't taught in detail what depression is and could cause so I relied on the Internet to learn better. Surprisingly, there were not as much articles on this topic as I imagined there should be.

The earliest situations of depression regarded this mental condition as a spiritual problem. Some others at some time viewed depression as an illness of having supernatural or demonic problems. In the 1970s, doctors and researchers began to see more to if than just a spiritual problem pointing out possible biological and psychological factors that contributes to depression.

It wasn't called Depression at first, Depression was initially called **"Melancholia"**. If you're familiar with the four temperaments, you'd know why depression was mistaken for that name initially. Over time, there have been medical researches done to help people who are depressed get over their illness.

Even with these solutions made available, it is still sad to say that the rate of depressed people is still growing. Some days ago, I talked with a friend of mine who was once depressed just to check on her.

![photo-1527137342181-19aab11a8ee8.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/merit.ahama/243BpsKwmoC6RJZt8dU6ZjunVAYLNmuiEP669KSvC7PMfqx4gWSfN9js4VrtUxDe1p6xJ.jpeg)<sub>[Source](https://unsplash.com/photos/woman-sitting-on-black-chair-in-front-of-glass-panel-window-with-white-curtains-vXymirxr5ac)</sub>

**A real life story about a depressed friend - Effects revealed.**

One thing about depression is that, it doesn't come on someone at once. It comes gradually through series of happenings around the person especially sad situations. My friend was one of the sweetest being to be with, she would always make anywhere she is lively that everyone misses her when she isn't around. How that stopped happening shocked everyone.

We noticed, I did notice but to not make anything look awkward, we just try to be the ones being lively around her to light up her mood whenever she visited. She stopped visiting at some point, I decided to visit her and hopefully hear from her. She couldn't give any reasonable explanation to why she was acting out of character, she just wanted to be on her own.

Depression draws it's victim to him or herself and that could lead to something more dangerous so I decided to learn more into why she was acting that way. We found out it was depression and the solution we could think of was always being with her and made her talk out the problem she felt was bigger than her to have act that way.

She got better after much talks, treatment and reminding her that she is an amazing person, I learnt so much from her experience but I know for sure that I don't really know how it feels to be depressed and I'm not hoping to go through such an experience.

![photo-1525120334885-38cc03a6ec77.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/merit.ahama/23tmNNpfUi6okXcJsFSNLuM636VJwoYiZHGBQCtHZRzsFSeb1o5zLviVGGZC8QN6dwypW.jpeg)<sub>[Source](https://unsplash.com/photos/grayscale-photo-of-woman-right-hand-on-glass-nwWUBsW6ud4)</sub>

Lessons I learned were a lot from my friend's situation and I believe there's still more to learn as we never who'd go into such a state or when one would be close to being in one. Little things could cause one to be depressed, sometimes traumatic situations could cause it as well.

I've learnt to value people around more when they are alive and well. Saying the right words at the right time is another lesson I've learned, I believe words play great roles in the thoughts of people around us so it's best we mind what we say.

Depression is real, it kills and I've learned to be of help to people whenever I sense it's possibility. It's better to prevent than face curing it. </div>

<sub>*I'll be submitting this for the [Inleo March prompt challenge](https://inleo.io/@leo.tasks/february-inleo-winners-march-monthly-prompt) as well as for the Hive learners prompt, feel free to share your entry too.*</sub>

![20240101_094050_0000.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/merit.ahama/EoySQsgCXRWV42ZwnDHNJ81NeAV49kNyfGJiCcUbCbBbM4gTyAUsjbkiJwHtbg9NupM.jpg)

Posted Using [InLeo Alpha](https://inleo.io/@merit.ahama/dealing-with-depression-history-effects-lessons-learned)