Wazo Teresah Muthoni

Depression is highly misunderstood! Yet it affects 1 in 4 people. Before we talk about the symptoms, lets clarify how depression feels like, both to the care giver and the person suffering from depression and the care giver. So how does depression feel like?

This is a brief introduction to the categories of various mental health disorder. Mental health disorders are categorized by their similarities and identified using the DSM-5 or ICD classification criteria. Codes are also used to name them especially when one goes to seek psychiatrist help, so it’s important to always ask your doctor or therapist for clarity.

1. Children can get mental illnesses due to existing disorders like ADHD, anxiety, Autism spectrums, or developmental disorders, or trauma caused by emotional, sexual, or physical abuse, their coping mechanisms display as behaviors, and this behaviors is what we should look out for.

We talk about the mistakes that parents and guardians make by ignoring the mental illness signs and symptoms, tips on what to look out for in your children and teenagers.

I’ve categorized the general signs and symptoms of poor mental health into three, 1. Emotional signs and symptoms 2. Behavioral signs and symptoms 3. Thought processes.

More women than men have depression, but sadly it’s more men than women who commit suicide due to depression? Could it be because men ever actively seek help and just suffer in silence? Or it’s a case of women being more resilient or having a stronger support system?