A nurse at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Fredrick Asare Donkor, has advised parents to seek early medical treatment for their depressed wards.
He said this on “Apɔwmuden,” one of the flagship programmes on Amansan Television (ATV), yesterday.
He was educating the public on depression, a condition which he described, as an ‘extreme sadness.’
He explained that it was normal for a person to be sad but added that it becomes worse when the sadness lasts for long, adding that that is the depression stage.
“Depression is like a common cold and anybody can get it. Everybody experiences depression one way or the other in his or her lifetime,” he said.
He further indicated that some depressed people always try to pretend that everything was alright but with others, he said their situations were easily noticed.
For instance, he said, an active person can still be active whilst in depression.
He mentioned loss of interest in daily activities, little or much sleep, frequent self-criticism, indecisiveness, and thought of suicide as symptoms of depression which should be checked.
According to him, among the factors that cause bereavement include loss of property, disappointment, failure, loss of job and broken homes.
To this end, Mr. Donkor advised that people suffering from depression should not be left alone by their families and loved ones as they often commit suicide or attempt suicide.
Instead, he asked parents to get closer to them and make sure they feed them.
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