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Are you worried about Your Mental Health ; Psychologist Saeeda Nida Zahara Counsel

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Humani Farooq
In an exclusive Health oriented series titled ‘Health First’, today we’re talking about a common mental illness like Depression and overall Mental Health.

Watch Full Interview on YouTube Here :

First of all we need to know what’s depression. Depression is actually a mood disorder in which a person continuously feels sad. Now the question is if a person is normally sad does it means that he’s depressed ? No. There’s a difference between being sad and being depressed.
Normally more if a person is sad after hearing anything good or after anything good happens he feels happy but if a depressed person hears any good news or anything good happens to him he doesn’t feels happy because he’s depressed. According to a survey 41% people suffer from depression,26% people suffer from anxiety and 19% people suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic stress disorder).
In an Exclusive Conversation with Kashmir Patriot Health reporter Humani Farooq a well known Psychologist and a mental health counselor Saeeda Nida Zahara tells more about depression and overall mental Health. Here are the excerpts from the Interview : 
Reporter:- What’s depression and how a person get’s involved in to this ailment?
Psychologist:- First of all we need to know what mental health is because Depression is related to our mental health. Depression is one of the leading ailment in today’s world. So it’s important to know what’s mental health. We have seen people discussing about it with doctors and psychologists and counsellors are mostly talking about Depression these days since this pandemic started this ailment is effecting people badly as they have stayed in from a long time. Mental health isn’t just in our head. It involves our emotional, social and psychological needs. If proper care isn’t taken then we’ll fall into mental illness. More then 264 million people are affected with Depression worldwide and 66% of people are effected in J&K as well. This is not something very Little. It had a huge impact on population. Depression actually is a mood disorder. There are two important facts because we get confused whether we’re sad or we’re depressed because many people who are confused about it they forget knowing about it what exactly it’s. There are two main symptoms like loss of interest in activities and dissatisfaction and continuous suicidal thoughts. As we have seen many people who harm themselves. There are many other symptoms like being sad, loss of concentration and focus, etc. If these Symptoms stay for more then two weeks then it’s a alarming sign and a person should consult a doctor immediately. How should a person identify that he should talk about it? Sadness is a natural emotion. If a person is goings through a trauma there’s a reason like loosing any dear one, failure or insult. Depression has many classes like there are people who have been diagnosed with Depression, in another group there are people who don’t talk about it and hide it. Many people show it physically like we have headaches, stomach pain etc. This kind of depression is known as mask depression.
Reporter:-At what stage you start treatment?
Psychologist:- We have a proper Assessment provided by WHO through which we talk to people to understand what’s going inside him. Then we start treatment. Psychologists mostly give preference to psychotherapy, CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy) in which we talk to clients and try to modify clients thoughts and behaviour. And in some cases we do group therapies in which we talk about family members about the client to get clear information about client. Depression doesn’t comes up itself. There’s always a reason why a person get’s involved in it. There are biological factors, chemical imbalance and traumas. We need proper quantity of seratonin and dopamine in our body and if there’s any up and down in these two of them it leads to an imbalance. Psychiatrists recommend medicines which help us chemically and heals our genetic problems but if a person is going through a trauma then he has to help himself first and in this situation a psychiatrist recommends you a psychologist or a mental health counselor for counselling sessions. It has to be a holistic approach both works together as far as depression is concerned.
Reporter:- As you said that you do therapies and counselling with clients mostly people hesitate while talking about it and if they’re not telling you what exactly is going on or giving Wrong information, How you deal with such clients?
Psychologist:- First of all repo building is most important thing in counselling. In our society there’s a stigma regarding mental health and many other things that’s the reason we’re doing more and more awareness programmes so that people get aware just like physical health mental health is also very important because mental illness kills slowly inside. So it’s necessary to make a people aware. And we develop that trust with our clients while talking to them because most of the people are scared of sharing their personal issues but the ethics of counselling teach us that all the information provided by a client should be kept confidential and that’s what we do, so it’s very safe to share your problems clearly to your therapists. It may take one or two sessions or more then that in some cases. We basically try to know the history of our clients how and when it started.
Reporter:- No doubt it’s a stigma in our society, people mostly hesitate while talking about such problems. So, what’s the role of family or people if a family member or anyone in our society is facing such issue? 
Psychologists:- Family and as well as society plays an important role in our lives. We live in society we all are a part of it. We all have our different responsibilities. Same is the case with the parents. If a kid is suffering from depression parents or teachers can easily identify it through the person’s behaviour. We should be very emphatic towards such people. For instance, if we see a drug addict have drugs we don’t talk to him neither we try to know why he’s doing so but we should talk about it being a society we should know what’s Wrong with him. We are equally responsible for it and we should stand up for this. Everybody can play their roles in helping each other by talking to them empathetically. We should be kind to ourselves and listen to ourselves. People should try to understand their emotions and needs because we always try to suppress our emotions but are suppressed emotions amplify giving worse results. So it’s better to address our emotions at the right time. Decoding of emotions is more important.
Reporter:- Depressed people continuously think about suicides and ending their lives. So how should people around him deal in case of Emergency?
Psychologists:- Also known as “Suicidal first aid”. Suicidal thoughts don’t come up being selfish. There’s always a reason behind it. If a person is trying to suicide people around him need to know what he’s going through? How difficult time he’s having? It’s a very big deal. It’s seen that mostly parents fail to play their roles. Whenever kids self harm themselves and hide from their parents because they fail to create that comfort zone with their kids. Bond creating is very important. There’s a void of being unloved. Love actually plays an important role in our lives. Parents should always keep a watch what their kids are doing, how they’re behaving, etc. If parents feel anyone facing such problems our people in our society see anybody facing any kind of these problems then they should consult a doctor immediately before it’s too late. It’s important to address mental health on right time.
Reporter:- There’s a big problem that’s parents force their children while choosing their carriers. If anybody wants to become a doctor or engineer, parents don’t support him, So how should we educate people about not forcing their children instead of supporting them choosing their carriers?
Psychologist:- I don’t blame anybody neither I’m blaming any parent nor I’m blaming any kid. It’s lack of values in our society actually. If your values and base isn’t strong or if your parenting isn’t done well then these problems arise. Problem solving and decision making becomes strong by strong upbringing and if parenting isn’t done well then children have to suffer. So children are also equally responsible for it. There are both positive and negative coping skills available if anybody is trying to show you right path we must take advantage of that. Like if anyone is suffering from mental illness and he visits a therapist or doctor he should be able to communicate with the therapist properly to get rid of the negative thoughts. Counsellor is somebody whom you discuss your mental health issues and who guides you, you have the car, you have the key you’re being shown the right direction, right path. This is how life goes on. There’s generation gap which also plays a big role so both children and parents should be welcoming and respecting differences. Sometime parents become so stiff about their rigid decisions, but somehow there should be proper understanding between children and parents.
Reporter:- What kind of patients do you section?
Psychologist:- I have basically treated almost all age groups, children, adults, old age groups and drug addicts also. I talk to anyone regarding mental illness and there’s no discrimination on basis of gender, caste, colour or creed.
Reporter:- Does our food habits effect our mental health whether it’s fresh natural foods or junk foods?
Psychologist:- Whatever we do, we eat, we read, we write, the way we live has a huge impact on our lives and mental health. Obviously we should eat good food like fruits, drinking 5_6 litres of water a day, foods containing vitamins, minerals, etc. Eating junk foods sometimes is no sin but we shouldn’t live on them.
Reporter:- In today’s world people complain about sleep problems, insomnia. Are all sleep problems related to depression or there can be some other reasons also?
Psychologist:- Well there are two factors Depression and anxiety. Most of the people are effected by anxiety too. Anxiety actually is the thinking of negative thoughts continuously. So when we try to sleep we’re scared that those thoughts are gonna come to our minds and then we’ll be unable to sleep and this cycle goes on we think about next morning that we won’t be able to work or do anything because we haven’t slept well and I must be depressed. Actually depression and anxiety are opposite to each other. In depression we feel low but in anxiety we’re high on our thoughts but both depression and anxiety equally support each other and it’s a very strong cycle. Our lifestyle also has a impact on our health. In today’s World people sleep late, wake up late, have their meals lately and most importantly people aren’t involved in any productive work. We have social networking but we use it in a very bad way, we keep on scrolling till late nights and we have no idea what we’re doing subconsciously .We need to work on our lifestyle first. We should get organized and planned because when we wake-up we don’t have a plan for a day.
Reporter:- It’s believed that the medicines which psychiatrists prescribe to their patients have adverse effects on health and memory, Is it so?
Psychologist:- Well it’s totally Wrong psychiatrists mostly give you anti- depressants which help you chemically. There’s a stage where you need medicines and you have to take medicines but if you’re increasing the dosage without doctors consent then nobody can help and nobody’s responsible for that. Even we have appealed the Government also to ban selling of medicines without prescription. No doubt medicines help us chemically but we should help ourselves also to fight with the illness.
Reporter:- we’re living in a conflict zone and since this pandemic has started we have spent most of the time in our homes, so what should we do in our daily lives to stay mentally fit?
Psychologist:- Well it’s good that we’re becoming more stronger day by day but we shouldn’t blame what’s happening around rather we should utilize that time. In this pandemic we have seen many youngsters who have come up with new ideas and there’s lot of talent in J&K so we should be optimistic about it . We can do wonders and understanding oneself is more important.
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