Sista Clinik

It steals away your positive energy, strength, motivation, and brings your productivity to near zero level. The sad thing is, it steals insidiously. The impact on society is grave as victims of depression tend to replicate the broken pieces their condition left them with. It can sometimes result in violent behaviors. It can also affect one's professional output.  Unfortunately it is given very little attention in Africa. Little communication is done on the subject matter and people who are depressed do not want those around them to be aware of their state.  Stakeholders should communicate more on the topic. They should equip actors concerned with required skills for psychology-social assistance. -Tudi Nathalie

The nights are scariest. I’d often wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to go back to sleep. The memories and thoughts would often haunt me right up till sunrise. The days were not much better. I’d go from day to day, tired for no reason and unable to focus on anything. When I was back in school, there was a period in second year where I was skipping class and not doing assignments because I was feeling too down to do anything meaningful. The triggers for me were love interests gone sour. Heartbreak just puts me into this state of hopelessness and despair. I’m a people person so destruction of friendships of any kind really cut me deep. I felt really alone because there was no one to talk to. Friends could not relate to what was happening to me. The worst part was no one seeming to understand what you were going through. The feelings of worthlessness, intoxicating sadness and suicidal thoughts. When they assume you’re just being moody and you’ll snap out of it ...

I am depressed. It is the first time I say it, either to myself or to the world. I have been in and out depression for ten years now, and just last week, I was trying to get out of what I call today, an episode. I never knew I was depressed. It may sound stupid for someone battling depression for ten years now, but that is the truth. I was moody because I am lunatic, I was stupid because I was very sad and crying for no reason, and I was lazy because I could not get out of my bed to go to school or to work for weeks. It is cliché, but until recently, I thought black people could not be depressed. It was a white people/rich people whim. Black people in general and African people in particular had too much to deal with to afford to be depressed. Plus, no one would have understood if I tried to explain. It is not in our culture to talk about feelings and sensations. So, I was not depressed, I was only being stupid. I started realizing my condition through social media a...