Sista Clinik

It’s been an eye-opener! Two months of discussing depression on Sista Clinik; can you believe it? How time flies! Over the period, we have had quite a number of people share their experiences and opinions about the condition, and the destructive leniency with which many of us treat it. All too soon, we are bringing the curtains down on this series, but we simply cannot do that without speaking to a professional about the condition. We had an interview with Mr. Derek Oppong who is a Lecturer / Entrepreneur and Clinical Psychologist, and took the opportunity to ask him a few questions about depression.

Depression to me is a synonym of suicide. At least this is what I have learnt these couple of months. I am not new to depression, but I always had a way of pushing it aside by partying with friends, travelling etc. Being ‘on the go’ prevented me from addressing the issue of my depression. However for a couple of months now, I have been dealing with some tough problems that have left me in a state of depression on a daily basis. I lost my job. My wife has stroke. My aged mother is very sick. We have very little money. There is mortgage to pay and I live in a foreign land. With all these happening to me at the same time, all I can think about is suicide although I never seem to muster courage to. Whenever these thoughts fill my mind, I drink and smoke myself to stupor. This way I will be too wasted to actually harm myself other than my liver and lungs. Although this does not solve my problems, it makes me forget, even for a short while.  There are days I would d...