I saw this article on the Baba Mail which I reproduced to save you from committing suicide. Although it sounds so ridiculous, you better believe me because I made the same mistake. I did not know the seriousness of the disease until my younger brother committed suicide. People with mental depression have suicidal tendency.

Symptoms of depression

You may have depression if feelings of sadness or emptiness don’t go away within a couple of weeks. Other emotional symptoms include:

• extreme irritability over seemingly minor things
• anxiety and restlessness
• trouble with anger management
• loss of interest in activities, including sex
• fixation on the past or on things that have gone wrong
• thoughts of death or suicide

I have a very clever younger brother called Mark who is 9 year younger than I, graduated dentistry from the Singapore University. He was so brilliant that the University invited him to be a lecturer. Moreover, the Dean of the medical faculty, Professor Lim Kok Ann gave permission to his daughter to marry my brother. Professor Lim was famous for identifying the Asian flu virous in his laboratory during the Asian flu epidemic.

Mark also used to invest in the share market and whenever he lost all his saving, I used to help him. After a few times, I refused to bail him out. As a result, he did not want to talk to me which I thought it was normal. He always kept very quiet to himself. That is the first sign of mental depression.

Mental depression patients’ mood swings up and down frequently. When my brother was high, he seemed to know everything. He separated from his wife to hitch up with a much younger and beautiful dentist. When he was in financial difficulty, his young wife left him. As a result, he went into deep mental depression which I did not know. He could not even pay for the drugs he needed for his dental practice.  

He sold his clinic in Kampar, Perak and went to work as a locum in Muar, Johore. His mental depression was so severe that he fell into a drain and broke his leg. Our old friend, Architect Lim Chong Kiat who happened to pass by Muar, brought him back to Ipoh. I immediately took him to see the psychiatrist Michael Chong in Fatimah Hospital the next morning. The doctor told me that a quicker way for him to recover was electric shock treatment. If he took tranquiliser drugs, he could only recover after about 2 weeks. To be sure, I rang my daughter who was practicing as a psychiatrist in Durham, England and she confirmed that was the best treatment as he was suffering from by-polar depression.

The complete treatment was 3 electric shock treatments on alternate days. On the first treatment, he showed some signs of recovery. When I went to his house to fetch him for the 2^nd treatment, his neighbour Father Ruddy Wong a Catholic Priest took him to hospital for the treatment. Later I went to the hospital to take him home but Father Ruddy had already taken him home. I rushed to the house and was shocked to find him hanging on the hand rail of the staircase with a wire rope. He committed suicide. Very sad!

He has 2 sons, the elder is a Radiologist working in Harrogate, UK and the younger is an orthodontist working in Sydney, Australia.

I regret that I did not know about mental depression. If I knew, I could have saved him from committing suicide.

This is from Baba Mail:     

Almost every day we encounter people who cope with depression at different levels, whether at work or even among our family and friends. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2012 over 350 million people worldwide suffered from the disease, but many feel they can’t discuss it with others. The reason for this is the fear of the stigmas attached to it, whereby they fear that people will just brush it off as a bad mood and not a real problem.

As a result, we may unknowingly be surrounded by people who suffer from depression. In reality, most people who bravely struggle with depression deserve compliments and appreciation, and these are the 8 "rewards" they deserve for facing this difficult challenge. You are invited to send this article to the people dear to you, who are going through a difficult period in their lives, in order to remind them of the strength inherent in them and all the appreciation they deserve.

1. Award for exceptional stubbornness

People suffering from depression need a great deal of stubbornness, expressed in the desire to find and achieve goals in their lives, even if at the same time they are burdened with feelings of inadequacy and fears that make it difficult for them to progress. The ability to rise even at these moments and seek opportunities for self-improvement with amazing determination characterizes quite a few of these people and enables them to find their purpose even if they fall or fail.

2. Award for compassion towards others

Although there is a misconception, depression is not a condition of choice but a disease that disrupts nerve cells in the brain and changes thinking patterns. These changes can sometimes amplify one’s ability to identify sadness in others and become a network of support that allows them not to feel alone in their condition. This focus on others helps these people improve the lives of those around them, but also of themselves so that in some cases it is the people who are most attentive are those who face a difficult life story themselves.

3. Award for caring and sensitivity

Many of us assume that the smile of others is a sign of inner happiness, but it is only an external cover that can be very confusing. Many people with depression make a real effort to look happy and optimistic, especially when they learn to deal with their situation and develop mechanisms to protect them. However, in many cases, even those who hide their mood in the public still face difficult feelings when they are alone, this shows that the happy front they put on is for the wellbeing of others so that those that surround them don’t suffer with them. It is usually those hurting the most that wear the brightest smiles. 

4. Award for creativity

Although depression is a disease with extensive characteristics that affect different personality types in a variety of ways, there are several characteristics that affect a large portion of those who suffer from it. The common assumption is that the fact that such people spend more time thinking about their emotions and considering abstract subjects in a deep and unique way allows them to become more creative and use depression as fuel for different types of work.

Thus, many artists and musicians who have been diagnosed with depression created a collection of sculptures, songs, pictures, and other works during these periods. Even today, many creatives manage to reach high levels of work while fighting harsh feelings that attack them. Mark Twain, who suffered from depression in the last 15 years of his life, wrote that “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody,” and the ability to continue to create while being on the dark side is something to cherish and appreciate.

5. Award for dealing with difficult thoughts

The need to defend and cope with disturbing, difficult and frustrating thoughts is something that some people with depression often encounter. Any change in their lives can lead to a renewed eruption of these thoughts, and learning to deal with them on a regular basis while continuing to live as richly as possible requires unimaginable inner strength.

6. Award for extreme fatigue

We all know how difficult it is to get through the day when we are tired, but people suffering from depression know this situation very closely very often. Irregular sleep patterns characterize a large part of their days, and they tend to suffer from extremely long hours of sleep on one side, along with difficulty falling asleep all night on the other. Because fatigue causes negative moods, symptoms of depression can worsen in such situations. Therefore, the ability of people who suffer from depression to get up in the morning even when it seems impossible deserves real appreciation.

7. Award for demonstrating high levels of patience

As opposed to other problems faced by many people, people who suffer from depression often feel that while coping with their emotions, they also need to exhibit very high levels of patience to communicate with their loved ones and support their family members in order to explain to them what is going on in their lives and thoughts. This is to keep friendships dear to their hearts, to avoid distancing themselves from others and to explain to them that if they do isolate themselves, it is only because they are dealing with difficult things, but it is still important for them to be there beside them.

8. Award for focusing on the outside world

As we’ve already mentioned, many people who suffer from depression seek meaning in their lives, and the ability to focus on what is happening around them is something that can create significant value for them. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, noted that a person's heroism is evident not in their victory but in coping with challenges, and as someone who fought with clinical depression, he decided to deal with the problem by improving the world around him. Indeed, many of his actions, the most prominent of which is, of course, the abolition of slavery, affect our world to this day and prove that in the most difficult periods of a person's life they can give find meaning and value by improving the lives of others.