Students Cope with Depression

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Depression is an issue many face and while on Michigan State’s campus students struggle handling school, social lives, and mental health.

Murphy Nye, sophomore, says depression is often misunderstood and not taken seriously.

“Everyday I got up and the first thought was suicide and I didn’t understand why but as I dealt more time with it, it’s probably been 5 years now, I understand it,” Nye said.

There are different forms of depression such as seasonal, situational, and postpartum. Nye suffers from a form of depression caused by a vitamin deficiency.

“My body hasn’t been using a B9 vitamin that’s crucial for Neurotransmitter development so the result of that is I feel numb a lot of the times,” Nye said. “Logically I know how I should feel from certain interactions but the emotional empathy part doesn’t kick in.”

Farha Abbasi, psychiatrist, says before being diagnosed with depression medical, physical, and mental tests must be completed.

“The difference is that depression in its self is when you feel sad for more than two weeks, so in order to be diagnosed we want to know the severity of your depression,” Abbasi said. “Is it single episode, is it recurrent episodes, does it have a seasonal component, does it coexist with anxiety, is there any overlap happening, are you anemic, or suffer from vitamin deficiencies.”

Pauline Bateman, former Michigan State student, says that speaking to loved ones about your mental health is the beginning to proper treatment.

“Whether is be family, friends, or anonymous forms, just talk to someone and get these feelings out,” Bateman said. “Internalizing them and experiencing this life on your own when you’re feeling this is hard.”

Nye feels that there is hope for his life while dealing with depression.

“It’s like I’m excited because yeah I might be miserable now and I’ve been miserable for probably 5 years of my life and had one good month but that one month is enough for me to see okay this isn’t permanent.”

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