endloneliness.net Raises Alarm for an Increase in Stigmatization against Depression Victims

Stigmatization against victims of depression is on the rise, bloggers at http://endloneliness.net/ recently reported.

Reports from endloneliness.net state that people are more unconcerned about the challenges depression victims face today than they were at any time in the past. The organization’s report is further backed by studies that show an increase in suicides from depression victims. This also comes at a time when numerous studies show that depression has become a common illness among cancer survivors, STD victims and people who have survived terror activities. In a report from a Malaysian research group for instance, depression is now a problem facing 4 out of five people who survived cancer.

The decision by the website to raise this issue was however influenced by their internal report that showed a huge number of depression victims suffering in the midst of their family members. According to the website founder, Jim Smith, most people in the US have no idea that they live with depression victims. Smith especially noted that "there were millions of parents in the country who had depressed spouses and teenage kids but generally didn’t know what was troubling them."

“Last year we did brief research about how parents in the US tackle depression in the homes, and we were shocked at what we discovered. Almost half of the people who told us they had depression issues said that their spouses had no idea about it. And even more shocking, parents of man depressed children were almost clueless about it,” Smith said.

Depression is a common disease in the US, even though only a handful of people know they have it. Mr. Smith blames the similarity in the signs and symptoms of depression with other less challenging diseases like stress. He however added, "It is possible to identify a person with depression by simply observing their behaviors. Social withdrawal is the easiest to identify signs of a person likely to suffer from depression." In addition, he says that the same person could prolong their social withdrawal, begin to cry uncontrollably, experience memory loss or even disorganization.

The website raised the alarm for a bigger cause than to simply create awareness. The company’s spokesperson, Joan Fletcher, noted recently that their aim was to make everyone in the society feel the obligation to assist their friends and family who suffer with the disease.

“We want to give everyone in our country a reason to love depressed people. We want to show them how they can help someone showing signs of depression, where they could refer such people for professional help and how to make such people cheerful,” Fletcher noted.

While this campaign started less than a month ago, endloneliness.net seems to have already convinced a large group of people to join their efforts. The site has also attracted several major brand companies to help them advance their cause. The website has invited more people to join their campaign and help end depression and anxiety among people.