The theme of World Health Day 2017 was “Depression: Let's Talk” (observed on 7 April) aimed to mobilize the action on depression. Depression can happen to anybody. It is a normal response to any loss or misfortune but it becomes abnormal when it practices out of proportion to the misfortune or unduly prolonged. It causes severe symptoms that affect how we feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating or working. Depression can causes mental distress and affects people’s ability to continue everyday tasks. Fortunately, depression can be prevented and treated.
Therefore, to make students aware about depression, a workshop on “Understanding Depression: Feel well live well” was held on Sunday, July 09, 2017 from 07:00 pm to 08:30 pm at BRAC University Residential Campus. The main objective of the workshop was to create a clear frame of understanding regarding depression. Two members of the Counseling Unit, Ms. Tasnuva Huque and Md. Saifur Rahman conducted the session with twenty six students. The counselors started the session by listening expectations from the session and asking few questions related to depression. Then they discussed about the scientific definition of depression, difference between sadness and depression, causes of depression, disability due to depression. A group activity was done by students on the cognitive, physiological, emotional and behavioral symptoms of depression. At the last phase of workshop, counselors discussed about the healthy ways to deal with depression and with a depressed person as well.
The session was interactive. Different types of method were used such as, brain storming, meditation, individual and group works to make the session effective. At the end of the session, participants give constructive feedbacks. They also suggested arranging such workshop more in future.