Johannesburg - If actress Lillian Dube had to choose between having cancer and depression, she’d choose the former.
She made this dramatic statement in a session on mental health at the More Than Just a Diagnosis media summit organised by the SA Depression and Anxiety Group.
“(Breast cancer sufferers) have support groups, everyone is concerned and loves us, but nobody gives depressed people the same love, because we are mad,” she said.
“There’s no way you can tell people you're depressed because you don't know you're depressed.”
Dube, who is a breast cancer survivor and also had three severe bouts of depression, is best known for her roles as Mampho in the SABC soapie Muvhango and, ironically, as the depressed Sister Bettina in Soul City. Her colleagues at Soul City did not know she suffered from depression.
“When I was playing the role (of Sister Bettina), all the director had to do was show me my marks and everyone cried. That's how sad depression is. I was already dead,” she said.
“You don't know who you are, you don't know where you are, you are in this dark, bottomless pit. You don't have the will to wake up; washing your body is a mission. You don't even want to go to the loo. Depression is a really terrible thing.”
Dube always made sure that someone witnessed her suicide attempts, probably because she had not wanted them to be successful. After hearing a man preach on the train one day about anger and betrayal, she was so touched she promised herself she would fight.
She wasn't taking medication, but said she found attending church therapeutic. And because of her outgoing personality, her friends were usually the first to notice when she was depressed.
She encouraged people to monitor their loved ones for signs of depression.
“Depression itself is an illness. Some people get depressed even when they have everything.
“It is very important for us as parents, as spouses, to be looking for those signs, because a person who is depressed does not know he or she is depressed.”
TV presenter Leanne Manas has also battled with mental health issues, namely anxiety and panic attacks. “The first time I had a panic attack was when I came out of an anaesthetic after a knee operation my heart was racing, I thought I was dying,” she said.
She had panic attacks numerous times after that before a doctor gave her a diagnosis. Medication and finally having a name for her distressing symptoms helped her to cope with the condition.
Although Manas has managed to cope without medication for long periods of time, her panic attacks surfaced again three years ago after the birth of her second child. She spent hours agonising over whether she would be able to take medication as well as breastfeed her baby safely.
Eventually, a psychiatrist put her on medication that was safe for the baby and slowly Manas started feeling herself again.
She said she did not feel guilty about taking medication in order to feel good and enable her to be the best possible mother.
How to deal with a mental illness diagnosis:
Clinical psychologist Zamo Mbele, who works closely with the SA Depression and Anxiety Group, gave helpful suggestions on what steps individuals who had just been diagnosed with a mental illness could take to deal with the news.
* “It's important to (ask) what this means for the individual. Ask yourself why, what, and how when you're given a diagnosis,” he said.
Why: Mbele said it was important to remain curious about your condition and find out as much about it as possible.
* “Go on the internet, look up what you have ask people who've had it for many years.” Support groups were also a good source of information.
What: Find out what you've been diagnosed with and what you should and should not be doing. “This is structurally helpful in managing a big diagnosis,” Mbele said.
* He said it was important to find out what exactly it meant to live with that diagnosis, what impact it had on your life, what the cause of it was and what to do about it. “Find out what it is you're not supposed to do. Firstly, don't panic. Not engaging with your illness or diagnosis can be incredibly detrimental”
How: Mbele said a tailor-made plan on how to manage the condition needed to be developed for each individual sufferer. Treatment would differ at the acute, intermediate and long-term stages.
The Star