A Friend for the Depressed

Book

Title: Why do I feel so sad?

Author: Dr Shefali Batra

Publisher: Jaico, 2023

Pages: 305

Having gone through extreme depression two times, I know how painful the state is. You feel you are the most damned fool on the earth, utterly useless. You curse the day you were born. You long for death. Worst of all, you don’t trust anyone, not even those who intend to help you sincerely. I trusted books, however. Weren’t they my friends forever, the only friends who didn’t ditch me at any time?

Dr Shefali Batra’s book, Why do I feel so sad? Your pathway to healing depression, is an eminently companionable text that I will recommend to anyone who is going through depression. The book is divided into five parts. You will get to know the theoretical and scientific aspects of depression in the first part. The title of the second part is self-explanatory: ‘Thoughts rule you, but when twisted, they could fool you.’ The subsequent parts take you on a self-re-creating journey.

Dr Batra’s approach is firmly founded on Cognitive Psychology which looks at our beliefs, attitudes, intentions and other mental processes which determine our behaviour. “We all respond to events or situations in accordance with what we think and feel about it,” as the book puts it. Miracle is a change of attitude, as I used to repeat ad infinitum in my classes. I got that concept from Cognitive Psychology. By the way, I did a postgraduate course in psychology from Indira Gandhi National Open University. Cognitive psychology caught my attention the most.

Dr Batra’s book can be an ideal companion for anyone going through depression. She is a practising psychiatrist with much experience. Each chapter of her book presents the theoretical framework illustrating it with examples from her experience before going on to suggest certain exercises. This is not a book that is to be read; this is to be practised. Put the exercises into practice if you have depressive moods or tendencies.

We live in a difficult world in which approximately 703,000 people opt for death every year. That is, one person commits suicide every 45 seconds. Dr Batra informs us that the number of people who attempt suicide is 20 times this number. What may shock us further is the fact that “suicide ranks as one of the top four causes of death among 15- to 29-year-olds worldwide.”

All these people actually do not want to die. They want to put an end to their suffering. They wish to put an end to their feelings of defeat, entrapment, burden, isolation, disconnection… When the number of people choosing death is so large, the problem is indeed very acute and deserves close attention. Books like this one are immensely handy.

“Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever,” as Keri Russell said. I got that and a lot more inspiring quotes from Dr Batra’s book. This book can help anyone to make certain decisions, even if they are not suffering from depression.