Last night you came home tired and in “a bad mood” because of your boss’ “unreasonable demands”. Then, you gave your family member a verbal bashing over something. You skipped dinner, set off to work in the morning feeling guilty and hopeless. It is a folly to blame your behaviour on a foul mood or a though time, just because you are prone to moddiness. If you’ve had a spate of such episodes of late, you might be in the middle of clinical depression.

Just feeling low

Power-cuts or salary cuts, there are many occasions for us to feel down in the dumps. It’s part of day-to-day life. But usually, these feelings don’t last for too long. Below are some of the symptoms of ordinary mood swings:

-  Avoiding communication and being quieter than usual.

- Avoiding participation in leisure activities or hobbies.

- Being alone and attempting to listen to music or reading.

- Being irritable to all those curious about your behaviour.

Note that all these symptoms do not last for long. Watching a flurry of sixes by Yuvraj Singh or just bumping into an old friend is all it takes for your spirits to rise to normal.

Danger Signs

So, when do you know you are a victim of clinical depression? Check if you show any of these symptoms:

- Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions.

- Decreased energy, fatigue

- Loss of intrest in activities that wer once enjoyed

- Feelings of guilt, hopelesness and pessimism

- Insomnia, early monring awakening or oversleeping

- Loss of appetite and weight; overeating and weight gain

- Suicidal thoughts

- Physical symptoms that don’t respond to treatements, such as headaches.

In such conditions all you have to do is help yourself:

- Wake up early in the monring and practise meditation and yoga.

- Pen down your felings in a diary.

- Avoid clutter in your house, it adds to depression

- Avoid monotony, take regular breaks.

- Jog or walk regularly

- Long baths and fresh cloths add to your confidence

If you recognise yourself as a victim of depression, destressing alone would not help you. You must let go of the stigma and seek help. Depression can be successfully treated with medication, or professional counselling.

There are two type of angry people explosive and implosive;

Explosive is the type of individual you see screaming at the cashier for not taking his coupons. Implosive is the cashier who remains quiet day after day and then finally shoots everyone in the store.

Don’t get mad, don’t get even and learn to calm down. How ever this is difficult to do when your boss asks for a report way before the deadline. Experts tend to believe that anger is merely the symptom of a far deeper problem.

Some people are just chronically angry and in the habit of being angry. Giving in to their demands like offering an alcoholic drink. If you scratch below the surface, there’s a lot of pain and hurt that needs to be addressed.

When an emotion begins to hamper you and your family life, it’s time to seek the help of a counsellor. We should learn from our mistakes and cut down on expectations which set us up for disappointments.

Control anger before it controls you. Instead of slamming the door when you’re angry or throwing knives, learn to approach the problem in a straightforward manner.

Underneath every anger lies fear. Anger is nothing but a defence mechanism. An angry, young man is not charming; what you should aim for is a build-up of contagious energy, where you are contained and in acceptance of everything about yourself, including the emotion of anger.

Tips to manage Anger

- Relax, think of a place or a time that you particularly enjoy.

- Counting from 50 backwards shifts brain activity from the emotional to the analytical part of the brain, decreasing the intensity of the unwanted emotion.

- Laugh often and watch movies that tickle your funny bone.

- Don’t jump to conclusions. Listen to others.

- Instead of revisiting hurtful events in your mind, forgive the person who wronged you.

- Have a healthy diet. Adequate vitamins are vital for your body.

- With children, don’t over stimulate them with school, hobbies and tennis lessons. A child needs time to relax.