Everyone faces bouts of sadness throughout their lives but not everyone can simply claim that they have “depression”.
Although the 2 are closely linked together, as depression is way more than just feeling sad and could lead to devastating outcomes such as suicide.
Recently, a video on YouTube of a girl talking about depression went viral after some of the statements made in the video were criticised by those who have been diagnosed with depression.
In the video titled ‘How to avoid depression’, one of the members of siswipretty, a Malaysian club based platform which creates content on women related issues, says that to avoid depression, one must make themselves busy, accept whatever has happened and that whatever has happened must have a reason behind it.
Amongst the host of other things she said, the woman appeared to liken depression to just being sad and being unmotivated.
The video was slammed by netizens
The video has been viewed over 2,700 times on YouTube but netizens were far from happy. Some took to the comments section to correct some of the incorrectly made statements in the video.
“I think you are talking about being demotivated rather than depression. You came off kind of offensive in this video to those with depression,” said a user.
A user with clinical depression commented, “I’m sure your intentions were good but this is pretty misleading. When I watch this video, it’s as if you’re making depression a light matter to discuss about when it’s not.”
“I know you are trying to raise awareness but this is not the way. If you are not a professional then I’m sorry but you don’t have a say in this matter.”
“Please reconsider this video, take it down if you need to,” added the user.
Another user urged siswipretty to recognise the difference between mental and physical pain.
“You skin your knee, you can simply put a bandage on. But if you lose yourself, there is no medicine available in this world that can give you a new you.”
“People who are depressed always feel like they’re at the end of their journey, so if you can’t hold their hands throughout the dark tunnels, don’t be the voice that mock their struggle. Be more empathic, you may save a life for all you know,” they added.
Siswipretty apologises for the video
Following all of the backlash, we managed to contact the group to ask them for their thoughts on everything.
Speaking to WORLD OF BUZZ, siswipretty said that they truly apologise for the video and promised to improve their content in the future.
“From our perspective, all that we want to do is to create awareness. We understand and acknowledge that our member has used a misleading term when using the word “Depression” and we truly apologise to those affected by the video.”
“We are developing a platform that’s open for women to share their thoughts on taboo topics that need more coverage and since it’s an open platform, the content mirrors the knowledge of our generation. We didn’t expect backlash to happen as we encourage people to help educate each other instead of giving hate comments,” they said.
They added that it was never their intention to offend anyone in the first place. “Again, we truly apologise and will improve our content in the future.”
Watch the full video below:
What do you think of the statements made in the video? Let us know in the comments.
Also read: 17yo M’sian Animal Rescuer Attempts Suicide After Schoolmates Bullied Him & Called Him “Dirty”
