{"id":3342,"date":"2018-06-26T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T09:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.destinymiracle.com\/blog\/?p=3342"},"modified":"2018-06-25T09:59:27","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T09:59:27","slug":"dont-suffer-from-your-depression-in-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/dont-suffer-from-your-depression-in-silence","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Suffer From Your Depression In Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Author of <strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.destinymiracle.com\/go\/video2\">Manifestation Miracle<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><em><strong>Do you want to unlock your inner power to <strong>manifest the life<\/strong> you&#8217;ve been dreaming of? Don&#8217;t forget to check out the\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.destinymiracle.com\/go\/video2\"><em>Manifestation Miracle<\/em><\/a>\u00a0program&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n<h2>Don&#8217;t Suffer From Your Depression In Silence<\/h2>\n<p>In the video below, Nikki Webber Allen, a two-time Emmy winner with 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, talked about the importance of talking about mental health in a recent presentation she made.<\/p>\n<p>According to her, we all experience negative emotions, and recognizing them <strong>isn&#8217;t<\/strong> a sign of weakness. Instead, it only means that we are <em>human<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Nikki was diagnosed with <strong>anxiety and depression<\/strong> and she felt too ashamed to tell anybody. She kept her condition a secret until one day, a <strong>family tragedy<\/strong> happened which made her realize that just like her, the people who are close to her, were also suffering. Here&#8217;s the video below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/shG0ezBeeJc?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is what she said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>What are you doing on this stage in front of all these people?<\/p>\n<p>Run! Run now.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the voice of my anxiety talking. Even when there&#8217;s absolutely nothing wrong, I sometimes get this overwhelming sense of doom, like danger is lurking just around the corner.<\/p>\n<p>You see, a few years ago, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety and depression &#8212; two conditions that often go hand in hand.<\/p>\n<p>Now, there was a time I wouldn&#8217;t have told anybody, especially not in front of a big audience.<\/p>\n<p>As a black woman, I&#8217;ve had to develop extraordinary resilience to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>And like most people in my community, I had the misconception that depression was a sign of weakness,<br \/>\na character flaw.<\/p>\n<p>But I wasn&#8217;t weak; I was a high achiever.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d earned a Master&#8217;s degree in Media Studies and had a string of high-profile jobs in the film and television industries.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d even won two Emmy Awards for my hard work. Sure, I was totally spent, I lacked interest in things I used to enjoy, barely ate, struggled with insomnia and felt isolated and depleted.<\/p>\n<p>But depressed? No, not me.<\/p>\n<p>It took weeks before I could admit it, but the doctor was right: I was depressed.<\/p>\n<p>Still, I didn&#8217;t tell anybody about my diagnosis. I was too ashamed.<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t think I had the right to be depressed. I had a privileged life with a loving family and a successful career.<\/p>\n<p>And when I thought about the unspeakable horrors that my ancestors had been through in this country so that I could have it better, my shame grew even deeper.<\/p>\n<p>I was standing on their shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>How could I let them down? I would hold my head up, put a smile on my face and never tell a soul.<\/p>\n<p>On July 4, 2013, my world came crashing in on me.<\/p>\n<p>That was the day I got a phone call from my mom telling me that my 22-year-old nephew, Paul, had ended his life, after years of battling depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>There are no words that can describe the devastation I felt.<\/p>\n<p>Paul and I were very close, but I had no idea he was in so much pain. Neither one of us had ever talked to the other about our struggles.<\/p>\n<p>The shame and stigma kept us both silent. Now, my way of dealing with adversity is to face it head on, so I spent the next two years researching depression and anxiety, and what I found was mind-blowing.<\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organization reports that depression is the leading cause of sickness and disability in the world.<\/p>\n<p>While the exact cause of depression isn&#8217;t clear, research suggests that most mental disorders develop, at least in part, because of a chemical imbalance in the brain, and\/or an underlying genetic predisposition.<\/p>\n<p>So you can&#8217;t just shake it off.<\/p>\n<p>For black Americans, stressors like racism and socioeconomic disparities put them at a 20 percent greater risk of developing a mental disorder, yet they seek mental health services at about half the rate of white Americans.<\/p>\n<p>One reason is the stigma, with 63 percent of black Americans mistaking depression for a weakness.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, the suicide rate among black children has doubled in the past 20 years. Now, here&#8217;s the good news: 70% of people struggling with depression will improve with therapy, treatment and medication.<\/p>\n<p>Armed with this information, I made a decision: I wasn&#8217;t going to be silent anymore.<\/p>\n<p>With my family&#8217;s blessing, I would share our story in hopes of sparking a national conversation.<\/p>\n<p>A friend, Kelly Pierre-Louis, said, &#8220;Being strong is killing us.&#8221; She&#8217;s right.<\/p>\n<p>We have got to retire those tired, old narratives of the strong black woman and the super-masculine black man, who, no matter how many times they get knocked down, just shake it off and soldier on.<\/p>\n<p>Having feelings isn&#8217;t a sign of weakness. Feelings mean we&#8217;re human.<\/p>\n<p>And when we deny our humanity, it leaves us feeling empty inside, searching for ways to self-medicate in order to fill the void.<\/p>\n<p>My drug was high achievement. These days, I share my story openly, and I ask others to share theirs, too. I believe that&#8217;s what it takes to help people who may be suffering in silence to know that they are not alone and to know that with help, they can heal.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I still have my struggles, particularly with the anxiety, but I&#8217;m able to manage it through daily meditation, yoga and a relatively healthy diet.<\/p>\n<p>If I feel like things are starting to spiral, I make an appointment to see my therapist, a dynamic black woman named Dawn Armstrong, who has a great sense of humor and a familiarity that I find comforting.<\/p>\n<p>I will always regret that I couldn&#8217;t be there for my nephew.<\/p>\n<p>But my sincerest hope is that I can inspire others with the lesson that I&#8217;ve learned.<\/p>\n<p>Life is beautiful.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes it&#8217;s messy, and it&#8217;s always unpredictable. But it will all be OK when you have your support system to help you through it.<\/p>\n<p>I hope that if your burden gets too heavy, you&#8217;ll ask for a hand, too.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">No one<\/span> has to go at it <strong>alone<\/strong>. If you&#8217;re feeling low and your sense of hope seems to be fading, have the courage to <em>reach out<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Find the people and resources who can help you help yourself. Most of all, you need to remember that <em><strong>it&#8217;s ok not to be ok<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone has challenging moments like these &#8211; including me.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve struggled with that sense of <strong>helplessness<\/strong> before and felt like I was at my <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">lowest<\/span> point. Luckily, I found the support I needed to pull myself out of that situation.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from that however, I also stumbled on a <strong>secret<\/strong> that helped me develop an <strong>empowering mindset<\/strong>. After I learned how to harness the power of my mind, I was able to attract a life of happiness, fulfillment and prosperity.<\/p>\n<p>Watch my free presentation below:<\/p>\n<h3><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.destinymiracle.com\/go\/video\">Click HERE to learn how to FORCE the Universe to give you everything you&#8217;ve ever wanted\u2026and MORE!<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.destinymiracle.com\/go\/video\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2436 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/manifestationmiracle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MM-Video-v2.jpg\" alt=\"Manifestation Miracle Video\" width=\"933\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MM-Video-v2.jpg 933w, https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MM-Video-v2-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/MM-Video-v2-768x346.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 933px) 100vw, 933px\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author of Manifestation Miracle Do you want to unlock your inner power to manifest the life you&#8217;ve been dreaming of? Don&#8217;t forget to check out the\u00a0Manifestation Miracle\u00a0program&#8230; Don&#8217;t Suffer From Your Depression In Silence In the video below, Nikki Webber Allen, a two-time Emmy winner with 20 years of experience&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-inspiration","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3342"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3352,"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342\/revisions\/3352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destinymiracle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}