Mental health of women - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Such people lack self-esteem and the meaning of life and may not want to participate in social activities. However, in both cases there are common signs such as insomnia, lack of appetite and deep sadness. Lachman highlights four ways of determining whether a person is affected by depression through the “four Ds”. The first is distress whereby a person’s mental state is significantly affected. The second is deviance whereby the person is regarded as having an abnormality by the society. The third is dysfunctional in the sense that the person cannot effectively participate in the day to day activities of the society. Dangerous is the fourth aspect whereby the person is no longer safe to the society and can also harm him/herself. Lachman insinuates that grieving people need to understand the four Ds to help them in self-evaluation thereby understanding if their grief is normal or it is the level of clinical depression. According to Lachman, grieving people undergo six stages of loss. First, they undergo catastrophe and shock which is characterised by terror and disbelief. Thereafter they enter the stage of segregation and consciousness of loss whereby they are overcome by pain and sadness. The third stage is characterised by reconstruction of the mind and reduced sorrowfulness. This stage is followed by irregular periods of normal sadness, which is followed by the final stage of renewal whereby the person gets back to normal life with new a vision separate from the previous one in which the deceased was part of. Lachman suggests that feelings of remorse fade between one and three years as the grieving go through the six stages. One impediment to successful grieving highlighted by Lachman is the double whammy whereby the society tends to downplay the feelings of the grieving person. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More