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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 17 ,2 01 9 | 18 NU T R I T I O N + F I T N E S S 905.825.3800 W E I G H T LO S S T H AT WO R K S R E S U LT S T H AT L A S T no gimmicks - real food lose 2 pounds per week small group exercise 2018 was Leah's year - make 2019 yours! still contemplating… join in January & get NEXT YEAR you will wish you started TodAY Cal l fo r your f ree consu l ta t ion www.metabo l i cca rec l in i cs .com Leah lost 30 pounds $50 off ELLIVKAO/AC.YOBMRAF !NEPOWONSIECNEIREPXE DOOFHSERFTSEWENS'ELLIVKAO evirDkeerCsauhsoJdnatsaEdaoRelddiMreppUforenrocehtnO yaWkaonorI7091-ertneCsdoowkaO DETCENNOCYATS MP9-MA8:YLIADNEPO !TUOBASIZZUBEHTLLATAHWEESDNAYBPOTS SRUOH EROTS ELLIVKAO Remember that TV com- mercial? A woman runs through a maze. Twists and turns, dark corners ev- erywhere - no exit in sight. Turns out, the maze was her depression; though she looked fine on the outside, inside she felt trapped, overwhelmed. That is exactly what de- pression feels like. Since January 2011, Bell Let's Talk runs a campaign to fight the stigma around mental illness. Every time someone watches a Bell Let's Talk video or tweets #BellLetsTalk, Bell Cana- da donates five cents to the cause. Those nickels add up - $100 million given to community initiatives for mental illness. More im- portantly, I see people talk- ing about depression, anxi- ety or other mental illness- es. By the age of 40, one in two Canadians will have or had a mental illness - de- pression is the most com- mon. I have treated patients with depression, both young and old, who are successful men and wom- en. I see how hard it is for them to talk about it; how hard it was for them to get help. The well-meaning folks who struggled to un- derstand, telling them to "snap out of it." Or "get over it." Or "you have every rea- son to be happy." Here's the thing: depres- sion isn't the same as sad- ness. It's not a bad day or a bad week. Chemical chang- es in your brain aside, de- pression is much more pro- found. Many people with de- pression become adept at wearing masks to get through the day. On the surface, they may look fine. Inside, they feel trapped - knowing they should be happy, feeling anguished instead. Stuck at the bottom of a dark pit. Overwhelmed. The small- est action feeling monu- mentally difficult. Every- thing is affected - the way they think, eat, sleep. At its worst, depression can make them want to stop their suffering by commit- ting suicide. It's not clear why some get depressed and others don't; people can face ex- traordinary life challenges and not get depressed. Meanwhile, others can have everything go right, and be very, very ill. Like diabetes, people can still get depressed even if they do everything "right" - eat well, exercise, sleep well, work hard, meditate, live a good life. That's why get- ting help is so important. For those with loved ones who are depressed, you can help. Be patient, be gentle. Understand that healing is like learning how to walk again: it takes time. Help them get the help they need, and find a way out of the maze. Nadia Alam is a Georgetown physician and president of the Ontario Medical Association. She can be reached at na- dia.alam@oma.org. DEPRESSION CAN AFFECT PEOPLE OF ALL AGES, DISPOSITIONS OPINION BE UNDERSTANDING WITH THOSE AFFLICTED, WRITES ALAM NADIA ALAM Column Meet the PeoPle in your neighbourhood. VISIT INSIDEHALTON.COM TO LEARN ABOUT LOCAL PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR COMMUNITY