Study reveals that the pandemic affected children's mental health 1:54
(CNN Spanish) -
Óscar Mosnalve's job is to make people laugh. Every day in front of the microphone he gives his popular battle cry
- "arrrrrrrrriba raiting!"
- with which he accompanies the listeners of the traditional radio program 'La Luciérnaga' that is broadcast in the afternoons in various cities of Colombia. There he tells jokes, laughs hard, jokes with his companions and even sings. But there was a time when while making people laugh, Risaloca, as Monsalve is better known, was going through a depression that almost knocked him out of the ring.
"I didn't want practically anything anymore," Monsalve told CNN.
"Every night I cried, I woke up without wanting anything. The only thing that caused me to do was work ... it was the only thing that disconnected me from the reality I was living at that time."
Risaloca's depression began after he suffered covid-19 in 2020. "It was a long covid," he told CNN, as he was not only hospitalized, but about to enter an ICU.
His parents were also infected and in April 2021 his mother died of complications from coronavirus.
Inside a depressed mind: what it feels like to live with depression (interactive)
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"After the death of my mother, this whole issue of depression began to develop much more, but I did not know it was depression. I just thought it was part of the grief, of the normal sadness over the death of the mother. , but that has already started to gain more strength, "he says.
With that sadness on top, which he later confused with boredom, he began to lock himself in a working bubble.
He isolated himself from his friends;
He no longer played soccer, as he liked;
He made excuses not to go out, and he only focused on going to work, making people laugh, while he suffered: he could only cry.
"I was more into fiction at that time (on the radio) and I was moving away from the reality of my life and that allowed me to laugh myself and make others laugh," he says.
He felt empty and full of pain, and that was deepened when when he returned to work he could not do a sacred ritual that he had with his mother: call her after being on the air.
So, to escape the pain, Monsalve locked himself in a bubble to avoid feeling the inevitable.
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Depression is "a persistent sadness," according to experts
According to the WHO, a person who is depressed experiences a state of mind full of "sadness, irritability, a feeling of emptiness", a loss of enjoyment of life or disinterest in activities, "most of the day, almost every days, for at least two weeks. "
"When we talk about depression, we talk about a persistent sadness that does not let you function in your day to day," Dr. Karen Martinez, a member of the Public Health Committee of the American Depression and Anxiety Association, told CNN. (ADAA), an organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment and cure of various disorders such as anxiety and depression.
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Depression, says Martínez, is a response to a loss event that a person experiences: it can be the loss of a person, a disappointment, or something that can make them "question the meaning of life, if there is hope, if one must follow ".
This disease has several symptoms, according to the WHO, including difficulty concentrating, suffering, a sense of excessive guilt, low self-esteem, lack of hope for the future, changes in appetite, a feeling of emptiness, a feeling of tiredness, lack of energy, alterations. sleep, among others.
It is a disease that affects approximately 280 million people, according to 2021 figures from the WHO;
And it can carry a risk that ranges from moderate — which is affecting a person's daily activities — to suicide.
The warning signs
Monsalve said that his friends and family noticed changes in his behaviors and the fact that he cried so much and was isolated even from his family were a red flag to tell him to seek help.
In his case, it was a total turnaround at work, not only on the radio, but he began to lock himself in his recording studio and spend long hours there, neglecting his diet and even his relationship with his family.
"There came a time when I was practically going crazy without being able to do anything," he remembers the days of mourning when he did not go to work.
"So that's where I went back to work and well, work helped me a lot to be stable."
The news of his diagnosis of depression took him by surprise, as he thought that he could not have depression if he made people laugh from 4 to 7 pm five days a week.
"In fact the doctor when he saw me told me: 'If it hadn't been for your job, if it hadn't been for laughter, you would be in a madhouse. But what you have is a very strong depression and depression.
But he says that what happened with this was that he finished the program and fell into depression;
finished singing, and also.
His free moments were of great pain.
The breaking point and an urge to seek help
So there came a time when her path to the "hole" of depression changed, thanks to her family and children.
An endocrine doctor who supported him in his process told him that if he continued down this path of depression, he would also drag his children and his father.
By that time he was already creating a "bubble" working all day, he had prescribed contact with his family, and yes, he dutifully made people laugh despite the pain.
"But when that ended again, I would go back to that reality and cry again and come back to not doing anything to me," he says.
So thinking about his family made him seek help.
In his case, Monsalve did not opt for conventional psychiatrists and medications, but instead chose the support of a bioenergetic doctor and an endocrinologist who helped him balance his energy and physical side.
She says the exercise and medicinal supplements her doctors prescribed worked for her and that the first Christmas without her mom in December was an ordeal.
"Obviously I have my moments of sadness because of course, December passed, it was a very hard time, it is a family time and because my mother's emptiness was obviously going to be felt, but I think it was also the biggest test for me, because it was like realizing that if I don't fall in December it's because we managed to overcome this stage ".
While this model of therapy worked for him, there are several psychological therapies that are "effective" in curing depression, psychotherapist José Verdejo, of the Desansiety team, an organization specializing in therapy for depression, told CNN.
"Currently there are effective psychological therapies to cure depression. Above all, in the latest update of cognitive therapies, where behavioral activation therapy for depression stands out. A therapy based on scientific evidence that enjoys very good results in treatment of this disorder. Pharmacological support in some cases can be very useful. However, it must be borne in mind that the focus of treatment should focus on the context that leads the person to experience sadness chronically and not on emotion itself that only occurs as a result, "said Verdejo.
"The improvement and, in an optimal case, the cure of depression occurs as a consequence of the creation of new, more adaptive mental and behavioral habits to replace those that keep the person trapped in their condition," added the expert.
Depression, a silent disease
Monsalve acknowledges that this is a silent disease that needs to be talked about and watched.
"You have to pay attention to those little things that you feel, to those little details that make a difference in your day-to-day life. And also listen to the people who are around you, who may notice it more than you, because one as one is involved in that may not realize it, but those around you can notice it, "said Monsalve, who says he has already recovered from depression.
Already with a whole treatment on top, this comedian says that family and friends are very important in this process because they are people who can help him because they see things from the outside.
"After listening to them, I think the most important thing that one could do is accept help, be it from a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a spiritual help, a priest, a good pastor, in whatever way one can. support. And after that, obviously be accompanied by professionals on the subject. "
Risaloca says that she decided to speak publicly about her depression, because since she is a person known for making people laugh, she wants to give the message that this can happen to anyone.
After announcing that he went through this disease, he said that in the (humor) shows that he did live, some people approached him to talk about depression, something that is important, because this disease is silent.
"It is a disease that can occur to anyone and it is a silent disease that will eat you little by little, if one does not pay attention to it. So I think it is important that we pay attention to this disease that is so so hard".
After coming out of the depression, Monsalve wrote a song in which he says he reflects everything that had happened and remembering "the lessons" that the whole situation left him.
It's called "La guachafita".
Where to seek help if you suffer from depression?
ARGENTINA
Suicide prevention line - online suicide help
PHONE: (54-11) 5275-1135 or 135 from Buenos Aires and GBA
Let's Talk About Everything
E-mail: contacto@hablemosdetodo.gob.ar
Telephone directory
BOLIVIA
Telephone of hope
La Paz: 2248486
BRAZIL
Centro de Valorização da Vida, CVV
Telephone: 188
Chat: (help by chat)
Email: atendimento@cvv.org.br
CHILI
Hope
phone Phone: 005642221200
All improvement, help by email or chat
COLOMBIA
Hope phone
Barranquilla:
(00 57 5) 372 27 27
Bogota:
(57-1) 323 24 25
Medellin:
(00 57 4) 284 66 00
San Juan de Pasto:
3016326701
Colombian Association against Depression and Panic (Asodep):
+57 310 5655415
COSTA RICA
Hope
phone number Email: telefonodelaesperanzacr@gmail.com
ECUADOR
Hope
Quito
Telephone : (593) 2 6000477 - 2923327
SPAIN
Hope phone:
717 003 717
HONDURAS
Hope phone
San Pedro Sula: (00 504) 2558 08 08
MEXICO
Instituto Hispanoamericano de Suicidologia, AC
Telephone: +5255 46313300
Email: info@suicidologia.com.mx
Decide Vivir México, AC
PERU
Sentido (Peruvian Center for Suicidology and Suicide Prevention)
Telephone: 01 498 2711
Hope phone
Lima: (00 51 1) 273 8026
PUERTO RICO
PAS Line (First Psychosocial Help)
Telephone: 1-800-981-0023
URUGUAY
Last resort
Phone: 0800-Vive (8483)
VENEZUELA
Hope phone
Valencia: 0241-8433308
National: 0-800-PSIQUE
In United States
National Suicide Prevention Line 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
For more tips and warning signs, click here.
Depression