How to Live and Deal with Depression – Speaking with ‘The Happiness Doctor’ Dr Ikhenemoh

Dr Ikhenemoh is a GP, mental health specialist and author. He joins Christina in this episode to talk about how he found his passion for psychological health, what it means to have a mission in life and how you can help yourself, or others when they are struggling with their mental health.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Starting medical school in Nigeria, Dr Ikhenemoh then spent some time in Russia, he left Russia for Holland where he continued his medical studies.

¼ people have an episode of depression in their life.

Asking the right questions, in the right way for the individual, is essential when talking with an individual with mental health issues.

Dr Ikhenemoh believes the word depression is often misused. All humans feel down sometimes, this is normal, but it doesn’t mean you are depressed.

In order to diagnose clinical depression, there are two questions you can ask a patient, if they have feelings of hopelessness combined with a lack of interest in life and they have been feeling this way for two weeks.

There are conditions that can mimic depression, such as thyroid gland dysfunction, it’s important to be able to distinguish when something physical is affecting a patient’s mood.

One of the upsides of the pandemic is that it lead to people talking more about mental health. It has become less stigmatised and more recognisable.

Depression doesn’t define the individual, Dr Ikhenemoh doesn’t believe anyone was born to be depressed, he believes you have to find yourself outside of depression.

You have to be able to recognise your own symptoms of low mood and/or depression. You can then start to deal with them, preventing spiralling.