WOMAN SURVIVES OVER 10 SUICIDE ATTEMPTS

KASHOBA – As the nation celebrated its most phenomenon women on International Women Day last Friday, there is one woman who perfectly deserved to be honoured.

That is Nonhlanhla Sihlongonyane (37), who has battled depression or major depression disorder since childhood. The mother of two has lived to tell of how she overcame over 10 suicide attempts in the past two decades.

Though still battling with the condition, Sihlongonyane is upbeat and she now wants to share her experiences in order inspire hope to others in the same predicament. She desires to partner with an organisation or to establish her own, which would raise awareness about depression. “In the country, the level of knowledge about depression is very low. Surprisingly, even health care practitioners know very little about the condition. Also, there are no facilities to deal with the condition,” Sihlongonyane noted.

While aged 30 years in 2012, Sihlongonyane was diagnosed with major depression disorder and at the time, she was residing with her husband in South Africa. Prior to that, she had experienced symptoms of depression ever since she was a toddler but, surprisingly, each time she visited the hospital doctors couldn’t detect anything. “Sometimes I would experience chest pains and panic attacks. I would be very sick and ultimately became bedridden. Most the time I would be aggressive towards other people,” she recalled.

It was not only the physical depression symptoms Sihlongonyane suffered from but she would also experience suicidal thoughts. She would feel that it was worthless to continue living. “I remember that I first attempted to take my own life when I was 10 years old. I ingested Solanum (Intfuma) but I was quickly rushed to hospital,” she said.

On top of the suicidal thoughts and physical pain, Sihlongonyane also suffered chronic insomnia.
This resulted in her being admitted to a private health facility in South Africa, where she received psychotherapy. She was admitted for 21 days at the health facility and when she was discharged, she felt much better. “They had all the necessary equipment and the psychotherapy really helped me,” she stated.

aggravated

However, Sihlongonyane said her condition aggravated when she returned to the country in 2014. She said the National Psychiatric hospital lacks the capacity to deal with depression. “People suffering from depression need special care. They are different from mentally ill patients. They need a doctor who consistently monitors them,” Sihlongonyane said.

She added that another challenge she encountered when she returned to the country was that there was only one Psychiatrist. Each time she had an appointment with the Psychiatrist, Sihlongonyane said she would find the psychiatrist busy attending to other patients. Sihlongonyane wants government and other relevant stakeholders to prioritise the treatment of patients suffering from depression just like those suffering from the other chronic illnesses.

According to her, there are many people suffering from depression in the country and some end up dying due to lack of proper family care and adequate treatment. She blamed the seemingly increasing homicide cases and crimes of passion in the country to depression. “Many depressed people end up doing horrible things. Some even take drugs as means of easing the pain,” said Sihlongonyane.

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