ABU DHABI // Soon after the birth of her second child, Sarah Al Senani was going to the hospital three or four times a day.
When doctors asked her what was wrong she would break down in tears, not knowing the answer.
"I later found out that I was suffering from post-partum depression," Ms Al Senani said. "It was horrible. I refused to eat and couldn't sleep and was crying all the time.
“I really suffered and because my husband was away on a business trip, this made me feel really bad.”
She eventually left her job at a news agency and things became even worse.
“I didn’t seek professional help because I was scared of the stigma,” Ms Al Senani said. “I was fighting depression within myself and didn’t want to show it to my kids or anyone else.
“I was fighting secretly and it was very exhausting because I had to smile, attend social events, but all I really wanted to do was run away.
“This couldn’t happen because I’m a wife and a mother and I had a job. I had to take care of my home. I had to be strong and to do that I had to take care of myself.”
Four months after the baby was born, she began to feel better, and last year began a campaign to encourage women to come forward and seek help.
“Emiratis don’t believe in depression as much as they believe in black magic and an evil eye,” said Ms Al Senani.
"I, too, believe in these things because they are mentioned in the Quran, but I also believe that a lot of it is depression and we need to seek help.
“You can’t blame everything on being bewitched or given an evil eye.”
The campaign, which is divided into three phases, is set to begin on Thursday at Anahata Spa in Khalifa City.
“First I’m having an awareness week just to see how people will react to the idea,” Ms Al Senani said. “This will be done in a fun way to attract people and introduce the idea.”
Phase two involves a range of activities, including exercise, art and music classes.
“I want people to stop the stigma and to be strong enough to say, ‘I am depressed and I need help’,” she said.
“I want them to understand that there is a way out if you only open your eyes, and if you are willing to do it, you will do it.
“To everything there is a solution. A person can control his mind, body and life by the choices he makes.”
Dr Medhat El Sabbahy, consultant psychiatrist and head of the psychiatric rehabilitation unit at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, said the cause of the stigma in the UAE is a lack of knowledge about depression.
“For cultural and religious reasons and mainly a lack of knowledge, many think that patients who are depressed are mentally insane or abnormal,” Dr El Sabbahy said.
“They start avoiding them or hiding their disorder. Later on they start hiding the patient and not including them in events or meetings or celebrations.
“This kind of attitude and the belief that the patient is under the influence of magic or an evil eye, is not helping.
“Ninety per cent of depressed patients around the world have suicidal ideas, 50 per cent might act on them and 15 per cent who are severely depressed will commit suicide.
“Five per cent of the world suffers from depression. It ranges from each country to the other to between 4 to 6 per cent.”
salnuwais@thenational.ae