Depression does not knock on the door when it visits. It barges in. It swallows everything in its path: all your plans, deadlines and projects. It makes you stop.  Time does not matter, as the second hand rolls, into minutes and days. Its dark halo starts like a cloud before the rains; it grows darker and darker but the rain never falls.

Depression hugs you tight; like a blanket, it swallows you up; makes you disappear and makes you become someone you do not recognise. You recoil. Into a shell. When you come out, it is a shy peep. You are alive again. You have another chance at life.

Some never get that chance. Sometimes, the blanket becomes a nuzzle around some necks, it chokes.

Depression—an intense feeling of sadness or low mood for weeks, months or even years—is a global phenomenon that is not often talked about yet an estimated number of 350million people currently suffer from it. 48million Nigerians currently go through it.