5.2 Demographics of the Research Participants
5.3.4 Theme 4: Coping strategies to deal with depression
88 | P a g e stage of life’. You just figure everything out by yourself and see how you are going to live.
So also, the other thing I would say is that it is more growth than depression, but it ends up looking like depression.”
Moffateh’s (2020) findings corroborate this theme that focused on factors leading to depression among university students. According to the former author, starting a new life needs flexibility and adaptation to fit into a new environment and routine. He mentions that most undergraduate students move away from their home environment to start a new life with friends and classmates and they need to adjust or change their behaviour and the way of life they were familiar with.
89 | P a g e
“So, for me it was me speaking about my problems not only to my friends, and not only to the people who are professionals and psychologists, but also to my mother who also understood. My faith played a role and helped me to be the way I am right now.”
Thanos referred to negative behaviours when he was going through episodes of depression such as punching a wall. However, along the way he developed the understanding that moving out from the space for a moment and finding friends was a better way to cope with an episode of depression and anxiety. He said:
“Things like punching the wall are painful, but they ease you somehow and you will, like, say ‘I am alright now’. At some point for me when I went through that stage of the urge to punch the wall and stuff, I went outside to my friends. Now we talk, tease each other, and I will be better, you’ll see. I go to the gym. I am small as you can see but the weights I am lifting are huge because I focus on this to get rid of what is going on in my head and my feelings. So, things like that.”
5.3.4.2 Sub-theme: Taking a walk outside
Khuzwayo said:
”You will find that someone who sees that they are experiencing something that might lead to depression, they will decide to take a walk alone, just to change the environment. Let me give an example. From here on campus to the Golden Horse with no money, nothing. I go inside, sit, look at people doing whatever they are doing, then come back. It makes my mind to move away a bit from stress.”
Noluthando shared a similar view:
“Mina, for myself, I think it is going outside even if it means I am sitting just outside SU where there are people. I go window shopping even if I don’t have money. I will go and come back but I make sure every day I step outside. Because once I start this pattern that I do not open curtains in my room, I do not go outside, then it is down from there.”
90 | P a g e Many participants, like Thembeka, understood that, even if students did not always have money, going outside and doing a little shopping helped to at least leave a darkened room in the residence.
The participants also mentioned joining clubs and societies as they believed that moving outside of one’s lonely space helped one to meet new people. This often turned a bad day into a good day and, sometimes, one was inspired and found a new purpose in life.
5.3.4.3 Sub-theme: Substance abuse numbs negative feelings
Several participants revealed that they engaged in substance abuse because it was a way to deal with their depression. However, a number of participants who mentioned drinking were doing that because the problems they faced could not be dealt with, so drinking became a form of escaping rather than healing. However, they tended to act as if nothing was wrong in the company of friends
and family and felt that they had to deal with the problem on their own. For instance, Thando said:
“We drink! I won’t lie to you, we drink because at that moment it makes us happy, and we forget what is happening. So ya, we drink and talk to a lot of people, but that thing is all good during the day when you are still around your friends. But the moment you get home at night, that is when everything comes back.”
Nolitha said:
“Alcohol obviously to numb the pain and to just make yourself feel happy like living in the moment type of thing. And weed sometimes. I don’t smoke weed…well, occasionally, but other kids go to the extent of doing cocaine and learn what makes you high and other drugs.
So basically, substance abuse.”
Noluthando said:
“Definitely drugs and alcohol, because when you are intoxicated you are not in your good state of mind definitely. Almost most of us survive with that almost on a daily basis or a weekly basis. Students use drugs and alcohol just to not think of the situation back at home.
I mean, you know here at res we smoke.”
91 | P a g e The above narratives revealed that when the students felt depressed they sought different ways to cope and got involved in different activities. The majority of the male students played soccer at the school Greenfields or went to a gym where they even participated in competitions. The majority also mentioned listening to music or watching different videos on YouTube whenever they felt depressed, because this helped to take their minds off things. One participant stated that when he felt depressed, he wanted to be alone to think, or to talk to his kids via video call. But mostly he found that his private space helped him to deal better with depression.
One group chose to deal with their emotions, stress, and feelings of depression by using substances and alcohol. According to the cognitive theory of depression, when someone allows his thoughts to be negative, it leads to depression. The theory also posits that thoughts, feelings, and behaviour are all linked together. When someone has negative thoughts, that person feels bad, which causes him to behave badly. This often becomes a vicious cycle. When the person acts badly, it has negative outcomes which, in turn, cause more negative thoughts.