Caution: Discussion of suicide
There have been 3 suicides by famous people in the last week. Those of us not famous who have been there or been on the edge of being there know the feeling well, but for a lot of people, its the death of famous people that gets them thinking about the issue.
I want to have something positive to say, like "there's help, just try and find it" but the fact is, that's not always true, and even where there is help, sometimes, the very symptoms that are making you need help are the ones that make it difficult to seek it out.
I'd also like to encourage our friends to try and be there for us, but sometimes, we are better at hiding how crappy its going than we realize, and in any case, just because you dont have depression doesnt mean you havent things of your own to think about, and in some ways looking at friends feels like putting responsibility on them, and that's not a burden they could or should carry.
I could even talk about just being kinder to each other, but the fact is, those who are predisposed to be kind already are, and the rest wont do it regardless. Heck, for some of them, driving someone to suicide might be considered a "win".
I'm sorry, I wish I had something more uplifting for you all, but right now I'm fighting my own darkness, and while I'm not suicidal, I just dont have a lot of sunshine to spread.
Try and stay safe, everybody.
Comments
Spirals
Quite a conundrum, "the very symptoms that are making you need help are the ones that make it difficult to seek it out", is so true and I think that some of us identify with that statement.
Unfortunately such feelings tend to spiral feeding on each other. We tend to become more reclusive in part due to the shame we might be feeling and the inability to find a solution.
By the same token that bad feelings are going to feed the depression, uplifting stories, and music should help some. I personally believe in the Secret.
Every little bit helps, smiling even when you don't feel like it usually gets it reflected back and eventually what might have started as a forced smile becomes a real one.
Xtrim
Article that gives some possible insight into this.
It's at Alternet.org and it's titled is something like "Would Einstein Be Drugged Today?".
The person who wrote the article is a Psychologist and he explains how Authoritarian this field appears. The connection to suicide here appears to be that many of these people who are suffering in the upswing in suicides appear to be Anti-Authoritarian. Their responses to the shift in society is depression and other depression-related mental illness mostly. There are some other interesting observations he makes about those who have instead lived with mental illness all their lives.
A lot of this reminds us to fight back against Authoritarianism but my two cents are that besides listening(which is important) we need to heal some of the fundamental defects of our society as a whole which have led to this surge.