Depression is a serious medical illness; it is not something that you have made up in
your head. (National Institute for Mental Health)
Suicide is the
act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is
often committed out of despair, the cause of which is frequently
attributed to a mental disorder such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, alcoholism or drug abuse.
I am not going to talk about judgment because then I sound
all judgey myself and that is just not me. In light of the recent death of the
greatest funny man every, there have been quite a few blog posts both negative
and positive, so I figured I would follow suit since I finally felt creative
and compelled. Mental health has always been something I have been concerned
with, so much so that Psychology was my major in college and I have worked in
the field off and on since graduating. With that being said, I am by no means
an expert on the topic, this blog is merely my opinion as someone who has both
watched others suffer and has suffered from depression, and well, I quote facts
from experts.
Let’s just agree on a few things first ; death of anyone, no
matter what the cause, no matter what your belief, is horrifying and
heartbreaking. The problem with the death of a famous person is that it gets
blown by the media, so that their cover can be the first one read or their site
can be the most clicked. No matter how they died, media has no respect or
heart, no matter who you are.
I have gotten sad before when other “stars” have passed, but
I actually cried when I found out about Robin Williams. He has made us all
laugh with every voice he spoke, every character he played and every animated joke
he told on stage. He was on the top of my comedy idol list, for when I got the
gall up to get on stage and “be like” someone. He did not judge, he did not
call names, he wholeheartedly loved each and everyone and everything in this
world. Did I know him personally? Of course not, but I didn’t need to, it
showed in everything he did. He was not in the tabloids for being a
wife-beater, or getting arrested and honestly, not many of us even knew he had
three beautiful kids. He kept his personal life, just that, personal…. And THAT
is how I know he was a good person.
This man loved so much that he hid his pain so that we could
smile for a moment. He hid his demons so that we could laugh our cares away
even for just two hours of a movie. This man tried for years to fight his
darkness until he just couldn’t anymore and it took him away. Yes suicide is an
act of killing oneself, but if you know anything about mental health, there are
days when you just can’t get yourself out of bed, there are days where you say
things that hurt others feelings and you don’t even realize it. You spend a lot
of your life apologizing for something that a lot of time you have no control
over. The darkness gets so deep that it clouds your happy and brings out your
sad. When alcohol and drugs no longer numb the pain, some people end up going
to extreme, some people are not in their right minds and for this reason, our
society needs to be more serious about mental illness. No matter what your
belief is, there is someone close to you that is probably suffering from within
and you’re sitting across from them laughing about it. We have ALL been made
the comment “I just wanna die” or “im gonna kill myself”, do we mean it? 99% of
us don’t but there is someone that hears that and deep down inside, really
wants to end it all.
Robin Williams held his pain deep inside for us, his fan
family, his world. He wanted to see us smile, he wanted sick children to not
worry about their illness just for a moment. He held it in for so long that it built
up and he just couldn’t fight it back anymore.
Sadly, depression IS a disease and it takes more people from
us then we know. Depression knows no color, religion or financial status it
just settles right in your brain.
Suicide happens all the time and it is not always something
that is out in the open, perhaps if we paid more attention to others, we could
get a handle on things in this world. Chris Farley, Heath Ledger, overdosed on
drugs, their way of numbing the pain went too far and took them away too
(taking the life of oneself).
Pay attention people.. It’s everywhere! Stop judging and
start caring and loving!
