Today one of my colleagues shared that one of her students, a bright fifteen year old boy, had succumbed to his illness. At fifteen, the pain of depression was more than he could endure and he took his own life.
Depression is real and it is excruciating, not only for the patient, but for the family and friends as well and all too often it is fatal.
A doctor cannot do an MRI or CAT-scan and diagnose the illness. Medications are a crap-shoot and it’s a long and difficult process to find out what works. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps, but it is hard work and in the meantime, the patient often loses hope.
My almost fifteen year old daughter has major depressive and generalized anxiety disorder. On the outside, she looks healthy and beautiful and it’s difficult for anyone who sees her to understand that on the inside she is using every coping skill she knows just to get through the day. Her father and I live with the constant fear that she, too, will succumb to her illness. We do everything we can to help her fight, hoping that one day the combination of medication and therapy will lessen the symptoms.
Too often, mental illness is surrounded by stigma. If that fifteen year old boy had been diagnosed with cancer, he would have been supported, cheered on, encouraged to fight, but people with depression hide their pain. They put on a mask to go out into the world and we don’t know who they are.
A person suffering with depression cannot ‘cheer up’ or ‘snap out of it.’ You cannot tell a person with anxiety to ‘relax.’
What can we do?
We can be aware. We can ask and we can make it okay to talk about depression. We can be supportive.
Suicide is preventable.
Awareness is everything. Understanding is essential.
For more information, please visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at AFSP.org
