TW: Depression, Suicide, Mental Health
Depression is real. It is something that can happen to anyone.
In my personal opinion, the spotlight of depression is focused on young people. We talk about how kids have a bright future in front of them, and they have so much more to live for. We tell them that they still have so much time to figure life out, and they still have so much time to change what they don’t like about their life.
But what do we tell adults?
What do we tell people with a good job? With a family? People who have led a successful life? People in their thirties and above?
It’s something that has been brought to my attention with the recent death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington. I saw Facebook posts saying how he was selfish, he only thought about himself, not his family. And I think this is something that comes up a lot when we talk about mental illness, depression, and yes, suicide, with adults. For some reason, people find it unbelievable that an adult could feel depressed and may not want their life. But it’s real.
There is already a gross stigma in getting the help a person may need when it comes to their mental illness, but just think about the stigma when that person is an adult. How they are shamed for wanting to be institutionalized for getting the help they need.
“Oh, but what about their family? Don’t they have a job?”
What happens when they don’t get the help they need? An individual’s problems may have developed since they were young and perhaps a kid, and they may have never thought about getting any help. Those problems are just going to become greater thoughts in their head, and at one point, they can lose it all. Suicide can happen because of a person’s depression, and it should be addressed as soon as possible. It’s one way to avoid a bigger tragedy in the future.
We need to talk about letting adults deal with their depression. Yes, they may have a family. Yes, they may have many responsibilities. Yes, they may a million other everyday thoughts to worry about. But they deserve to think about themselves, too. They deserve to be a little bit selfish for themselves.
“But they had a long life before to be selfish.”
I’m sure they didn’t think they had time before though. We’re constantly worrying about the next thing in our life. We’re thinking about what we have to do before going to bed, all the homework or work we have to do. But there comes a point where you have to stop doing that, and do what is best for you. Do what is best for your mental health, and what will allow you to live a happy and healthy life finally.
And you should do this as soon as possible. Do it because you know it’s best for you. Because you know you deserve better. It should not matter how old you are. What matters is that you can say you’re doing good at all ages.
