Chester Bennington's sudden death gave the world something that it wasn't ready to handle. Linkin Park is such an influential band, and I think that most 20 something year olds would agree with me in saying that they gave many of us our first taste of deep and meaningful music.
The band's words and lyrics gave meaning to the struggles of someone dealing with depression, hopelessness, and anger every now and again. Chester had always been very open and artistic in describing his own battles with the illness, and how it affected his day to day thoughts and actions. However, with his suicide, many people found themselves coming to realization about just how bad his depression was, and how it eventually lead to him taking his own life. People started to flood social media with posts showing support for Chester, his band mates, and his family. The suicide hotline was suddenly on everyone's facebook, and photos of Chester followed by some song lyrics covered instagram. (I can say that I am guilty of doing these things myself).
While it was great to see so many fans and people in general show support for those, Chester included, who have made the heartbreaking choice to take their own life, I see a huge flaw in this method of support.
Like I mentioned earlier, Chester was always very open about his depression struggles. However, isn't it strange how people didn't publicly show much support for him until after he committed suicide?
This is a trend that the world has been following for far too long. Every time a celebrity or well known figure takes their own life, people flood social media with suicide prevention posts and discussions about the topic and the person. While its great to spread the awareness, I feel as though suicide and depression have become more of "breaking news" update rather than serious and often do or die situations.
In a day and age when suicide has become less of a private discussion and more of a public topic that people are more comfortable talking about, we are doing it all wrong. We saw a glimpse of this in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why when SPOILER ALERT:
Hannah's classmates make her suicide go viral by posting hashtags with Hannah's name, and posting supportive things on her locker after Hannah committed suicide. The odd thing was, none of these people really seemed to care about Hannah very much before she killed herself, when she was often searching for someone to help her.
See, here's the thing. As someone who personally struggles with depression, I've seen way too many examples of people using mental health as something to share on facebook, like on instagram, or make into a TV series. Spreading mental health awareness is great, but stepping in to make change and actually helping and supporting those who struggle with it is just as important, and sadly, its not as well practiced as it should be.
Depression, anxiety, panic, and suicidal thoughts are all very real things. They are very real, and they often all silent killers. In fact, did you know that more than 16 million Americans suffer from depression every year? Or that suicide is the second leading cause of teenage deaths?
We have a problem. When we have people who share supportive posts for those suffering from mental illness but then choose to degrade or ignore people who seek company, or when someone cries over a series like 13 Reasons Why, but then shames someone who is displaying withdrawn or negative behaviors.
So there you have it, but I will say it again: Suicide is real. Depression is real. Mental Health Awareness is not something to be glamorized, wrongfully gone viral, or talked about just so that you can participate in a trending hashtag.
Depression took Chester Bennington. Depression took Robin Williams. Depression took over 1 million Americans last year alone. And while bringing awareness to the subject is okay, its not enough to merely accept the existence of depression and suicide. Depression has taken all of these wonderful people, but what will happen if depression takes your best friend, your child, or your spouse? Will your techniques of showing support change?
Please take the time to ask your family how they are feeling; really feeling. Talk about the hard things, and don't ever be afraid of saying too much. These are trends that need to stop.
Like I've mentioned, its never a bad idea to share the suicide hotline, or mental health photos....but why stop there?
