“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.” -- David Foster Wallace
Did you know that research suggests 6 percent of U.S. undergraduates and 4 percent of graduate students have seriously considered taking their own lives?
Mental illness is described as a condition that impacts a person's thinking, feeling or mood and may affect his or her ability to relate to others and function on a daily basis. Mental illnesses are all too often kept hidden away deep inside the brain only to be seen when the individual suffering has either had enough or seeks help. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness one in 5 adults will suffer from a major mental illness at least once during their lifetime, yet we still don't talk about it. Rather, we hide it away in the closet, sweep it under the rug because it's hard to talk about and ultimately very hard to understand.
I have suffered from major depression since entering college, and at my lowest point, the only means of describing it was the quote, "I'm drowning and you're standing there telling me to learn how to swim." Unfortunately, many know this feeling all to well. Mental illnesses are hard to talk about, hard to understand and nearly impossible to explain. There are quotes, pictures and expressions- no words. Most believe the only way to understand it is to go through it, however, that doesn't mean we shouldn't educate ourselves about mental illness and how important it is to recognize them as an actual illness regardless if they are visible to the naked eye. Due to the fact that mental illness doesn't present itself in the same way a cold or the flu does, it often goes unnoticed by others. This is the same reason mental illness often goes untreated. In fact, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 3.9 million adults living in the United States in any given year are suffering from an untreated mental illness.
So why is it important to recognize? As the illness closes in and holds it's victim in a cold strong grasp, the sufferer becomes more and more isolated. Sufferers don't seek help for many reasons and all too often it has to do with the stigma surrounding mental illness. Many sufferers begin to feel hopeless and unimportant to the world around them and isolate themselves because of it. This leads to a huge suicide risk in a normally tight knit person. Research suggests 90 percent of individuals who die from suicide experienced mental illness. So the next time you have a friend who has been constantly cancelling plans or simply fails to make them when they usually do, let them know you are there. Even if they don't want the help, letting them know you are there periodically could change their outlook.
If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or call 911 immediately. See more here.
