I write a Christian blog and I was writing a post about Israel that required me to do some research into it’s history. The research I did provided some real interesting information and I thought I would share it here.
It’s interesting to read that the whole Gaza Conflict is nothing more than a sibling rivalry between Abraham’s first two offspring.
Click here if you’d like to read it.
I joined the world yesterday in utter shock and sadness to learn that Robin Williams had died, reportedly by suicide. This weighed heavily on me. Suicide seems like such a selfish and callous act that didn’t fit my memories of the Robin Williams that I’d let into my home and into my heart since the days of Mork and Mindy. I’d stayed with him and continued to support his career through his bouts of depression and repeated substance abuse challenges and didn’t understand how someone who had come through so much could give up.
This morning I was able to see through the shock of the situation and look at it differently. I have a family history of depression, suffered postpartum depression myself, and have a daughter who struggles with depression. I remembered back to my days of postpartum depression when I was physically and emotionally so drained that I didn’t care that the baby was crying, back to the days when moments seemed like years and the days felt like decades and they all felt empty, back to the days when no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be happy. I looked at my daughter who has struggled with days where she couldn’t even get out of bed and then complained about it later, saying that she hates that she can’t control it and the hate and frustration only makes it worse.
Finally, I stepped back and looked at it professionally. I’m a social worker and I counsel people who suffer with depression. I know that depression has a neurological foundation, chemical markers, and is absolutely outside of the control of the individual. It manifests emotionally and physically with symptoms that include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, chronic pain, diarrhea, and insomnia. It is a chemical imbalance, no different from someone who suffers with diabetes. This got me to thinking…..when a diabetic dies do people say they died by eating too much sugar? No. They say that the individual died from complications with diabetes. Well….I think it’s time that things change in the way labels are assigned to people who struggle with depression and commit suicide. They did not kill themselves…..they died as a direct result of a chemical imbalance that they had no control over….they died of depression.
People who struggle with depression and other mental illnesses do not commit suicide – even if their death is by their own hands. They were killed by the disease that they struggled with, that they battled, and that they endured silently, often unbeknownst to those around them, all the while dealing with the stigma that comes with mental illness.
Robin Williams did not commit suicide. He died of depression. That is something I can accept, though it still makes me sad.
If you or someone you love suffers from depression, please don’t try to handle it alone. There is nothing to be ashamed of – it’s a disorder and is not something that you did wrong or that you can control. Please seek treatment and get the help that you need to find a brighter tomorrow. Do it for Robin.
Realizations, Ruminations, and Life 