12 August 2014 8:15
So depression has claimed another sparkling life.
The death of Robin Williams has sent a wave of emotion around the world with tributes flowing from all who knew him or loved his work.
I've already had three conversations along the lines of 'how could he?' The most common response to suicide is 'how could someone be so selfish', and while I understand that reaction perfectly, it's the reaction of someone who doesn't understand depression. And why should they? It's like explaining love; total, absolute, all consuming love, that turns men and women into people one would hardly recognise under 'normal' circumstances.
Having suffered from both love and depression ~(the two sometimes inextricably linked) it's easier for me to see how a state of being where ones personal worth is less than zero can quite easily lead to anj early end. Cowardice, a failure to have the courage to meet a situation head on, is also widely touted. Again, this is completely the opposite to reality.
Depressive suicides are neither cowards or selfish, in fact the truth is that they are exactly the opposite. To have such a lack of self-worth, to feel you are less than worthless to everyone, to have literally (not figuratively, I know the difference) the feeling of absolute emptiness that the world would be a better place without you, and to act on that, takes an enormous amount of bravery and will and lack of self. If you can find a suicide survivor, one who hasn't repeated the attempt successfully, and if they will talk to you about it, you may get an insight into how it feels.
I won't rattle on about what depression is as there are specialist sites that deal with this in a much more erudite way. I simply ask for those looking on not to cast an uneducated critical aye over this situation.
And yes, I know.
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