Stopping The Stigma

Trigger warning: Depression

In light of a recent tragedy - the premature and deeply saddening loss of talented actor and comedian Robin Williams - I thought I'd make a quick post. I may get a bit deep and serious here but bear with me.

I just want to make a disclaimer that I am in no means an expert and I'm certainly not trying to self-diagnose. I just want to describe my experience. The last thing I want to do is offend anyone.

As a young person in Ireland, where I find services and education for depression and mental illnesses lacking, unfortunately I have been subjected to the stigma surrounding mental illness. Knowing people who have suffered from depression and going through a tough time myself a couple of years ago, I speak from some experience here. After leaving school early I found myself with bad social anxiety, not wanting to get out of bed or do anything because it felt pointless. Though this rough patch didn't last for long (thankfully) it still hit me pretty hard. As someone who is always generally happy-go-lucky and celebrates every little victory it still scares me sometimes to think of how certain events can hit us hard and knock us down. I reassure myself that for me, I overcame it by talking about it, but for a lot of people I understand it isn't that easy.

Depression can be hard to understand but I try my best to be supportive rather than do what I see quite a few people doing - making depression out to be 'not a big deal' or saying 'everyone has bad days, get over it'. It's all too easy to say these things or tell people to 'just smile' or 'cheer up'. If you do this please try and understand it's not that simple.

While talking about it is absolutely the best thing to do, it's scary and it's hard. Talking about it makes it real. But talking about it is also the first step toward getting help. Depression is nothing to be ashamed of or made fun of - it doesn't decrease a persons worth and it certainly doesn't mean they're weak.

So I urge you - if you're suffering with depression, please talk to someone. Your family, your best friend, a doctor, a teacher, anyone. It probably means feck all but if anyone who feels down is reading this, please don't hesitate to talk to me - I'm actually a pretty good listener. You're most certainly not alone.

I sincerely hope I didn't offend anyone with this post - again, I'm not an expert, I just thought I'd address this topic and maybe it helps some of my readers. It was enlightening to see all the supportive posts on Facebook surrounding Robin Williams' death, mostly care and support from others doing similar to what I'm doing, encouraging people to get help and pointing out the fact that no matter how happy and carefree someone may seem, you never know how they really feel.

Some helpful links/numbers in case you need them: (Ireland)

The Samaritians: 116 123  Text: 087 260 9090

1 Life Suicide Helpline: 1800 247 100 / Text 'HELP' to 51444

Teenline Ireland Helpline: 1800 833 634 (7pm -10pm)

Aware (Helpline for Depression): 1890 303 302

Console (Bereavement Support): 1800 201 890

The Senior Helpline: 1850 440 444