IN THE DARKNESS OF DISPAIR

Robin Williams

The recent death of Robin Williams has left a huge dent in our lives it seems. More and more people are realizing the effect that suicide and depression can have on the survivors. The fear of losing someone to anything but old age is abhorrent and nightmarish and destructive.

If you lived in the 1950’s, and suffered from depression, you were scorned and made to feel worse, until the worst you felt was to take your own life. You were told you were lazy, to snap out of it, to get yourself together. You didn’t voice your own fears and the demons continued to run and ruin your life!

Today things are changing for the better to help people realize depression is a clinical disorder, not something you do to yourself, but your chemical makeup. If you are short or bald, blue eyed or brown, tall and hairy, there is nothing you can do about it, and nothing obviously to be ashamed of. But we do have people who measure you and criticize your being, and take delight in that.

No one wants to be depressed, it is paralyzing and debilitating, a cruel twist of luck and we need to understand it better. Today’s society is way too advanced for ignorance to rule, for prejudice to root and for hatred to dominate. The Internet has given us instant access to knowledge that was never available as it is now. People are expressing themselves and revealing that the truth is, depression is real. I wonder how many of us in this world have gone untouched by depression in one form or another?

If Robin Williams was such a beloved figure that he was, then his death and suicide were not in vain, he told us that those you love can indeed suffer, what can you do about it? He told us that depression is still hidden, that no matter who you are, you can be touched by it. There are sick people in this world, people who will use depression as a weapon, who, will talk about it to others in a secretive way, not realizing that they probably are talking to someone who may be depressed themselves, or know someone related to them with depression.

Some of the smartest people I know have clinical depression as it can strike anyone at any time, but like a cold or disease you may have, they go to a doctor and have it treated. There is no cure for depression, but there is treatment and medications that can turn the tide.

But like I said before, the ‘survivors’ are the final victims, the ones that pay the price daily, that suffer from the horrors of knowing their loved one died at their own hand. The ‘survivor’ goes on the next day a little less in spirit, a little less in joy and a little less in who they once were.

Let’ not judge people with depression, instead lets stand next to them and reach out a hand. Ask them, let them tell you what they feel, let them take you down their dark tunnels and black holes and don’t pretend to know because you could never know. Most importantly, don’t let go, give them encouragement and support and most of all, love.