Depression is real
HERE’S to praying that with the recent news about suicides, we are there for our friends who may be feeling down.
It is not by design that just when Sun.Star Davao ran a series about Depression and how it can affect people and drive them to suicide just last June 5, 2018, American fashion designer Kate Spade killed herself, followed by highlyregarded chef Anthony Bourdain on June 8.
In killing themselves, however, they did not just take their own lives, but somehow stirs up discussions on how even money cannot keep you from committing suicide, and in that language that only the deeply depressed can understand, makes this act easier.
Yes, we mourn their deaths and the realization that they were fighting a battle no one seemed to have gotten a good grasp of and understood enough to give support and healing, but beyond mourning, let us check on our friends and family around us. Are they okay?
Werther Effect of Copycat Suicide “is a popular term for an increase in suicide rates that (1) follow media coverage of suicide (s); or (2) are inspired by reading about others’ suicides; or (3) are linked to a friend or family member who committed suicide,” the medical-dictionary. thefreedictionary.com defines.
While we cannot prevent people from sharing over and over again their shock and grief over social media about these two celebrities, the most we can do is be there for our friends and family. Check on them, ask how they are. Keep them in your peripheral vision, keep them company.
As reported by Sun.Star Davao in its special report last June 5, Dr. Bihildis Mabunga, chairperson of the Southern Philippines Medical Center’s Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, herself admits the prevalence of depression among locals.
“In my private clinic alone I get five people who are suffering from depression everyday out of maybe nine or 10 patients. This still comprises 50% to 60% depressive people who visit me every day,” she said.
But as Mabunga said, depression can be treated. The first step is diagnosis. Be there for your friends and family who appear to be out of whack.