NEWSROOM NOTE

DEPRESSION and anxiety are silent

killers. Often we have family, friends and colleagues who suffer in silence.

Putting a spotlight on World Suicide Prevention Day, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) said it receives 600 calls daily from people who feel sad, depressed or have been raped or bullied, have lost their jobs, are recently divorced, struggling with financial issues, not being able to afford health treatment, or the loss of a loved one and becoming deeply lonely.

Statistics show one suicide is committed every hour in South Africa. A Stellenbosch researcher found that for every suicide death there are estimated to be at least another 20 suicide attempts.

Each suicide affects a large circle of people – as many as 35 people are seriously affected by each suicide.

We reported about the tragic loss of renowned South African cardiologist Professor Bongani Mayosi who took his own life. The family of the UCT health sciences dean said Mayosi had for the past two years been battling depression.

Just last year, he led a research team that made what had been described as the biggest breakthrough in South African cardiology since Dr Chris Barnard’s first heart transplant, identifying a gene that is a major cause of sudden death by heart failure among young people and athletes. The circumstances of his death was met with disbelief and shock.

If anything, this shows that mental health issues affect the most brilliant among us, those with the brightest smiles.

Suffering in silence must end. Let’s talk about depression, anxiety, mental health – it’s not a taboo subject, it’s the lived reality of more people around us than we know. Statistics show 75% of people who have completed suicide have told someone first.

Contact Sadag’s free telephonic counselling service on 0800 567 567.