Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean depression isn’t there

WHAT’S not to love about Snow Patrol’s homecoming gig in Dundee on Sunday?

The Northern Irish band, who formed at Dundee University in 1997, went on to sell a mind-blowing 13 million albums.

And they want to show that throughout the riches, the fame and the awards, they never forgot their Dundee roots.

Even more touching has been lead singer Gary Lightbody’s recent candour about his battle with depression.

He knows he is lucky, that he’s rich, famous, talented and healthy – so in many ways he feels guilt in admitting he was debilitated by the illness.

But debilitated he was, to the extent that – over the course of the last seven years during which Gary struggled to write the band’s next album – his friends feared for his life.

But that’s the thing with depression – it cares not what you have or who you are.

When it sweeps into your life it makes it a very dark place.

The brilliant mind of Stephen Fry – another advocate of Dundee and former rector of our university – has been blighted at times by it.

He recently admitted he has made three suicide attempts.

I’ve heard it said, often by the older generations, that “depression” is a fashionable term.

“There was no depression when I was young. We just got on with it,” is the kind of phrase you might find familiar. Maybe they have a point. There’s much to be said for being resilient – if you can be.

People who are “depressed” because it’s a Monday and they have blues at going back to work are guilty of using the term too lightly.

But to scoff at anyone who has depression when “they don’t know they’re born” because they have no money worries, five houses, model looks or whatever we see on the outside, shows our lack of understanding for a condition we can’t see.

Too often we only “see” it when it ends in the tragic taking of a life.

So to anyone who speaks of depression, just think it might save your life or change those of others desperate to know they are not alone.

And if you are seeking reassurance that others struggle, the moving, often heartbreaking and beautiful lyrics of Snow Patrol’s new album Wildness is a good place to start.

Snow Patrol on stage at Church Dundee, where they played three acoustic gigs to mark the release of their new album, Wildness.