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We can't see depression. We cant biopsy it. Blood tests don't show it. Neither do x-rays. Believing in depression takes faith, and surveys show that more than half of us are depressive atheists still believing somehow that depression is not a disease, but a sign of weakness.
Wise words by renown Toronto sports anchor Michael Landsberg, in a poignant open letter penned today on TSN's online site in memory of recently-deceased NHL enforcer and former Toronto Maple Leaf Wade Belak.
First Derek Boogard, then Rick Rypien, and then Belak. It was a tough summer for the NHL, to say the least. We won't even get into the last week's calamitous plane crash in Yaroslavl, Russia. Let's keep this focused on mental health.
I have to admit that depression and other mental disorders are a phenomena that I have personally witnessed sweep through scores of my friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. It has touched almost everyone I know in some way, and it is getting to a point where I cannot ignore it anymore.
As in the quote above, I lived a great deal of my life scoffing at the notion. Depression. Please. There are real problems on this planet. What does anyone in our society have the right to be depressed about? We have drinking water that readily runs out of taps. We bathe in a quality of water that many people around the planet would kill to be able to drink.
Being raised in a hyper-religious family didn't help either. There was never any room for psychiatry, or medical psychology, or consideration of mental disorder. Any such things were products of human weakness, and could be cured by a simple return to piety.
I unfortunately took this outlook with me into my university years, which were the first times I started noticing that anxiety, bi-polar disorder and depression were battles that many around me fought silently. A litany of mental health medications, from Ativan to Temesta to Effexor and countless others were being used by those I knew, and it really shook me to the core. Apparently I had missed the party. I didn't know the first thing about going to a doctor and spilling the beans about whatever fears or insecurities racked my brain. One thing was for certain however - it wasn't a case of all these people "making it up." These problems are real, very real.
I am now of the mindset that no matter what walk of life you are in, somewhere in that gap between fantasy and reality lies depression. We live in a high pressure society that fuels an entire planet with images and mantras of what happiness is supposed to look like. How can we not expect people to cave under that incredible pressure?
Ironically, a topic I once could say very few words about I could actually write volumes on now. For the sake of this medium, I will spare you. People very near and dear to me have been diagnosed with mental disorders along that now infamous spectrum of bi-polar to pyschosis to schizophrenia. Some estimates have been thrown out that have as many as 1 in 3 of Canadians nursing a mental disorder of some sort.
That's a lot of fake smiling. I can safely say I am one of the few people I know not taking a mental health medication of some sort. A lot of people are struggling coping during these times of uncertainty. I cannot say with certainly that I have ever truly battled depression, but anxiety?
Very much so.
A deeper look at this phenomena, a more highly informed dialogue, is of course necessary. The stigma attached to even admitting that you battle mental disorder is lessening, but is still unfortunately very evident across many industries and social groups. Taking "happy pills", you say? Much more accepted to talk about working in the healthcare sector ...
Try mentioning it to your employer on Bay Street.
I admit it - I am a recovering depressive atheist. It is real, not imagined. What are your thoughts about depression or mental disorder? What are your stories? Over the coming weeks, I will turn your attention to some of the resources we have available here at Saint Elizabeth that can be of use to those of you looking for a way to not only help yourself but perhaps someone you love and care about.
For the moment, our prayers lie with the families of these men and women who couldn't cope in the end. And yes, I prefer to remember Wade Belak for his incredible energy and all the memories he gave me and my friends growing up watching the Leafs in this past decade - we were even fortunate enough to one day be startled when Wade Belak and Michael Landsberg pulled up in a car and asked us if we wanted to play an impromptu game of road hockey.
We gladly obliged.
