Man Commits Suicide at DLH

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

There is a huge difference: mental/emotional pain is not terminal. At worst, one can be lobotomized, but the majority of mental and emotional afflictions can be dealt with through drugs and/or therapy.

As one who will probably be on medication for the rest of my life for depression, I do not see a parallel between a painful terminal illness and spirit killing emotional pain.

With all due respect, the treatment worked for you because you had enough rationality, or at least enough of a support system to convince you of what course you needed to take. Many people who are severely depressed cannot conceive of the idea that it is "all in their head." To them, it is the world that is being merciless; they are the same person that they have always been. The idea that a pill could make a cruel world easier to deal with is a completely foreign concept that they are often unwilling or unable to grasp.

I am obviously very happy to hear that you had the ability to seek out treatment and even more happy to hear that it has worked for you. Were mental illness better understood by people in general, those that are tackling severe depression might have a better chance at weathering the storm, so to speak. You are one of the lucky ones. Many are not - and, I can't help but feel that often it is a result of their support system not truly understanding what depression is or how it can affect someone.

I alluded above to having some experience with someone who was severely depressed. I wasn't talking about my roommate, but rather my mom. At first, my father and I thought that we could simply "talk her out of it" and we gave as many pep talks as we could muster. It wasn't until we actually learned more about the disease through books and such that we started to really grasp the situation. And once we were able to get her to a hospital (completely against her will) they found a major potassium deficiency, based in part by the effects of terminal cancer and a failed liver that were previously undiagnosed. She still only had very little time left in this world, but within a day of treatment, her mental capacity had returned to the point that she was an entirely different person, her old self. And with that treatment, she was finally able to think clearly again and face the fact that she was very sick. When I saw how something as simple as a lack of potassium could completely unravel a person mentally, I started to understand better that brain chemistry can affect a person much more than I ever truly realized.

Due to her severe depression and diminished mental capabilities, she had been hiding from us how sick she really was. Now, she was willing to face it and start treatment. Unfortunately, she was too far along for anyone to be helped by that point. But, at least for those few remaining weeks, her family was once again able to have a rational conversation with her. And I'm very grateful for that fact.

I know I'm rambling, but this is a topic that still hits very close to home.