I LIKE THIS OPEN LETTER VERY MUCH…VOR I AM ONE WHO HAS CHRONIC DEPRESSION…AND HAVE TAKEN ANTIDEPRESSANTS FOR YEARS.
Dear Society,
It is my experience that many of you chronically misunderstand mental illness, especially as it pertains to suicide. When discussing suicide, I frequently hear things like “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem,” or “think about your loved ones.” While stemming from the best of intentions, this advice is completely ineffective and fundamentally ignorant. Now, I’m not trying to you shouldn’t support loved ones who are battling depression, just that most of you are going about it all wrong. Hopefully, I can help clear up some of these misconceptions.
First, suicide is not a choice. It is the result of an illness, just like death is often a result of cancer, smallpox, ebola, or malaria. These diseases that we are more familiar with are often dubbed “fatal,” but I’ve never heard depression called the same. We are familiar with discussing the mortality rates of different types…
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