cw: suicide
in light of the recent high profile suicides, it's important to remember that your strength isn't measured by how much pain you can endure in silence. we need to make it a collective responsibility to check up on our loved ones and ourselves and always try to be present. i know i was most active on smogon during my worst bouts of depression, and i definitely am aware of how lot of us possess suicidal ideation at times.
that being said, please don't superimpose help on your loved ones. so many mental health institutions are rife with dehumanizing practices, infantilizing patients and erasing their autonomy. if you or a friend is having a rough time, don't coerce or be coerced. vet your programs, understand the impact, and weigh your options. i have had many poor experiences with mental health services, many of which only snowballed my depression. understand that, while you may have had a healing exposure doing xyz, this may not translate for others.
the work done to legitimize depression as a corporeal reality has had the unintended consequence of making it a biological boogeyman. while depression is an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, for most people it doesn't arise apropos of nothing. although medication can offset suicidal ideations, it will never eliminate the root causes and triggers that made the person depressed in the first place.
pointing the finger at depression for the upsurge in high-profile suicides is a band-aid measure at best, and ignores the host of societal ills that plague us each and every day. our world is fraught with inequality, isolation, and competition. what does it say about our world if those who are systemically celebrated are also riddled with angst and depression?
we can simultaneously try to neutralize the pain in the moment, and work toward creating a world where we don't have pain to mask. if all we do in light of these tragedies is raise awareness about depression, we are not doing enough.
stay safe loves. xx
in light of the recent high profile suicides, it's important to remember that your strength isn't measured by how much pain you can endure in silence. we need to make it a collective responsibility to check up on our loved ones and ourselves and always try to be present. i know i was most active on smogon during my worst bouts of depression, and i definitely am aware of how lot of us possess suicidal ideation at times.
that being said, please don't superimpose help on your loved ones. so many mental health institutions are rife with dehumanizing practices, infantilizing patients and erasing their autonomy. if you or a friend is having a rough time, don't coerce or be coerced. vet your programs, understand the impact, and weigh your options. i have had many poor experiences with mental health services, many of which only snowballed my depression. understand that, while you may have had a healing exposure doing xyz, this may not translate for others.
the work done to legitimize depression as a corporeal reality has had the unintended consequence of making it a biological boogeyman. while depression is an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, for most people it doesn't arise apropos of nothing. although medication can offset suicidal ideations, it will never eliminate the root causes and triggers that made the person depressed in the first place.
pointing the finger at depression for the upsurge in high-profile suicides is a band-aid measure at best, and ignores the host of societal ills that plague us each and every day. our world is fraught with inequality, isolation, and competition. what does it say about our world if those who are systemically celebrated are also riddled with angst and depression?
we can simultaneously try to neutralize the pain in the moment, and work toward creating a world where we don't have pain to mask. if all we do in light of these tragedies is raise awareness about depression, we are not doing enough.
stay safe loves. xx