Mr. Keating, Williams’ character from the movie Dead Poets Society is my teaching
idol. When I first started teaching, I
didn’t know what methods worked and what didn’t work. I knew I loved political science, but I wasn’t
sure I could teach it. I just knew that
I wanted to inspire students to be different – to care about the world around
them – to question everything - to march to the beat of their own drum and make
their own way in the world. In short, I wanted to be Mr. Keating. The movie also made me take notice of Robin
Williams as an actor, and I continued to love his work.
So I would’ve been sad regardless upon hearing about his
death, but news of his suicide made me that much more. Depression goes way back in my family – my great-grandfather
committed suicide during the Great Depression.
My father has been diagnosed as bipolar, which for me meant growing up
in a turbulent and sometimes violent household.
During college I went through my own serious bout with depression, which
could’ve taken my life. So I understand how
someone so talented, who brought joy and laughter to so many, could feel so
dark and isolated that he saw only one way out.
It just breaks my heart.
Which is why, in memory of Robin Williams, I am sharing
my story and dedicating this post to him. Depression isn’t shameful. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. We must start having open and frank
conversations about an illness that affects millions of people. The same day I
sat down to write this post, I received the September issue of Glamour in the mail which contained
an article on the psychiatric bed shortage in America (Hillary Clinton was also
on the cover - #winwin). According to the article, psychiatric bed space is
even lower than it was it 1850! The
number of beds available on average is 12.4 per 100,000 people, when experts
recommend there should be at least 50.So my question to you this week is, “Why
do you think depression and mental illness carry such a stigma in this country?
What should be done to ensure quality mental health care in America?” Answers are due no later than Wednesday,
August 20th, 2014.
If you, or anyone you know is facing depression or having
suicidal thoughts or tendencies, call 1-800-273-TALK to be connected to a
skilled, trained counselor 24/7. 
Me personally I know about depression and seen a lot of depression in the military. We are depressed, I would say 88% of the time due to stressful environments and much more. Many people think that we're depressed because of PTSD, but in reality its much more and you wouldnt fully understand not unless you were in the military yourself. Ive seen depression because of the hostile environment where you are constantly not enough, you always get yelled at, you are away from your loved ones, deployment, spouses cheating back on the main lands and draining out the accounts, getting pregnant by someone else, some trying to get married to someone else while the spouse is deployed and a lot more. Veterans are even more depressed because in the work force we are not taken cared of for serving our country, we might get a discount of 5% at applebees but only on thursday nights and our thank you for serving is tough luck welcome back. So yes Ive seen much depression and attempts and success of suicide and had a roommate in the military that tried to hang himself. Its a disease and a serious conflict thats brushed away too lightly. There should be at least 3 free sessions for everyone to meet with a psychiotrist to at least talk about their problems and get it out in the open and if they need more sessions then offer a rated discount for those who needs the assistance.
ReplyDeleteWell, I've always felt that mental illness and depression have a certain stigma in the U.S. because people usually believe someone is just acting the way they are for the attention, or abusing said care to get things out of it. People usually believe someone is actually faking an illness or depression and ignores it until that person is in danger or hurt. I feel we should pay more attention to people with mental illnesses and depression, and give them the correct care if needed, even if in some situations it means medication to help ease the pain and psychiatric help.
ReplyDeleteI think depression and mental illness carry such a stigma in this country because it is look upon as a disorder and should be taken action with medication and therapy. I think to ensure the quality of mental health in America is to make sure that people go have therapy done for those who are in need and suffering from a major incident in their life that causing this depression or mental illness.
ReplyDeleteI think depression and mental illness carries a stigma in this country because of how people want to be portrayed and don't want to be judged or ridiculed than they already are. As well as people label someone with a mental illness as "crazy" or "psycho". My dad works for a hospital in Anderson and associates with people that are in a bad depression or have a mental illness, such as schizophrenia. When I was little he worked for the Center for Mental Health that helped ones trying to live normal lives after being diagnosed. I would go to work with him on certain days and visit with the patients. He always told me to never judge anyone, especially one who is troubled or was born with a disease that causes them to act different or aren't mentally well aware of how they act. Visiting the homes his patients lived in really helped me understand that everyone has different demons and different struggles and to always ask for help when you need it. It disgusts me when I over hear people talking a person who has expressed they are depressed and say that it's just a cop out and they want attention. You don't know what that one person is going through nor are you helping them by talking negatively about them for expressing their emotions or problem they are trying to take care. Same goes for one who has a mental illness. Though the people I have interacted with have scared me at times, that never made me think differently of them because I always remember what my dad told me. They really can't help how they act or what they say or do which not a lot of people understand or will ever understand unless they really try or go through what they are going through. I think that mental health should be publicized and acknowledge getting help as being a a positive thing rather than a way of showing weakness or being judged and more discussion groups should be formed to help those who do need help dealing with their issues they are having. I've heard my dad tell me stories here lately about families who lost a loved one because they committed suicide and had no idea they were depressed or "sick" and they wished they would have got the professional help they needed or even just talk to someone because it could have maybe made a difference.
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ReplyDeleteI think it carries such stigma because the world tells us that if we do not look or act a certain way then we are not beautiful or wrong. These have to stop girls young girls including myself have been sad or upset about the way they look because they don't look like the person in the magazine or the model on the billboard. That is just one of the many things that can trigger depression. I personally think that there should be more awareness for depression. I think there's a say that goes: the people who smile the most are the saddest inside. Which most of the time is true. People should raise awareness for it like they are for ALS. Depression is just as serious. I'm grateful that I have not lost anymore to depression because I act as that therapist friend whenever someone is sad or going through a rough time. I think people should pay closer attention to their children, friends, parents, whom ever have signs of being depressed so they can get help and potentially save their life.
ReplyDeleteI believe depression in the U.S. is increasing because of how the times are right now. A lot of people are breaking their backs just to make ends meat. Jobs become People's primary role in life and have very little time to actually live life. For the young people its mostly been because of bullying, and that gets them to a point in committing suicide. In the military there has been a lot of militants with depression due to a lot of things both personnel and work related. I myself had hit a low point when I was in the military were I was believing dying was the only way to find my sanity and finally rest. It was on my mind for a while I wanted to go down with the people who I believed made me feel that way. I their should be mandatory counseling in these types of environments and I say mandatory because people with these problems usually never seek help themselves. All it takes is for someone to listen and they can be able to save a life.
ReplyDeleteThere are times of depression in a lot of peoples lives but we must learn to work through them, it may seem bad to say this but a person learn to work things out on their own sometimes however it is important that they do have support but hey what do i know I've never had to go through that.
ReplyDeletePersonally I don’t think that depression and mental illness carry a stigma in this country. I feel that a lot of people who recognize that they are showing symptoms are open about it and usually seek help. However, the few that decided to bottle their emotions and ultimately unleashed their pain on either themselves or others around them have put a negative stigma on the many who have sought help. I’m not sure if there is much we can do to ensure quality mental health care. Realistically it is impossible to know if someone is feeling depressed of having suicidal ideology. The answer, which applies to most topics discussed in this country, is to ensure that the general public is being properly educated on the signs and symptoms of depression and mental health related issues.
ReplyDeleteI think that people either don't believe that depression is real or it's as severe as it is, or they view it as a sign of weakness or a cry for attention. When, in reality, it's almost the complete opposite. I know from experience that is it not something that people who are really suffering are doing for attention.
ReplyDeletePeople tend to believe that if you're depressed, you're simply just sad and you'll get over it quickly, but that's not what it's like at all. Or they might tell you that you "shouldn't be sad because there are people out there with problems that are way worse than yours."
People don't understand the severity of depression, so they don't find it necessary to find a way to help. Depression isn't just sadness. It goes way deeper than that.
I've been suffering with it for the past 8 years and I almost lost the battle a couple times. I know what it's like to pretend you're happy when you're not and that makes it so much worse. It's scary and it's so easy to feel like you can't reach out for help because you're afraid that people will think that you're just wanting attention. It is a very lonely road to travel and it's even worse because of the way society views depression. Thankfully, I got some help and even though I still have to deal with it regularly, I can control it now.
People just need to become aware that it is a very real problem that can be triggered by a life event or by a chemical imbalance in your body, or even a combination of the two.
I actually saw a Buzz Feed article just the other day that talks a bit about what depression is like and I thought it was pretty spot-on from my experience:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexisnedd/things-nobody-tells-you-about-being-depressed?bffb
In the black community you're not allowed to be deppressed. It's just something that doesn't happen." People definitely look at someone with depression as if it's a disease they can catch and often the ones suffering stay quiet because of that. It's horrible what happened but he had such a big impact on everyone's lives already so I think he still can. People can still learn from him and understand what's going on. There just needs to be more awareness.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason for this stigma is that people feel that being around someone who is depressed makes them feel depressed so they try to avoid them. People tend to fear the mentally ill because they are unpredictable. It's tough to help people with depression because they don't seek help so let everyone have a mandatory specialist.
ReplyDeleteMental health is something that has always had a negative stigma around it. Until recent history, if you were deemed someone that was mentally ill, the norm was to put you in a mental hospital which was more like jail. People with mental illness were told that they could not live with the rest of civil society. Today most of those hospitals are no longer in service because of how inhumane the patients were treated. We are now left with the same stigma but less people who are being treated. At the other end of the spectrum, people also feared being "put away" because they were different or difficult not actually mentally ill. A relative could send you to a mental hospital even if they were refusing to go. For both of these reasons mammy people would not talk about mental illness. Not much has changed today other than there are more people trying to educate those that need the help as well as help their loved ones understand. As far as mental health care is concerned, I'm not sure what rudely needs to be changed. You can not force people into treatment. There probably is not an easy solution to assure people that they can or will get get care.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that depression and mental illness carry such a stigma. It makes a lot of people who have those illnesses feel shameful and feel the need to isolate themselves form everyone because they don't understand. I think we need to improve our mental health system and make an effort to educate people more on mental illness and the effects it has on people. There are a lot of people who don't understand what it's like and it would be better if they were more educated on the subject. I suffered through depression for may years, and was picked on a lot for being quiet. When I finally opened up to someone about it, I was made fun of and told that my anxiety and insecurities were stupid and I was stupid. This post reminds me of the Robin Williams movie where he played the role of Patch Adams who believed laughter is the best medicine. He reminded us, "Your goal is not to hurt people or belittle suffering, but to bring fun to those who are suffering.”
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad day for Hollywood in general. Robin Williams battled drug addiction and depression his hole life.
ReplyDeleteI believe depression and mental illness carries a stigma because of the issues that people are surrounded by. Some people suffer from depression because of financial problems, issues in their families, death, etc. At times they feel that no one cares about they're problems, so they try and take the wrong route, which makes them believe they are getting rid of their problems. I think we should take the matter more serious and get them the help that they need. They want help, they just don't have an idea on where and who to get the help from.
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