Getting to grips with the trauma of suicide

IN Ireland, the word depression signals alarm bells in people’s minds; they label depressed people as mad, or in some way weak.

I would dare to say most people do not understand that depression is a serious illness.

There seems to be this naive notion that people suffering from depression are attention seeking, or putting it on.

I watched Kate Fitzgerald’s family on The Saturday Night Show, and it was clear that they had a greater grasp of the condition than almost every Irish person.

They understood the affliction, the complexities of a person’s manner when they are depressed, and the failure of people to comprehend suicide. When Gary Speed took his own life last weekend, QPR midfielder Joey Barton labelled suicide the most selfish of acts — a disgraceful way in which to describe someone’s death.

Sadly, this opinion is very much evident in our own society, and to blame someone for their own death is the height of ignorance. For me, to think of someone arriving at the point of suicide saddens me deeply, and makes me question the treatment, detection, and understanding of depression in Ireland.

The human mind is an almost impossible thing to explain; it is above the brain, transcends the bodily limits, and often hides from the detectable areas of medical exertion. Having said all this, it is hard to find a solution; the most world class of care may not be able to save someone.

The Government could put the best systems in place to treat depression, but if people don’t look for help, they simply can’t be helped.

You can’t go around asking people if they are depressed; it is a tempestuous issue, a solution seems almost unattainable.

I sincerely hope something can be done, although I’m not sure what; if one suicide is prevented next year, that would be something.

Justin Kelly

Edenderry

Co Offaly