Good morning or evening or day or night or afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you so much for taking the time out to read this question. My name is Hamed Khatiz and I am a sixteen year old student, writer, friend, adviser, drummer and many more from Sydney NSW. Just a warning before you go any further, this is more of a social question than anything medical.
Last month, I recieved an email from a young woman who in October said she wanted to end her own life. Obviously, I, along with 12 others attempted to respond to her concerns and she contacted me and said she was OK. She also said something which got me wondering. She said she didn't know there were people like me living in this world, who help people they do not even remotely know. I remember immediately asking myself the question. What makes people even consider suicide? What makes people think there is no help available?
This might cause a bit of uproar, so I want everyone to know that I am not trying to be insensitive or anything like that. Because I know people have help available, they have intense support, people can relate to them and their situations and it is just so frustrating when people take their own lives when I know for fact they have everyone there tring to get them back on track.
How can people go all the way when there is so much left to live for and so much to help you live better and longer?
Hamed Khatiz...
First off I in no way believe that you are trying to be insensitive, simply just asking a question which I will try my best to answer based on my experiences and socialization.
Depression is like a leech, it ***** on you and everything around you. You begin to pick up unhealthy patterns of living and so you start to exhibit harmful behaviours which makes the condition worse. Such as: Over sensitivity and Emotional dependence.
When depression patients become over sensitive the slightest things can put them in a "bad mood". Over sensititve persons need extra care, they are very fragile and so one must be very cautious in speech and actions around them. However, as I am sure you aware, the world and the people in are not always conscious of other people's feelings. And so a comment about a depressed person's weight or personality, gives a very bad image of themselves which results in them shying away or not willing to socialize at all. This leads to one of the biggest and most dangerous factors of depression, loneliness. The depressed person feels as if they have no one and that they never will. No matter who we are and what our status is, we all need support and friends to get us through our trials. A depressed person may not have that. It is not only the other sensitivity that does this, a depressed person needs so much more love, care and attention and it may be more than what the average person can or is willing to give. So even though there might be support, it may seem less and almost non existent to a depressed person.
Becoming emotionally dependent/attached is never a good thing. Each human being needs to form their own identity and independence. However, a depressed person, as stated before is in need of so much, that they may become "clingy or needy". Again, people of this world can be so unkind and it is never good to cling to a sinking ship. People are people. They make mistakes and they inflict hurt and so when someone with depression clings to someone who is hurtful, they take it harder than the average person. This makes them feel so low. They are not able to just call it a loss and say "ah well, people suck." They take it to heart, making them sadder than before and hopelessness creeps in. Its the hopelessness that makes people suicidal. The thoughts that "I will never get better", "This will be me for the rest of my life" , "Noone loves me because I am unloveable" , "Death seems so peaceful" , "I am in so much pain and if I die, then I won't feel anything".
Well, Ive said alot. I hope I was of some assistance to you.
Anna