If you or someone you know is having thoughts about suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness month. Lots of things can trigger suicidal thoughts. Depression from poverty, loss of a loved one, coping with chronic pain or illnesses, PTSD, being the victim of unrelenting bullying, and isolation to mention a few. We can lose our ability to see an end to these struggles with a better outcome.
In our lives, we put on blinders and dont see the people who live around us in our towns, neighborhoods, and even homes. We spend an enormous amount of time with our eyes glued to screens. Time that used to be spent with family and visiting with neighbors is now spent on phones or computers. We isolate ourselves emotionally from the ones that we love the most and the ones who need the most love.
When depression takes over a person, it can feel nearly impossible for them to reach out for help. All of the things that could make it better are exactly the things that a person who is in the middle of this emotional battlefield does not want to do. It takes extraordinary effort to do the smallest of tasks. Cooking, eating, bathing, cleaning, answering the phone, shopping, normal everyday things that we take for granted during periods of good mental health become enormous obstacles that have to be overcome.
Seeking out situations where you can socialize with others and get out of your own head or share your experience doesnt usually happen. We tend to isolate ourselves, taking away yet another thing that might help to ease depression.
We can help each other out in a couple of ways. First, simply pay attention. When was the last time you saw someone that you used to see all the time? Does someone that you love seem withdrawn or sad? Has someone that you socialize with stopped going out? Have you recently seen your elderly neighbor or someone who has lost a spouse or loved one?
Secondly, speak up. Make an effort to let people know that you know they are there. Put down your phone and walk across your yard, knock on the neighbors door, and have a conversation. Close the computer and take your kids for a walk. Chat along the way. Walk over and visit grandma or grandpa and take them outside in the sunshine. Let people know that they are not alone. That they are not the only person who has these feelings. Encourage them to step outside for a moment. Let them know that they are loved, not a burden and are important to your life. Offer to help them get help.
We have great resources in our community, SEK Mental Health, Senior Life Solutions, Community Health Center, and private therapists. All of these can be of great help to someone who is depressed and having thoughts of suicide. Sometimes all it takes is one person to recognize the need for help and to offer assistance. Be that person. And if you are the person who is depressed and feeling like there is no point in tomorrow, please know that you are not alone.
If you can, ask for help. You are loved. Part of being human is feeling every emotion, good and bad. Sometimes we can pull ourselves out of depression on our own, sometimes not. There is help for us all.
Kindness Matters!
