More people are directly or indirectly affected by depression and / or suicide than we might think. The national (yearly) road toll in Australia in less than the national (yearly) suicide toll.
After I attended a seminar recently about suicide I had two conversations with workmates the next day on this topic. They had asked what I’d done last night. From there we chatted about depression and suicide. It turned out that the first guy I spoke with had just been in a relationship with a girl who had (a number of times) attempted suicide and had self harmed as well.
The other conversation was with a woman who has had very bad episodes of depression herself. She’s on the same medication as yours truly! I see her differently now. I understand her better.
I think that the stigma is still very real. We just don’t talk about the issues. I’m glad we did.
You are right Blaise – the black dog lurks everywhere…AP