Mental illness and suicide appear to be the media subjects of the year, and I'd like to weigh in.
I am one of millions who lives with depression. Mine is chemical in that the serotonin and dopamine in my brain do not produce as they should. I take daily medication to help balance and manage this. Medication does not cure depression, nor does it make us happy people. Suicide is complex and personal; often it is connected to the feeling of being an outlier or not fitting in.
Two items in the July 1 News Tribune may be helpful in understanding what can be behind some suicides. One was the column by John Shipley about gayness in sports ("Despite LGTBQ inclusion, Bean suspects MLB far from an openly gay player"), which is a severe problem for non-heterosexual folks who are athletes. And two was the Hobby Lobby-paid-for full-page ad featuring a Christian message, which posed even more of a crisis for many us. A common message of most organized religious movements is the boast that theirs is the one God, the one truth, and that their mission is to save/convert others. The message is that you are not OK as you are.
My brother was in the top 5 percent of IQs; he would always be outside the norm. He committed suicide at age 45. My mom was mostly blind from macular degeneration and living in a nursing home where nearly all activities, it seemed, were sight-based. She starved herself to die at 95. My natural voice is too loud for many; I will never be the female projection of thin, pretty, and feminine; one newer label for me is OCD.
All forms of media, sports, and religions may contribute more to suicide than any of them would understand. The constant message that "we're not OK" is like a terminal cancer; it eats at our very souls.
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Nancy Lanthier Carroll
Duluth
