Last week, a classmate of @me-shell and mine took his own life out of the blue, coinciding with the suicide of Chester Bennington - the front man of Linking park. Chester himself took his own life on what was supposed to be Chris Cornell's 53rd birthday - the former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman. Chester had been very close to Chris, performing Hallelujah at his funeral and being deeply impacted by his death as described by bandmate Mike Shinoda:

"He was getting halfway through [rehearsals] and getting choked up. Even when we did play the whole song and it was taped for TV he kind of just stopped towards the end."

No-one will ever be able to prove a definitive link between these events. Despite this, I will be taking this blog on a detour away from cryptocurrency today to discuss the elephant in the room - depression and suicide.

The Mental Health Stigma

In modern society we have a phenomenal health care system that looks after all our physical needs. People recover from horrifying injuries and can literally be brought back after flatlining - I have been exposed all too much to these events as a result of my mother being a volunteer Advanced Paramedic for over a decade. Despite all this, our healthcare system is lacking unbelievably when it comes to taking care of our mental health.

Depression is one of the nastiest mental health conditions anyone can suffer through. It pushes people further into isolation, which is exacerbated by the social stigma that is too often associated with poor mental health. A large proportion of society attributes depression to failure, and blames the individual for the condition. However, as demonstrated by the deaths of Chris and Chester, even the rich and famous are effected in the same way each of us could be. They were endlessly successful, yet that did not stop them from taking the most drastic action one can take.

What Causes Suicide

Despite the fact that the internet and social media make us appear more connected than ever, the first world currently has the highest rates of feelings of loneliness and isolation ever reported. These two feelings are the key markers that often progress into depression down the track, of which suicide is merely the final symptom.

Does this surprise you?

It is very easy to paint a successful, happy picture of yourself on social media to convince all your followers your life is perfect, but this has two unfortunate side-effects that we often fail to consider:

If you are suffering through loneliness, isolation, or depression, no-one will ever know as you have put up an outward front of happiness. The worst part is that depressed people actively put up this front and are stigmatised into not reaching out.
Other people think that their life is far worse than that of all their friends on social media. In fact, extensive social media use is directly correlated to plummeting life satisfaction and happiness.

At some point, the scales tip and the coping resources of the individual are outweighed by the pain which they are dealing with. It is critical help reaches people before their scales tip.

We Can all Make a Difference

It is trivial to be caught up with ourselves all the time, and forget to keep an eye on the people around us. There is no harm in reaching out to old friends you have fallen out of touch with, or checking in on family members from time to time. To you it may take 30 seconds to drop a message, or half an hour of your time to call someone. To the person on the other end it shows someone cares, which can mean the world to them.

When we explore this is the context of the internet, things get a lot more difficult. I would bet my life savings on all of us forgetting, from time to time, that the people we interact with across the internet are just as real as you are. It is easy to be a keyboard warrior and plaster your own perceptions and assumptions across the person on the other end. It is much harder to apply empathy and see them as a human being too. Please remember to be kind to one another.

If You are Depressed, Know it WILL Get Better

While depression often tricks sufferers into thinking that things will never get better, this is rarely (if ever) the case. Given enough time and support, everyone can, and does, recover. Things do not change overnight, but they do change given time.

Suicide is never the answer.

It may look like checking out will fix things for you, but taking this route will leave utter devastation in its wake for friends, family and the community. Please reach out to the people around you and tell them how you are feeling. Most human beings on this planet are surprisingly decent when to comes to dealing with life and death situations. If you do not want to reach out to anyone, and would for any reason prefer to talk to a neutral party instead, here is a list of free international hotlines you can call 24/7.

Adam was 24. He left behind a loving extended family.

Chester was 41. He is survived by a widow and six children.

Chris was 52. He left behind a wife and three children.

Remember that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem - and it is ok to ask for help. I would like to let Chester wrap up this blog entry with one entry from his discography of suicide notes.

Content credit:
[Banner, unable to identify original author]
Isolation, HerCampus
It Gets Better, EqualHearts
Heavy, Linking Park
Footer, @me-shell

A Word on Suicide - and Why it is Never the Answer

The Mental Health Stigma

What Causes Suicide

We Can all Make a Difference

If You are Depressed, Know it WILL Get Better