Month: November 2016

The Culture Change of America and Suicides

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/11/04/more-us-middle-school-students-dying-suicide-than-car-crashes.html

I came across the following article and it really struck a nerve with me. I was certainly an awkward kid, didn’t find my way until well into college. Todays figures though with suicides outpacing vehicular deaths is truly disheartening.

I would never contend that there is a singular cause to this painful upward trend in middle schooler deaths, but I often wonder if the pressures of a connected society and bullying have created a more hostile environment for children today than decades past. I can’t imagine how my life would have been if the attention of bullies didn’t end when I got back home. People having save-havens somewhere they feel they can be themselves is becoming more and more a rarity and it’s something that I think parents, teachers and other students need to start paying more attention to.

Depression strikes anyone at any age. Keeping an eye on various depression support groups I’ve seen the gradual increase. It used to be mostly college students, people in their 20’s and 30’s.  These days we see reports of kids as young as 12 who have been diagnosed and are on medication. When i was 12 I was worried about the school lunch, not what anti-depressants I was going to be on.

Post-Halloween Thoughts

I’m grateful that the condo I live in has a strict policy of only allowing trick or treaters in the lobby area. As a result all the residents simply donate to a bigger collection of candy downstairs.

The relative silence and time away from the Halloween festivities made me think about what I’d even want to be. The reality is the costume that would make the most sense is someone who isn’t battling depression.

Never had much in the way of holiday spirit, used to go along with it till things were over and I could resume my usual flatline moods. It’s difficult to be happy at events when you feel like at any moment you’re going to crawl out of your skin. It’s irrational certainly but there’s no accounting for the sense of unease and anxiety that permeates in social situations for me. I push through as is needed or expected by cultural norms but sometimes I feel like every time I have to fake it to survive I lose a little something in the process. Hopefully I can gradually reclaim what I’ve lost, but for now I think it’s more an attrition phase than a rebuilding one.