Linkin Park's Chester Bennington suicide has brought this painful subject to the public eye again and with the suicide rate climbing in many countries it is a subject that needs to be faced and understood.
When you hear the news that a celebrity has killed themselves people often wonder why? These people, on the outside have a life many of us could only dream of, money status fame... But as Chester sang:
But in the end, It doesn't even matter.
Suicide affects many people and there are many reasons that someone will start down the path of taking their own life.
Bullying, traumatic life events, financial stress, feeling worthless and social isolation are just some of the triggers in life. The path to taking your own life is often not short but is something that builds over time. No one in their right thinking minds wakes up and says to themselves
'Today I'm ending it all, I'm going to kill myself.'
And there you have the illness, suicide is a result of someone suffering from a mental health illness. The rise of people suffering from a mental health illnesses and the rise of the suicide rate are linked directly. In society people refer to those who suffer as having problems but let's call it what it is, an illness. Nobody says cancer is a problem, it's an illnes and mental health should be treated in the same way.
Not everyone who suffers from any sort of mental health illness will commit suicide but many think about it, it depends on how far down that road their mind takes them. If their mind takes them to the end of that road, it is a dark place where there is no hope, no chance of a brighter tomorrow. It is a place created within their own thoughts where no other option is possible. The phrase of fighting demons is really very apt as you battle this illness constantly, you are always fighting against thoughts in your own mind.
The stigma surrounding mental health and suicide are a factors in people not seeking help, attitudes towards both make people hide what they are going through. Already today I've seen a post calling Chester Bennington a pathetic human for killing himself and leaving his children behind. This is the sort of ignorant attitude that stops people coming forward to seek help. People have no understanding of how a mental health illness affects a person and their ability to think in a rational and 'normal' way.
That has to change.
Mental Health is the biggest health ticking time bomb facing society as we move forward yet it is being over-looked and funding to tackle it is not there. Unless we act on this, remove the stigma then it will only get worse and spread and the suicides rate will continue to rise.
Image is mine.