depression
Reading tweets to this lady who has clinical depression and was tweeting about her suicide, all the way to right before her attempt. There were tweets putting her down and calling her attention-seeking. I don't know her personally but I doubt she is attention-seeking. Because if she is, she would respond to the multitude of tweets she received and prolong the entire scene. There were superficial tweets ("living is better!", "dun die :(", "ice cream > death", "ARE YOU OKAY??!!" and "at least give me your cats before you die"). Yes, I know you were trying to express concern. But half of the tweets sound very cursory. If your care and concern really worked, she wouldn't be in the A&E ward right now.
The extensive media coverage on depression covers the symptoms of this illness. But it has not prepped us on how to interact with sufferers of depression.
Recovery from depression is particularly arduous because the sufferers usually keep things bottled up, even from their loved ones. They've possibly tried revealing the truth. But most of the time, they receive awkward silences, get called "attention-seeking" or "annoying", or get superficial responses.
Please understand that no one chooses to be depressed. A person might say things that sounds attention-seeking to you. Sometimes she might be, but it usually is a cry for help. Also, you might not know what to say or feel really awkward. But all you need to do is to lend a listening ear at times or do little acts of kindness to cheer that person up.
The extensive media coverage on depression covers the symptoms of this illness. But it has not prepped us on how to interact with sufferers of depression.
Recovery from depression is particularly arduous because the sufferers usually keep things bottled up, even from their loved ones. They've possibly tried revealing the truth. But most of the time, they receive awkward silences, get called "attention-seeking" or "annoying", or get superficial responses.
Please understand that no one chooses to be depressed. A person might say things that sounds attention-seeking to you. Sometimes she might be, but it usually is a cry for help. Also, you might not know what to say or feel really awkward. But all you need to do is to lend a listening ear at times or do little acts of kindness to cheer that person up.