Chris Jones on depression (his own) and suicide

Too many writers want to think they're Hemingway or Hunter S. Thompson...

 

i'm legitimately sorry for dumbing the discourse here, but dick, you're either naive or ignorant.

what you're saying is - and again, i acknowledge that i'm dumbing it down here - that because you don't see the actual injury, that you doubt it exists. you see a guy with a broken leg so you know he is in pain. but you don't see the brain so you kinda, sorta, a little bit, dispute that the person is legitimately ill or in pain when he claims he's depressed or he's diagnosed with a severe depressive disorder. you're living with your head in the sand, dick. there is no ghost. we do know the cause. you just refuse to believe in modern science or for whatever reason or you have some doubts influenced by tom cruise and other prominent scientologists.

just because you can't see the injury doesn't mean it doesn't exist. this is a fact. yes, you can find me 100 web links to various studies showing it's in dispute but that doesn't actually mean it's in dispute. the fact that mental illness is actual and real is not in dispute by trained physicians and scientists. it's only in dispute by people who make it their life's effort to cause it to be in dispute.

 

I don't think that's what he's saying at all.

 

we - modern, trained physicians - do know with certainty, the cause. dick chooses not to believe. he's wrong.

 

He didn't say it didn't exist because it's more nebulous than, say, a broken leg, just that it's the type of "ailment" that isn't easily defined.

 

Well it did sound like a pretty glamorous life to be sitting at a bar in Cuba sipping on a Daiquiri and smoking a Cohiba.

Sitting at a preferred table at Elaines with pretentious New Yorkers, not so much.

 

Your article quickly answers the first question I had:

I would have to think Doctors, with their knowledge and access to drugs makes sense as does cops/law enforcement/military with their access to guns.

 

Speaking of depression I bet there is a lot in New England after fall of The Red Sox.

Hey Jones, you spent a fair amount of time in Red Sox clubhouse this year doing Grantland stories. Did you get the feeling that something was not right? When you did Lackey story did you get to enjoy a beer with Lackey/ Lester/ Beckett?

 

Yeah, that's how I took it, too.

A lot of people -- not Dick, he sounds like he's witnessed it on some level -- think of depression as some silly little low period in life that is entirely the fault of the person suffering from it.

It's why we need people who have platforms to disprove that myth to do so.

 

I'm not expert at all, though I know some people that deal with this.

Isn't some of what makes it different how it's treated.

A physician knows exactly how to treat a broken leg.

Depression, and other mental illnesses can have a chemical component, but fixing it isn't as easy as setting a broken leg.

Different drugs work differently on different people. They also have side effects, which can also be dangerous.

Plus, people often don't like how the medication makes them feel, or maybe they just want to see if they can be ok with out it, so they don't take it.

Or, they drink or use other chemicals that don't allow their medication to do what it's supposed to do.

 

Many think it's just a case of "the Monday's"

 

I have another naïve question for Chris or anyone else.

I don't think I've ever suffered from depression, and while I would never equate it to simply being "sad" I've never heard a great explanation for how it does feel.

I've been overwhelmed, stressed out, and under pressure. And, while I've certainly wanted that to end, and have had days where I could barely get out of bed, and didn't want to face the pressures of the day, I've never seriously contemplated suicide as means to end the pressure.

For those who have suffered depression, and/or had suicidal thoughts, is it a feeling of pressure and stress, is it some feeling of self loathing/worthlessness, or some combination of both.

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I'd like to understand it better, and would appreciate any answer.