Depression kills. It can be a terminal illness if not confronted. The recent loss of several high-profile individuals has had me thinking a lot about it lately. Tim Wise has an excellent blog post about his father’s death in the wake of Robin Williams’.
We have to be there for one another, to stop fearing sadness and mental or emotional illness. It isn’t contagious. But running from it, afraid to touch it, to struggle with it, to admit of its presence in our own lives is deadly. You can’t outrun sadness. You can’t wish away depression. Sadness is part of the human condition, as integral to our experience as joy. If one cannot feel sadness then I suspect one can never really be truly joyful, for it is only in the presence of sadness that one can come to appreciate how full and amazing life can be. Our problem is that too often we try to sever that part of the human experience, or deny it, and make it go away without really healing the underlying cause of our distress.
Click here to read the full post.
The sentiments shared in Wise’s blog post are remarkably similar to how we should be “dealing with” our loved ones who might have a substance abuse issue. You never know when the next time you see the addict in your life will be the last time you see them.
To get a family member or yourself help through heroin, Xanax, opiates, meth, or detox from any other substance, contact us immediately.
