Conclusion & Personal Opinion
"Let's Talk"
I believe that depression is a major mental illness that has many negative stigmas attached to it. The issue that is brought up, both in the book and in our modern day society, is that people with mental illnesses are considered to be weird, misfits, and outcasts. Depression is not just about the mental state that a person suffers with, but also the physical affects of the illness. Both in the book and modern society there are examples of physical and mental affects of depression. In the book, Alice turns anorexic due to a childhood accident that has physically disabled her. Her depression was caused by a physical stagnation, and change in appearance, this effected how she felt on the inside. Mattia used cutting as a way to release how he felt inside. These are two examples of how people cope with depression. Solitude in the abyss of depression can bring one to a helpless state of being.
I have seen firsthand the effects of depression on an individual. Ever since I was old enough to understand how people function, I had noticed a difference in the way my nana went through life and her daily interactions with others. My nana has depression. For her it is crippling. It doesn't allow her to do all the things that she should be able to do. It prohibits the proper function of the brain. She feels isolated within the environment with which she attempts to interact "normally" everyday. New technology was not around when she was first suffering with this illness and therefore diagnosis and treatments were near impossible. This left her feeling the "prime of solitude" for a very long time; living with depression makes you seclude yourself to the daily activities you would regularly practice.
I too have suffered with some effects of depression. Whether or not it is due to genetics is unknown-but not a far off guess from a possibility. I realize how it can make one feel secluded, solitary, and confined to the basis of what they understand-themselves.
The future of depression treatments and psychotherapy are looking up. If detected early, there is hope for a brighter future. It is to my belief that we can end the stigmas that surround depression. Through organizations like "Let's Talk", run by Bell, children are encouraged to speak up and speak out about mental illness. The hope is that this initiative will take ground so that individuals who have a problem will seek help. So that stories like Amanda Todd, a young girl who was bullied so far into depression she took her own life before anybody even knew she felt so alone that that was her only escape.
From a society point of view, I believe that society should be taking a stand together to fight the stigma surrounding depression, because people who have this mental illness don't necessarily know how to cope with it on their own. Depression is hard enough to deal with on it's own...people with it don't need others making them feel judged for an illness out of their control. The standard of "get over it" should not even be a viable option; you wouldn't tell somebody with cancer to just "get over it." I believe that all illnesses should be treated the same, whether they are physically visible or not, they still effect the individual the same, and both could end a life.
I believe that schools need to do more for students who have these illnesses. They need to hold more informative assemblies and help the students in any way they can so that they do not feel segregated and more isolated then they already mentally feel. I also strongly believe that a family needs to stand behind their child. If a family informs a child young about mental illness it becomes a thing that no longer has a stigma attached to it. If a parent can also detect early signs and symptoms of depression there is a greater chance for treatment and medication to work in the child and possibly cure the illness over time.
Depression is a mental illness that is uncontrollable and is hard enough for the person to cope with as it is. Depression hurts.