Good afternoon.
Certain conditions lack that essential wow factor. Depression like dementia, is one of those conditions that just sort of only nearly exists in the consciousness of far too many people.
Of course, it’s easier to identify with something you can see. Probably why the RSPCA do such continuously brisk business. You can see from the ribs sticking out and the beaten look in its eyes that a dog has been abused.
Yet Granddad forgetting your daughter’s name is probably just down to him being overtired. Your brother’s reluctance to go to work is down to his bone idol gene which you first spotted when he was about fifteen.
Christoper Hitchens I mention for obvious reasons today to highlight that cancer is visable. One of the most wonderful polemicists and orators of my lifetime physically reduced to a speechless, balding wreck.
The shuffling and the dull thud you can now hear is me jumping on the depression bandwagon. Nothing duller of course than the woes of others so I’ll spare you the details. But this is why I’m running this. I’ve seen the look on the faces of my own family members who simply do not get it. The lethargy and blackness cannot be communicated. And when you’re next spotted in your ‘usual’ great form, it’s as if this somehow weakens your case…
Trying to convey the tangible nature of depression to anyone who hasn’t experienced it is neither straightforward or rewarding. Trying to explain how utterly miserable and cut off from absolutely everything in your life you feel is like trying to get someone to replicate a great work of art by describing it over the phone. ‘Err… It’s an oil painting of a bird with long black hair, a moody sort but with just the hint of a smile.’
Two recent tragedies triggered by depression to hit football have been well documented. In the instance of Dale Roberts, it was pretty obvious that his wife cheating on him with then Rushden & Diamonds team mate Paul Terry caused him kill himself. Gary Speed’s trigger to end his life has yet to be revealed.
Stan Collymore was unable to broadcast recently. There will be some who will struggle to sympathize. I mean no one was asking him to do a 12 hour split shift on minimum wage in particularly grueling working conditions. How ‘depressed’ would you have to be to find yourself unable to blather on about football for a couple of hours? If you read this far and are asking that class of question then you won’t find the answer reading the remainder of this page.
Depression Alliance UK strike me as decent folk. And Stan has stepped up and galvanized a quite staggering array of footballers and football related organizations into donating money cannot buy prizes to a truly incredible raffle to help DA UK.
Full details are HERE and the prizes include Sporting Bet offering Corporate Hospitality at White Hart Lane and Jermaine Defoe has donating a match worn shirt. There are PFA Awards tickets, Soccer AM tickets and much much more.
It’s a fiver to be in it.
3 times I’ve tried posting n nothin
It is all to common to dissmiss something you don`t understand, even to the point of denying it`s very existance. Those sufferring from depression will go to great lengths to hide a problem at the same time denying it`s very existance. There are usually signs but they are often camouflaged with an outgoing personality. If you really don`t understand, don`t comment, research for better knowledge of the subject and give thanks for your own Mental Abilities.
i heard some of stans stuff on talkshite,i quite like collywobbles actually,
don’t we all suffer from depression,i understand it takes some people to the edge,it is hard to see how you can help people with serious depression because it is all in the mind to start with
There is a massive difference between feeling ‘a bit down’ or ‘moody’ when you get up some days and a bonafide medical condition that destroys the lives of millions of people worldwide each year.
We don’t all suffer from depression, because if you really did suffer from such a debilitating illness you wouldn’t have made such a crass and ignorant point in the first place.
Get educated Kojak, there’s plenty of material online.
why is it crass and ignorant,i admit i am no expert in depression and i understand that there are many different levels of depression
i still think everyone suffers from depression though and they all deal with it in different ways,but thanks for the advice billy i’ll go educate myself
I thought the fact that a newspaper were going to print a story on Gary Speed is what led to his death.
surely we would all know about that by now,but it does seem a strange one with speed
Is it he icelandic Kojac?
Shame on you.
Good fundraiser for a good cause.
I personally guarantee that every single person posting a comment here today has a friend or relative who has struggled with depression at some point. Whether you know it or not. That’s the thing. Most people suffering from severe depression go to great lengths to hide it, and find it very difficult to ask for help. Some subconsciously feel that they don’t deserve help, others feel the social stigma. Whatever the reason, falling into a destructive cycle becomes far too easy.
Some people can learn to live with their depression (with or without medication), others can overcome it. Depression comes in as many different varieties as there are sufferers. Common to all is that it is far easier to get to a better place with the love, support and understanding of your loved ones.
The haters would do well to consider this.