Please excuse us while we depart from our usual type of post. The death of Robin Williams has touched a deep nerve with us and with the world. We strive, in all we do, to be helpful. If you, or someone you know, struggles with depression, we hope with all our hearts, that this post helps.
If a friend tells you they have cancer, you mostly know what to do. You drive them to treatments. You fix food for their families. You pray for the eradication of deadly destructive cells that ravage their body.
If a friend tells you they have discovered they are diabetic, you mostly know what to do. You ask about their medication – pills, shots, pump. You lunch with them at places with healthy, protein rich foods. You pray for the level-izing of the sugar and insulin mix that tango in their bloodstream.
If a friend tells you they have depression, you may have no idea what to do.
Here at The Daily Blur, we are keenly aware of the devastating effects of depression. Having loved, supported, and lost family members dealing with this chronic, sometimes deadly disease, our hearts go out to the grieving family of Robin Williams.
If there can be any tiny measure of good, it is that every time a tragedy like this happens, people who suffer along with their family and friends, feel a little bit more freedom.
Freedom to share a diagnosis of depression or mental illness.
Freedom to discuss what helps.
Freedom to cry out when what helps stops helping.
Some of the best articles come from the hearts of those who suffer, and we share them today, in the hopes that they will help one reader.
One reader who loves someone with depression.
One reader who struggles with this deadly disease.
There is help.
It gets better. It may get better for a while, and then get worse. But then it will get better again.
Please tell someone. And if they don’t listen, tell the next person. It will take every ounce of exhausting effort, but it’s the only way out. It’s the only way up.
And if you are supporting someone you love who is going through this, it’s hard for you too. And you may need some help. Tell someone what you’re going through as a caregiver. Find the support you need.
Accept help. Find healing. Let there be hope.
And don’t ever give up.
• Loving Someone With Depression by Hope Racine published by Huffington Post
• What the Church Needs to Know about Suicide and Mental Healthy by Ann Voskamp
• An Interview with Rick and Kay Warren after their Son’s Suicide
• Brilliant Essay on Medication and how it can help by Brant Hansen
• What Depression is Like and How to Help Someone Who Has It posted on Upworthy
• Confessions of a Depressed Comedian a TED talk by Kevin Breel
• An Explanation of What It’s Like to Have Depression by the World Health Organization
• A List of Resources for those Afflicted from To Write Love on Her Arms
Leave a Reply