In the wake of the untimely death of the Wales football manager Gary Speed, apparently a suicide, there has been a swathe of media all asserting how friendly and seemingly happy Speed was.
The circumstances of Speed’s death are presently unknown and, truth be told, I see no reason why that should change in the future, although the media being what it is, even in the midst of the Leveson Inquiry, details will no doubt emerge.
Because the details of Speed’s death are not known, we do not know if Speed’s death was the result of personal domestic problems, attributable to mental illness or caused by other reasons. However, we do know that suicide and depression are related to each other.
Research suggests that 90% of suicide victims had been diagnosed with or treated for a mental illness in the 12 months prior to their deaths. The implication of the press treatment of Speed’s media and social performances in recent days is that since he seemed so happy, then the assumption that this was related to depression seems all the more remarkable.
My purpose in writing this article is to highlight that such an assumption is not a valid one. I was diagnosed with depression over seven years ago and for much of that time it has consumed my life. For the majority of my friends and colleagues the news of this illness will come as something of a shock. Even if I say so myself I am a pretty funny guy, it is all too often a charade.
I have never made a suicide attempt and hope I never will. Nonetheless, I have lost count of those moments when I thought ending my life was appealing. As I have written before, on those suicidal occasions, the idea of suicide is not the end of a rational decision making process. It creeps up on you. There is not, therefore, any necessary correlation between a person ‘seeming happy, laughing and joking, etc.’ and a person being depressed, or even a person being driven to suicide.
Article comments
1 - Dr Joseph S Maresca
Short term administration of meds can be helpful for depression. The longer term solution involves discovering mechanisms to cope, better nutrition and even the services of a physical therapist.
2 - Heloise
Dr Socrates just died too but he killed himself with alcohol at 57. Drink is self med for many reasons. Another sports great gone before 60.
3 - Heloise
You didn't say how old Gary was.
4 - Casper
He was 42
5 - Brandon
depression is a disease... and it might be treatable in the future... but right now they have made no advancements in the mental health profession in 50 years... how do i know this... my sister 5 years ago was in and out of the phyc ward for cutting... not sucicide... just cutting... they gave her electric shock tretments... the north vietnamese did that to captured american troops during the vietnam war... my step-dad is in his 60s and they gave his dad electric shock treatments... my sis is now in a state run mental hospital... and chances are she'll never leave... the "solution" to depression and other mental diseases is medication... drug them up... at one point the had my sis so druged up that she almost crashed her car a few times... they never told her not to drive... or that it might make her unable to drive... psychiatrists and therapists are nothing but legal drug dealers... granted meds may help some people... but their taking those meds for the rest of their lives...