If you or someone you know is having thoughts about suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness month. Lots of things can trigger suicidal thoughts. Depression from poverty, loss of a loved one, coping with chronic pain or illnesses, PTSD, being the victim of unrelenting bullying, and isolation to mention a few. We can lose our ability to see an end to these struggles with a better outcome.
In our lives, we put on blinders and dont see the people who live around us in our towns, neighborhoods, and even homes. We spend an enormous amount of time with our eyes glued to screens. Time that used to be spent with family and visiting with neighbors is now spent on phones or computers. We isolate ourselves emotionally from the ones that we love the most and the ones who need the most love.
When depression takes over a person, it can feel nearly impossible for them to reach out for help. All of the things that could make it better are exactly the things that a person who is in the middle of this emotional battlefield does not want to do. It takes extraordinary effort to do the smallest of tasks. Cooking, eating, bathing, cleaning, answering the phone, shopping, normal everyday things that we take for granted during periods of good mental health become enormous obstacles that have to be overcome.
Seeking out situations where you can socialize with others and get out of your own head or share your experience doesnt usually happen. We tend to isolate ourselves, taking away yet another thing that might help to ease depression.