In bad taste
40 years agoĀ an moreĀ it was in bad taste to mention depression. Self harm as unspeakable and suicide was a bad family secret. Those 'afflicted' where kept in doors, hidden from the neighbours.... And now it's a bad joke. Kids joke, "Go kill yourself", "Slit your wrists". Jokes made sitting at lunch, sitting in the common room. I think the secrecy previously has led to a... gap in our understanding. The only ones who understand are the ones suffering.
9 out of 10 people at that table when you make a cutting joke are going to laugh it off, think it's funny, maybe join. But that one out of ten will pull at their clothes to hide the 'scrapes' they got maybe an hour before. That one will put their head down and try to pretend they didn't hear you as they try to steady their breathing. Some conversations should come with a trigger warning.
A day later and it still runs round my head. And no one cares. They don't know. Scratch that, they don't understand.
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Your right about only those suffering understand, Ā I've read a lot of writes written by sufferers trying to explain it..an i still don't really understand, only a little incling. A more open approach is needed, and that's down on the sufferers to do, would the 9 be a little more careful of their jokes if they had known ? If however the sufferer wishes that their problems remain private (an individual right of choice) then unfortunately they must also suffer the jokes. You can't have it both ways, you can't stop people being people, but you can fight ignorance
Nice thoughtful write :)
You make a very good point.
Thanks