With the recent suicides of designer Kate Spade and writer, chef, and television personality, Anthony Bourdain, media coverage of their deaths will reach thousands of news feeds during the coming weeks. This article will be one of them. It is our intention, however, to remind the University of Hawai’i community, alumni, and students that suicide is not the only way to escape depression.
There are resources. There are people available and dedicated to helping you see the value of tomorrow.
Do not do it, you are not alone.
When celebrities die there is an immediate buzz across the media landscape. The greater their fame in life, the greater the amount of coverage in death. Even if we do not know what someone is famous for we learn when, how, and why they died…
…It is vital that we acknowledge our shared vulnerability in feeling alone and looking for an escape. While not all of us will experience clinical depression, we are all capable of recognizing sadness. We must become better at empathizing and supporting the education of depression, its signs, symptoms, and treatments to one another…
I wrote for my college paper about how media should cover celebrity suicides. The full piece is here. Please know you are not alone and that if you have had thoughts of suicide, it is not the only answer to escape the pain.
