“How was your 4 month paid leave for feeling sad,” -X user
This was the comment made by an X user regarding U.S. Representative Tom Kean of New Jersey for taking time off after his doctors diagnosed him with depression and urged him to seek long-term care at a hospital.
As I read that article about this congressman returning to work after seeking mental health treatment, it really pissed me off. So much so, it has me writing this blog post and I haven’t written one in a couple years. If you’ve read some of the stuff on my website, maybe you remember I’m passionate about destigmatizing mental health? This article is a perfect example of why. You have some ignorant idiot minimizing depression by such a comment. Fortunately, it also exposes his/her lack of understanding of depression.
When was the last time you heard of someone taking their life due to a physical ailment? Like, Joe broke his leg and then ended his life. I’m sure it happens, but let’s look at the seriousness of treating depression. Understanding the profound link between depression and suicide risk involves key statistics. Major depression is the psychiatric diagnosis most strongly linked to suicide. Untreated depression carries a 20 percent increase in suicide risk throughout the person’s lifetime, and people with severe depression are approximately 20 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. However, with proper treatment, this risk drops significantly. So, to explain to someone that has never experienced the pain of depression, can you imagine trying to cope with something that is so relentless that you can’t get any type of relief, no matter what you do, so the only solution would be to take your life because that’s the only thing that brings any type of relief from the pain you are experiencing?
So, Mr. Kean, I’m so glad you took some time off to get a handle on your depressive disorder. AND good for you, for having the guts to explain why you were off. Because Lord forbid, someone talk about mental health as matter of factly as physical health.. So, if Mr. Kean were to say he was off for four months getting cancer treatment, wouldn’t everyone rally around him and give him so much grace and support for missing work? AND both of them are life-threatening, but society is way more accepting of someone fighting for their life when it comes to cancer. Because……it’s serious……and socially acceptable to be kind to someone who may die. The same can be said for a depressive disorder.