"Those who smile the brightest are not always the happiest."
We all know that a person who is always smiling,laughing,happy and being cheerful and lively is at peace. On the contrary,a person who always has a grumpy face and a gloomy personality is very sad and depressed. This this is the common thinking that we all have about people's mental conditions. But isn't it high time we tried to unlearn this years-old conception of ours when we see the media deluged with news of celebrities committing suicide all of a sudden who were always very happy,lively,and cheerful in their daily lives. Shouldn't we think that we may be wrong about human mental health when we see people who seemed very happy and cheerful committing suicide all of a sudden?
The two most talked-about incidents of seemingly happy celebrities committing suicide all of a sudden are the cases of Indian actor Sushant Sing Rajput and American singer Chester Bennington. The world was shocked by the suicide of Chester because he never showed the symptoms of depression. In fact, he was spending time with his family and friends very happily and normally just days before taking his own life. Sushant Sing Rajput,who was also living his daily life very happily and normally while showing no signs of depression such as not being able to function in daily tasks due to the effects of depression.
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| Chester Bennington,a few days before his suicide |
But,for me,I wasn't shocked to see such incidents because I already had personal experience encountering such incidents. When I was in tenth grade,I used to know a boy named Shajid from another school who was in tenth grade too. I had met him while working for an interscholastic dance program. He was always full of life .I can't remember a time when I met him and when his cheerful personality didn't make me happy. He was literally famous for making even the grumpiest people happy with his charming personality. He showed his real personality the day he committed suicide.That day he appeared for school,spent time with his friends,completed his fair share of works and extracurricular activities and made everyone laugh with his sarcastic jokes. He had talked to me on Facebook after going back to his house and bragged about his wonderful life.Next day we got to know he had committed suicide the previous night in his bedroom. I was totally numb for some time. That was the day when my perspective towards people's mental health condition totally changed.As I couldn't stop overthinking the issue ,a thoughtful question came to my mind : "What if this kind of mental illness is already recognized in medical science,but have no knowledge of it?"So I started searching this issue on Google.
And I was right. This kind of mental illness,where people seem totally fine from the outside but are suffering suicidal depression,is described as "smiling depression' in medical science.
In an article titled"What is Smiling Depression?" by Timothy I.Legg and Kathleen Davis,smiling depression is described as the tendency of depressed people to mask their depression behind smile. Smiling depression is not a medical diagnosis;rather, it's a term used by mental health professionals to describe people with a depressive disorder who hide their symptoms from others. people with smiling depression can do daily tasks without any issue,yet they secretly struggle with a serious suicidal depression or a serious mood disorder. People suffering from smiling depression often fail to get the treatment they badly need as they can hide their depression so well. According to Legg and Devis, smiling can be treated with medicine ,psychotherapy,stress management,nutrition,exercise,light therapy and electroconvulsive therapy.
knowing about smiling depression was an eye-opener for me. I felt like I used to look at mental health issues from the wrong point of view. What I understand from my learning about smiling depression is that human's psychology is so complex that we just can't reach any conclusion about a person's mental condition just by looking at their outer behavior and personality. The friends we think are the happiest because of their outstanding success in career and their lively and charming personalities can be the most depressed among us. We mustn't harass or bully our friends if they suddenly start to share their depression to us,but rather be happy that they have been able to open up about their depression,and then we should suggest some good psychiatrists.
The most important thing I learned from the very sad incident of Shahid's suicide and smiling depression are
1.We need to unlearn the years-old misconception that a very active, happy,cheerful and lively person can't be suffering from suicidal depression.
2.We mustn't bully or shame our friends who seems happy ,if they ever share their feelings to us,rather be grateful for having a faith on us,we must help them to seek help.
3.We should pay attention to our own ,our friend's and family's mental health as well.
4.We must create awareness about mental health issues among people,as there are so many misconceptions ,ignorance towards it.
5.we should normalize seeking psychiatric treatment and clear the concept that mental health and lunacy aren't same.
6.Teachers need to be more observant and considerate towards students.
My friend Shajid is n more. But maybe there are numerous Sajid out there pretending to be happy while planning to kill themselves because of their unbearable pain. Awareness about mental health and kindness towards each other can solve them. We must create a helpful environment for depressed people and normalize being depressed and seeking help to overcome it. Everyone should know "Mental health is important."
Written by
Sadia Islam Anannya
ID-22309032
Rifat Tasfia
ID-22203006
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