Robin Williams’ death by suicide in August could be the best thing that’s happened for mental health awareness in years.
Yes, we lost a comic genius who made us laugh so hard that our bellies ached. But his singular act — and, more to the point, his family’s generosity in acknowledging the truth of his death with the public — focused much needed attention on the anguish of depression and the reality that suicide too often accompanies the darkness that characterizes the disease.
How many times have you known someone or the spouse, child, or sibling of someone who committed suicide? How often have you talked about that event in the hushed tones of embarrassment? How often have the leaders in your schools been directed to avoid being specific about how a student or staff member died when the cause of death was suicide? How often have you attended a funeral for a suicide victim where the cause of death was never mentioned? How often have you simply ignored the cause of death because that seemed to be the polite response?
Silenced
Cancer patients are transformed into heroes who made a “courageous fight” or fought a “valiant battle” against the disease invading their bodies. But when have you ever read an obituary or heard a message at a memorial service that acknowledged the struggle of someone with a mental illness?
Talking about mental health is shushed, and those afflicted with the disease are often complicit in that silence. After Williams’ death, Katrina Gay, director of communications for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, acknowledged this conspiracy. “People in general don’t share. They don’t talk to their friends and colleagues [about mental illness], they don’t share at work,” she said in an interview with the Washington Post.
And when there are efforts to shine the light on mental illness, well-meaning individuals often shut down the discussion. Last spring, for example, the principal at Community High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., stopped the school newspaper from publishing articles about students who suffered from depression. The two student editors behind those articles defended their effort in an op-ed in the New York Times. “The feeling of being alone is closely linked to depression. This can be exacerbated if there is no one to reach out to. Though there are professionals to talk to, we feel it doesn’t compare to sharing your experiences with a peer who has faced similar struggles. And, most important to us, no one afflicted with a mental illness should have to believe that it’s something he should feel obliged to hide in the first place. If someone has an illness such as diabetes, she is not discouraged from speaking about it. Depression does not indicate mental weakness. It is a disorder, often a flaw of biology, not one of character,” they wrote.
Creating understanding
Educators play a pivotal role in creating more understanding and acceptance of mental health issues. Having productive conversations about depression or other mental illnesses begins by recognizing that being mentally healthy is not always an option — and we must acknowledge that in the same way that we acknowledge that students may have bad eyesight, heart defects, and allergies. Teenagers especially need help knowing how to separate temporary unhappiness or discomfort from more systemic and chronic syndromes. School is the logical place for them to learn how to recognize personal situations that require interventions, both for themselves and for others. That’s one reason why Kappan welcomed the opportunity to partner with the National Association of School Psychologists for this issue, which examines learning and mental health.
I grieve the loss of the creative genius that Robin Williams was in life. But, as much as he enriched our lives through laughter, his legacy will be longer and deeper if his passing pushes us toward a deeper and more compassionate understanding about mental illness. And that understanding can only begin by shining the light on it and bringing discussions about mental illness into the open.
Citation: Richardson, J. (2014). The editor’s note: Shining a light on mental health. Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (4), 4.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joan Richardson
Joan Richardson is the former director of the PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools and the former editor-in-chief of Phi Delta Kappan magazine.
