A little over a wk ago, I posted an article that sounded awfully similar to this one. If you look back, it was abt the suicides in Japan surpassing deaths by COVID. Therefore, this article would appear a little duplicative for a page that tries to provide new content each day, related to all the changes we need to see in this space. So why the share?
This particular news in San Fran was reported by the AP. Yet, not many major outlets picked it up & ran w it, even though the actual # of deaths & causes of death are publicly available.
Is it political that outlets aren’t showing this en masse? Not sure. And as I’ve shared multiple times on this page, we don’t get into politics. So for our purposes let’s focus on the MH ramifications of numbers like these, not the political ones. Whatever your beliefs are abt Covid (& I know they run the gamut), we have to deal w the reality that: the way our world changed back in March, has had an enormous impact on the MH of EVERYONE on the planet.
Back to the question: why share this article, when it’s awfully similar to one I recently shared a wk ago? Here’s why: one’s abt deaths by suicide in Japan…one’s abt deaths by overdose in San Fran. To the masses, these articles don’t get linked. To the masses these are 2 diff causes of death, in 2 very diff parts of the world, far apart from one another.
But this is what happens in MH all the time. We bucket things, bc it’s cleaner. We hear things like: “we have an athlete substance abuse issue”…then in a separate article we hear: “we have a musician depression issue.”
I can’t say this loudly enough – we have a SOCIETAL mental health issue.
Trauma, addiction, overdose, suicide are all members of the SAME fam, living in the SAME house. They don’t apply to one career or field or geography. They apply to all, bc they are a product of the life experiences, lifestyle choices, & genetics we ALL have.
It’s impt that those of us (& this means counting on you all as partners), who understand this reality, continue to link these together when we post/talk. We can all be part of educating for change.
