On October 8, Kevin Breel came to Notre Dame's campus as a final stop on his book tour promoting his new memoir Boy Meets Depression.
Promote is perhaps not the right word though--it sounds too personally motivated. While Breel is spreading the word about his book, his intention seemed entirely selfless. Spreading and opening people up to the message of his story is by far the most important intention of the tour.
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Breel, only 21 years old, came in to the public eye when he was 19 years old and became one of the most viewed Ted talks of all time, at a current view count of 2,152,286.
desertnews.com
"Confessions of a Depressed Comic" is the name of Breel's talk. At center stage and on camera, Breel opened up to audiences about what it was like to suffer from depression and how he made the decision to fight to get better because his life was worth it.
The Ted talk Breel gave was one of many events that has contributed to a nation-wide movement to open up to the discussion of mental illness.
Breel shared with Notre Dame students the overwhelm he felt towards the response his talk received. Thousands of teens were messaging him and sharing their own stories about depression. While pleased with the openness people were finally having, he personally felt weighted by the thousands of stories teens sent him and got back some of those depressive feelings as a result.
Rather than fall back into the depression, Breel persisted through and went further, writing his childhood memoir Boy Meets Depression.
Breel hoped that the book would accelerate the movement that came in response to his Ted talk.
“I saw that this talk became a way for other people to share their own story," Breel explained.
Boy Meets Depression dives deeper into Breel's onset and overcoming of depression from ages 13 to 17. He hopes that people who have similarly struggled or are currently struggling with mental illness will feel safe and supported coming out with their problems as a result of sharing his story.
The whole intention is to make mental illness a point of discussion.
Notre Dame students promoted open discussion of mental problems as well with Irish State of Mind Week, an annual week sponsored by NAMI to promote mental health awareness. Kevin Breel's event was one of many during the first week of October that spoke to this issue.
Breel pointed out the need for this openness movement well, saying that "when someone breaks there arm, everyone wants to comfort them and sign their cast."
But, he went on to explain that when personal problems revolve around mental illness, or anything that is inside, society is uncomfortable talking about it.
There is a stigma towards mental health that must change. Western society is pointedly more competitive than most places in the word. These cultural values of strength and stability make people feel like they cannot talk about mental problems.
This silence towards the issue is part of the reason why there are millions of suicides every year.
Like "Confessions of a Depressed Comic," one can only hope that Breel's memoir will have an equal if not greater impact on young people with depression and prevent the worst. The more people can accept depression and other mental illness as a commonplace struggle rather than an isolated and unacceptable struggle, the more people will be helped.
Kevin Breel was praised by Josh Shipp, author of "The Teen Whisperer" with regard to his book saying, "Kevin Breel has single-handedly demystified depression through his shockingly honest, firsthand account of the struggle. This is an absolute must-read."
Those seeking to read Breel's book can find it on Amazon, in stores and online.
People struggle from mental illness every day, be part of the movement to help them, not silence them.
