This is a response to an article that appeared on the blog website xoJane entitled "My Former Friend's Death Was a Blessing."
To Jane Pratt: You couldn't be more incorrect. While the article has been removed already by the author and replaced with a rather milquetoast apology, the general tenor of the blog post maintained that Jane's former friend was so mentally ill that she was beyond help, and that only death could have offered an escape to this unfortunate individual's suffering.
While fortunately this article is removed as of now, the impact still remains, and it serves as a testament to the rather flippant attitude many young Americans have regarding mental health.
The first trespass that Jane Pratt commits is the all too common faux pas of speaking for a community as a mouthpiece rather than as an ally. It isn't Jane's place to determine whether or not her friend was "better off" dead than alive. Jane could have never experienced the unique circumstance that her friend was experiencing living with mental illness.
She certainly could have never experienced what was going through her friend's head at the time of her suicide, or what dark place she was in that led her to kill herself. Speaking on behalf of this "former friend" regarding a topic as personal as suicide is not only incredibly distasteful, but morally bankrupt. Jane is invading a space that isn't hers, and unless she is living with mental illness herself, she cannot possibly understand what her friend could have even been thinking.
Jane's detrimental message also serves a disservice to millions of Americans living with mental illness, who read this article as there's no hope, so you might as well off yourself now! This dictum couldn't be farther from the truth. Mental illness is not a death sentence. Rather, most forms of mental illness are treatable with medication and psychotherapy. The first treatment may not be effective, nor may the second or third.
However, with the strides that are being made in the fields of psychotherapy and psycho-pharmacology, treatment and recovery from mental illness is not just a hope, but a reality. The thought that someone living with depression, anxiety, or any other form of mental illness might abandon all hope after reading Jane Pratt's article terrifies me, and I could not allow this dangerous claim to go without proper rebuttal.
Finally, Jane's blog post contributes to the flippant attitude many American's have towards mental illness in general. Certainly, strides have been made in regards to visibility for Americans living with mental illness, and conversations are happening. But we must not allow the conversation to become so blasé that mental illness is seen as some inevitable occurrence that only death will cure.
To those living with anxiety, depression, and other forms of mental illness: recovery is a reality. If you or anyone you know is pondering suicide please call 1 (800) 273-8255 or visit the Suicide Prevention Lifeline. This website also has lists of resources available.
