A young Kevin Breel, is filmed giving a TedxKIDs@Ambleside Talk about the ongoing battle against depression. He explains that there is a popular misconception that depression is a result of being sad when something in life goes wrong. In actuality, real depression is being sad when everything in your life is going right. The issue is that it is hard for a lot of people to see it like that. Every 30 seconds, someone in the world takes their own life as a result of depression. We have a tendency as a society to look at that and say, "So what; that's their problem."
Two years ago, Kevin sat on his bed, strongly considering suicide. He was captain of his basketball team and was on the honor roll, yet he sat there with a bottle of pills and a notepad, coming extremely close to committing suicide.
He was lucky, but the real thing he touched on was the importance of it being okay to say the four words: "I suffer from depression." The scariest part of depression is that you become numb to it and the problem is the stigma that goes along with it. People are afraid of the judgement of others and it prevents them from trying to get help. Society is accepting of every body part breaking down except for the brain. Instead, people brush that problem aside.
The biggest challenge is not building a world where we eliminate the ignorance of others, but building a world where we teach the acceptance of ourselves. People need to acknowledge that depression is a sickness and a part of life that should not be stigmatized. Instead, we should use depression to learn to appreciate ourselves. "Take away the taboos, take a look at the truth, and start talking."
