I watched Australian Story yesterday on the ABC; it told the story of Hanna Modra, a beautiful teenage girl from Melbourne who took her own life earlier this year as a result of depression. So many things about her story reminded me of my own struggle at that time – yet Hanna’s journey into the descent of depression must have been a lot more insidious. She still managed to have friends around her – personally I went from being one of the most popular girls in school to being a loner who really only spoke to two people. I believe this would have been the case for Hanna also if she had lived long enough. Depression want’s you all to itself & it often conjures up fictitious tales in order for you sever yourself from past relationships. Hanna apparently inflicted a wound that was pretty much instantly fatal – I can only think this that must have been either a puncture wound to the heart or to the carotid. The desperation, that must have driven her to such an act of violence upon herself, it must have been pretty intense.
Hanna, like me at that age, had a strong faith in God. So much sounded familiar –from the “God’s putting me through this for a reason so I can help others”, to the “this isn’t a real illness, it’s a weakness”. Hanna knew she had depression but she chose to hide it, confiding only in her mood diary. They only mentioned depression in the program but I cannot help but wonder if she had bipolar due to the reported inappropriate out-of-character behaviour & the violent mood swings. Depression – it’s a killer. It makes me think of the saying “the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he didn’t exit” – it’s the same with depression & mental illness, the greatest trick it plays is making you believe you are not “ill” & that “its your fault, that you feel this way”, “your personal failing” & therefore it is “your job” to “fix it” …..on your own. Poor Hanna, & her poor family – how tragic this story is, but it needs to be told – people need to know that it’s okay to admit you have depression, that it’s okay to talk about it & that you can’t battle it on your own….it’s way too powerful for that.
The full program can be seen by following this link:
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/leastlikely/default.htm
Hanna, like me at that age, had a strong faith in God. So much sounded familiar –from the “God’s putting me through this for a reason so I can help others”, to the “this isn’t a real illness, it’s a weakness”. Hanna knew she had depression but she chose to hide it, confiding only in her mood diary. They only mentioned depression in the program but I cannot help but wonder if she had bipolar due to the reported inappropriate out-of-character behaviour & the violent mood swings. Depression – it’s a killer. It makes me think of the saying “the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he didn’t exit” – it’s the same with depression & mental illness, the greatest trick it plays is making you believe you are not “ill” & that “its your fault, that you feel this way”, “your personal failing” & therefore it is “your job” to “fix it” …..on your own. Poor Hanna, & her poor family – how tragic this story is, but it needs to be told – people need to know that it’s okay to admit you have depression, that it’s okay to talk about it & that you can’t battle it on your own….it’s way too powerful for that.
The full program can be seen by following this link:
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/leastlikely/default.htm
1 comment:
Greetings from Italy, good luck to you all.
Bye, Marlow
Post a Comment