It's A Sad World, Sadly

      Writer T.M. Luhrmann recently visited India to find that Depression is slowly taking over the country, and possibly the world. The majority of people in India used to view the topic of depression and suicide as taboo, but many are bringing it up more and more as it is becoming more relevant. A lot of young people are finding when something goes majorly wrong in their life, suicide seems to be a logical way out. Many Indians are debating whether there are higher suicide and depression rates or if people are just talking about the subjects more. One thing that is known for sure is that help for people with mental illnesses has gone up over the past ten years in India, and around the world. On a larger scale, studies have found that the suicide rate has risen 60% over the past 50 years, and that depression will be the second highest medical condition by the year 2020. Many attribute the rising rates to the fact that 50% of the world's population live in cities and media, such as Facebook and TV are showing people what they can't or don't have. People see how other people are living and what they're saying, and automatically compare themselves, leading them to appreciate their lives less and not value being in the moment.
After reading this article, I was struck by how much the suicide rate has risen over the recent years. It wasn't that surprising, however, to learn that depression has gone up. It may sound silly to say I never  thought of depression going completely hand-in-hand with suicide, I always thought of course that depression leads to suicide, but I guess I thought there were a lot of other paths people took to cope with their extreme sadness. It seems that if people aren't taking anti-depressants, their other main course of action in suicide nowadays. It makes sense that people would compare their lives with the lives of others through Facebook and TV, and such, but to think that this would lead all the way to depression and suicide is truly concerning. What I also found very interesting about the article was how people in India, and around the world, are talking about depression and suicide more, yet the rate of both is going steadily up. I would think that if people felt more comfortable about discussing the topics they wouldn't be occurring as much, but I guess people feel less guilty and afraid about the effects of suicide now that it is a huge topic for discussion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/opinion/a-great-depression.html?_r=0