By Lyonel Doherty, Times Chronicle
This editorial contains references to suicide which some readers may find disturbing. If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of suicide call 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433). YouthinBC.com is a chat available every day from noon to 1 a.m. for online real-time support, or call 604-872-3311 anytime of the day or night.
I learned something about mental health by watching a hard-hitting biopic on Ian Curtis, frontman for the English rock band Joy Division in the 1970’s.
They were a post-punk, new wave band that two members formed after attending a Sex Pistols concert in 1976.
If you’re up for it, watch the movie Control; it’s depressing but fascinating at the same time. It follows Curtis as he battles teen angst, epilepsy, fame, and marrying too young.
Much of Curtis’ lyrics were haunting and dark, leaving people to scratch their heads in wonder why the band was called Joy Division. There wasn’t much joy to be had in that circle. But like everything else, Curtis’ songs were open to interpretation. But it was clear he was writing about himself.
In Love Will Tear Us Apart, one of my favourite songs, Curtis sings, “When routine bites hard and ambitions are low, resentment rides high, but emotions won’t grow.”
Curtis had a loving wife and child, a job as an employment counselor, rock band fame, and a girlfriend on the side. However, his epilepsy was a ball and chain, taking an enormous toll on his life. His doctor treated him like an experiment, prescribing all sorts of pills with many side effects.
While one can argue he was a talented young man with a future, he believed the opposite and hung himself. It was his wife who found him.
His depression was so heavy that it completely overshadowed everything else. I know this to be true because a young woman told me this last year. She had a loving family (still does), she had a car (still does), a boyfriend and a job, but when depression hit, it was an anchor she couldn’t cast off.
She even lied to her counselor when he asked if everything was going well. She didn’t want him to feel bad, to feel like he wasn’t doing a good job.
One of her best friends committed suicide this year; she never got to say goodbye, which was especially difficult.
No one heard Curtis’ cry for help, so he wrote about it in his lyrics. He had no control over his life and felt that suicide was the only option, regardless of the pain it caused.
If you have never felt depressed, or only fleetingly, you can’t begin to relate to this illness. It’s crushing. It’s all consuming. It’s a dark shadow within a shadow.
But there are options and there are people willing to listen, no matter how deep the well goes. This time of year is very difficult for some people due to seasonal affective disorder brought upon by lack of sunlight.
If you’re in that well or know someone who is, please reach out to a friend or family member.
By the way, Joy Division was transformed into the hit band New Order with a more upbeat sound that filled dance floors in the 1980’s.
Curtis’ legacy lives on today and continues to teach the world about depression and its effects on people.
