October is National Bully Prevention Month, it follows September which is National Suicide Prevention Awareness. Reversing the order would probably make more sense, as bullying often can lead to suicide, substance abuse, and most often depression.
October is also Depression Awareness Month.
Many diseases have lost their stigma over the last decades. Cancer was once a word that was only whispered, breast cancer was a subject not even discussed with a person’s close friends. The treatment of alcoholism has improved because we now acknowledge not just a dependence, but that the physiological make-up of a person puts them at an increased risk of being an alcoholic.
Depression though, for people of all ages, continues to carry with it a stigma. It still carries a stigma that there is an inherent weakness in the individual who suffers from depression. It is only recently that people are beginning to see the serious impact chronic depression can have on a person, a family, or friendships.
Songs, movies, tv shows, that deal with depression are often…well, depressing. Even when depression is approached in terms of being something many people suffer from, that it can be overcome, that one can triumph over it, there is a somberness.
Not so in a 2010 movie entitled It’s Kind of a Funny Story. This is kind of a funny movie about a very serious situation, serious illness, and serious subject; which makes it even more remarkable .
Based on the novel by Ned Vizzini, an author who suffered a severe case of depression at the age of 19, it follows a 15 year old teenager who checks himself into the hospital because of suicidal thoughts. Due to reconstruction at the hospital, he is roomed in the adult psychiatric section, and meets an array of characters.
The movie is a comedy, not a documentary, but it provides an opportunity for people who would not normally be interested in the subject matter. It puts the subject depression in a context that is more accessible to the general public.
The movie, rated PG-13 manages to mix a serious subject with self-deprecating humor and a life-affirming message.
As is usually the case, many people believe the book to be much better than the movie, but no harm in enjoying both. The movie is showing on HBO this month, and many video excerpts can be found online. The book is available in bookstores and online.