Shared Links (weekly) May 18, 2025
For more like this, subscribe to the newsletter and get everything I’ve been sharing in your email.
As pointed out later in the article below, the second-highest rate of suicide belongs to elderly white men. We have created a stereotype of the “grumpy old man” in our society. We’ve even made movies out of it. But don’t let that fool you, that grumpiness or the other moods we assume are just part of getting older, might not be that at all.
Look, we know that untreated mental health issues impact people’s lives in many ways. Would the lack of treatment at 20 for bipolar make a huge difference in lifetime income? Of course, it would impact the ability to even finish college successfully and that would then continue to impact things significantly. Would the need to take leaves of absence or go to work every day with depression and no access to help for that cause you to be less successful? Again, statistically, I think that would be obvious that it happens more times than not.
“The reality is that my life was infected with the burden of depression and anxiety, and the only places I could find reliable information from were not churches in my local area. Why? Because mental illness wasn’t really talked about. I felt as if all the “Christian” resources were outdated and really didn’t address the…
When I compare my personal experience to the overall statistics, again I can see where it is also kind of all over the place, because it’s individual. In some ways, I’m doing pretty well, in others, not so much. None of us are exactly the same, or living with the same circumstances. So as global as this pandemic is, the effects have been incredibly diverse. That person you are working with on a Zoom call, the medical professional, the person taking your to-go order, that teacher your kid is learning from, or even those kids and their parents are all dealing with any multitude of impacts that we know nothing about, and probably never will. The one thing we do know, is that they are being impacted.
We would do well, as a society to take advantage of this very obvious opportunity to learn that we are all impacted in different way by events, and to take the time to listen to how someone who isn’t like us, is impacted. This is a great time to understand the large scale of the world and all of the different experiences within it. Maybe we could at least settle for understanding that our own individual situations, are not representative of everyone. Not even close, in fact.
As you know, I’ve been quick to share links and even write about what your depressed friends need, and how to help people struggling with their own mental health. What I’ve come to realize more and more is that I am also struggling, and failing at being a very good friend for many of these same reasons. I’m burned out, I’m tired, I have little mental energy beyond just getting through each workday, and taking care of myself, for reaching out, chatting, or virtually meeting up with people.
In short, I am experiencing exactly what Annie is talking about. I want to reach out and be supportive to my friends, but I haven’t recognized my own struggles. No, I don’t believe I am depressed in a major way, but I’m definitely suffering from anxiety, stress, and it’s exhausting me.
That makes it hard to be the supportive one in any relationship, even though I want to be.
To combat that, I’m going to be reviewing this article a few times, and thinking about how I might still be supportive, and how maybe people in my life be supportive of each other.
How to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Grooming, with Feather Berkower
9 more ways to show your friends you love them, recommended by NPR listeners
Reducing sexual violence could be key in reducing rates of teenage mental ill-health
Loneliness and unhappiness may accelerate aging faster than smoking