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• There are so many suicides lately and the problem seems to be getting worse every day. I was at a concert on Sunday organised by Console and the sadness in the church was so palpable and unbearable.
My son took his own life last year after having a severe nervous breakdown from which he never recovered. This was after a long fight with depression, which was initially caused by bullies when he was 15.
Depression is a severe illness – in some ways the most serious illness of all because you can't see it.
The person usually hides it and carries on with their life; they feel ashamed of their illness and don't talk about it.
When they do seek help, the doctors over-medicate them until they are like zombies. When they cannot take any more pain, they end their lives, dying alone and with no one to hold their hand and kiss them goodbye.
It is an unbearably sad end to what is usually a beautiful, kind, caring person. If there were more understanding of the illness, there would be better treatments available and the person who is suffering would not feel so ashamed to talk about it.
As it stands, hospitals lump this illness in with addictions and treat it that way. The hospital stay for this illness is limited by the VHI to the same length of stay as alcoholism and drug addiction.
The pain of the parents, partners and families left behind is never-ending. Five-hundred and more people died last year at their own hand and there is no outcry about it. Why not?
It is an absolute disgrace that all these young people feel that there is no option but to do this. This is not acceptable in a so-called civilised country.
Patricia Parlour
Donadea, Naas, Co Kildare
Irish Independent
