Anthony Bourdain and Celebrity Suicide
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Category: Mental Health Suicide Awareness
Date: 19 May 2019
Created By : zoe
When we lost Anthony Bourdain, we lost an icon.
An icon not just in the media - but a physical icon for love, honesty, creativity, and passion - all things wonderful.
His taking of his own life was a shock to many - and a wake-up call, to most, of how hidden some people keep their sadness. Anthony Bourdain and deaths of his kind remind us to pay attention to warning signs, in ourselves and others, even when things seem okay.
Now, these are probably all things you have heard before.
It is common for this topic to become big news - especially online - after a tragedy of this kind occurs.
Depression and suicide are normally such carefully tiptoed-around topics - and yet, whenever we are faced with it in the media, we use it to shed a light on the issue. Many take it as a chance to say things that we should have been saying for a very long time.
How do we keep up this conversation without needing to face a tragedy to bring it to light?
As a society, we should not need a trigger to recognize the direness of our current mental health crisis. We must recognize that the issue is bigger than the tragedies past, bigger than the media blow-ups that encourage the conversation.
It is an ongoing issue that we must be open to talk about whenever we need to - not just when we feel like a gateway has allowed us to. It is a process, as a society, that we cannot simply revisit a few times a year.
It is about erasing the stigma for those living in silence, not building a stigma around those who have passed.
Anthony Bourdain was loved by many, and his death was tragic. However, while he will be remembered in good spirits, we must turn the conversation to the people living now who need our help, and keep the focus there.
How can we, as a society, encourage this mindset, instead of keeping it behind a veil?
