Male Depression: Why 2017 turned into tragedy for musicians
Dmitry Kurkin
On the morning of July 20, Chester Bennington was found dead. at home in California. The fact that Linkin Park and Stone Temple Pilots singer has been struggling for years with depression, coupled with the abuse of potent substances, was no secret to his loved ones or to millions of fans. And yet, in a matter of hours before his death, little indicated that he could just go and commit suicide. In the video, shot a day and a half before his suicide, the musician laughs. Less than a week before that, he appeared in James Corden’s comic show "Carpool Karaoke", whose members are supposed to radiate happiness. That's just Chester was not happy. He was long and hard sick.
According to one version, the death of Bennington could have been prompted by the death of his colleague Chris Cornell, which happened two months before. The leader of Soundgarden and Audioslave also suffered from depression, which he tried to fight with drugs, and before that - hard drugs; he was found dead in the hotel bathroom. The version is not devoid of common sense: Chester really experienced the death of his idol, and in social psychology there is even a concept of “imitative suicides” (the so-called Werther effect). Yet the root cause of both suicides is more likely to be considered a prolonged depression - both musicians have repeatedly and in detail told about it directly - in interviews, and allegorically - in the lyrics.
Rapper Lil Peep, who died from an overdose in November of this year, spoke a lot and convincingly about depression. The K-pop group vocalist Kim John Hyun, whose recent suicide, unfortunately, is not the first in the history of Korean show business, which is notorious for its cruel orders, reported about depression in its death-message to its sister. "Perhaps I was not meant to be known in this world. It was this that broke my life," Kim wrote.
These deaths are a microscopic part of the invisible and still losing war that humanity is leading with depression. 2017 made it a little more visible, at the same time reminding us that depression has not only a face (as claimed by the hashtag of a memorable flashmob in which participants published their photos taken during periods of severe psychological depression), but also gender, age, status. That this is not "an excuse invented by whiners who have not achieved anything" - so Cornell with Bennington just can not write to the category of losers. And not an attack of a bad mood, which can be overcome, "just getting out of bed and forcing yourself to enjoy a new day!" (bitter irony is that a person usually cannot lift himself out of bed — in the absence of other signs this is the surest symptom of depression).
What is more important, 2017, with its numerous stories about the experiences of depression, warned us about the main danger of the disease, which is very difficult to recognize for both the patient and others. Depression is the elephant in the room that people in it are trying hard not to notice, hoping that the elephant will leave somehow. And this only exacerbates the situation.
Not the last role is played by gender prejudices. Statistics released in 2014 states that the main killer of men between the ages of 20 and 49 in Britain is suicide. About three-quarters of those who committed suicide were men. This imbalance says, of course, not about the fact that women are less likely to suffer from depression, but about the fact that in modern society, where depression is not yet recognized as a large-scale threat (and this despite the fact that in the same Britain the number of suicides in 2012 exceeded the number of deaths from malignant tumors or coronary heart disease), men are still forbidden to "complain about life." And as long as the “strong, silent type” that Tony Soprano loved so much, remains the standard of masculinity, depression will continue to reap the harvest.
The romantic flair of the "Club 27", quick and bright combustion in the atmosphere, has long outlived its usefulness. The deaths of Bennington or Lil Peep are no longer perceived as part of the rock-and-roll lifestyle, but as stories of unfortunate people who could not cope with the psychological press. And they, of course, were not alone in their problems: when thousands of such deaths occur, it becomes especially clear that there is nothing even remotely heroic about them. The unhealthy pursuit of success, the cult of happiness for show, along with the fear of appearing vulnerable and weak, do not just destroy the modern man - they literally kill.
Older stigmas go away slowly. It took mankind many years and many works of art, from Philadelphia to the Dallas Buyers Club, before coming to terms with the idea that HIV is not an exclusive infection sent to marginals as a punishment for sins. That the virus does not turn a person into a monster, which cannot be approached with a cannon shot. That the first step to solving a problem is its recognition, moreover, it is public, repeated and persistent. What about an HIV-positive diagnosis is better to say than to keep silent.
Depression is gradually going the same way - including in pop culture, which is working with this topic more often. I want to believe that 2017 has brought a little closer to the understanding that depression does not need to be brushed aside from attacks of bad mood. How not to shy away from those who are in a very depressed state, or try to treat them with kitchen tips instead of full therapy. That this is indeed a problem that can directly or indirectly affect everyone (only in Russia, according to geneticists, about 30% of the inhabitants are susceptible to depression) - which means that this is our common misfortune.