Let's get this straight: depression does not make people a danger to society

Depression is a common problem. Really, staggeringly common.

One in five people will suffer depression (and as stigma might be shrinking the figures, it could be more). And yet, for something so common, and so horrible, we still don’t know enough about it. We know it is an illness, and one so severe that many people kill themselves simply because they can’t take the pain of it, but a lot about the illness is still mysterious.

Mystery is dangerous as it leads to stigma. I believe the irresponsible reporting of Flight 9525 on Friday and Saturday, by much of the media, has caused stigma to rise even further. By casually linking depression, in general, with the nightmarish image of a devastating plane crash, and by suggesting that it was dangerous for Germanwings to employ someone simply for having depression, it sent a worrying message.

What other responsibilities shouldn’t depressives be given? Driving trains? Driving cars? Becoming firemen? Teaching children? Parenting children? Running a business? Reporting news? Doing anything at all? Should we all get back under our duvets and never come out? Stigma is on the rise. And stigma is fatal.

Men, in particular, have been shown to find it harder to talk about depression. This is critically dangerous, as proven by the high incidence of male suicide.

For British men under the age of 45 (it used to be 35), suicide is now the leading cause of death. Three and a half times more men than women kill themselves, and as suicide – almost by definition – is a symptom of depression, depression is especially dangerous for men. Yet far fewer men than women seek help. Men are less likely to tell a doctor or an employer or even a loved one about the illness.

The idea that men should be strong, silent and in control, is a dangerous and deadly one, and stops people talking. If we can be mocked for ‘manflu’, what happens when we open up about invisible illnesses like depression?

^{A selfie taken by Andreas Lubitz}

Well, I am a man and I have opened up about my experience of depression, and how I managed – just – to pull back from the brink of suicide. Hell, I’ve even written a book about it. And the response has been overwhelmingly supportive. But I understand being a writer places me inside a relatively safe bubble. For others, it’s not so easy.

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I have heard stories from so many people who say their experience was similar to mine. When they talk their voice starts to shake when they mention their own depression. Some can’t mention it at all. One man at my most recent book event just handed me a note that explained his experience because he found it ‘hard to talk out loud about’. The real damaging thing here is that talking about the illness actually alleviates its symptoms, so stigmatising and silencing actually makes people more ill.

Now obviously, if someone is seriously ill, with almost anything, they should not be flying a plane. But the trouble is you can be a functioning depressive. Most depressives are. You can, indeed, be a happy depressive, just as you can be a sober alcoholic.

I have been a depressive since the age of 24. I have had various dips of differing intensities. I very nearly ended my life. But I have never been a danger to the lives of others.

What we need to ram home is that there are 350 million depressives in the world. Just because one of them crashes a plane does not mean we are all potentially dangerous. (Spoiler: we're not.)

I suppose depression is too broad a term. To make "depression" synonymous with "dangerous" is as bad as saying "Muslim" is synonymous with "terrorist". The illness I suffer from, and that most depressives suffer from, has utterly nothing to do with an illness that causes you to commit mass murder.

Depressives have led countries, won wars, flown rockets to the moon, made great music. Don't let depression stop you employing someone, and never let it cause you to judge them. Depression is not a person. Like any other illness it is something that happens to a person. It shouldn’t define them. And let’s remember, although we have mental hospitals as separate things to physical hospitals, the mind and the body are not really that separate.

We need to grow up. We need to realise that fear and ignorance are never the best ways to view a situation. We need to admit there is much we still don’t know, and work from there, but in the meantime we should never stop people from talking. That is only going to endanger more lives.

And just as no-one would ever go around believing they are 100 per cent physically healthy, none of us are 100 per cent mentally healthy either. We are all on a scale. To stigmatise mental health issues is to stigmatise every single one of us.

Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig is published by Canongate Books and available in hardback for £9.99