Roger Harty: Depression – Why It’s Important To Talk About It

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2006 was a very significant year for me. I was coming to terms with depression and was working at sorting it out.

I began to look at the roots of the problem and came to the conclusion that the thinking mind (thoughts) was the culprit.

Also, 2006 was the year of a very painful family tragedy, one which I will never forget. To cut to the chase, I decided it was time to speak out and I did a long, frank and open interview with Deirdre Walsh of Radio Kerry discussing all aspects of depression.

Now it’s time to ask a good question.

Why wouldn’t I do the interview? There is ultimately only one answer. Fear.

Fear of what? Fear of what others might think of me. Fear that I might lose my friends. Fear that I might lose my job, marriage, family etc. Ultimately fear of the unknown and will people think I am going mad?

Yes I can promise you that those fears were very very real but the real question to ask here is. Are they true?

Well the truth is just like going on a rollercoaster there is only one way to find out and that is to test it,  so therefore do the interview.

It doesn’t mean that all the nerves disappear, it doesn’t mean that it is easy, but it was important to test it. Do the interview!

The thing about an interview like this is that it is a bit like prayer. You either do it or you don’t. There are no half measures here.

Deidre Walsh is an excellent radio journalist, she was very kind and understanding but her greatest attribute in my opinion is that she was able to ask direct and to the point questions on all aspects of depression, which was exactly what I wanted and why I did the interview in the first place.

Needless to say the interview got a huge response and I must say I got a huge amount of support. I can put my hand on my heart and say that not one person gave me any form of criticism, but I got a lot of congratulations and admiration.

Now for the real question which I could now test as I had done the interview.

Were those fears I wrote about above true??

Answer: Absolutely not!

I did not lose my friends, family, job etc and in fact I got a lot of recognition for doing the interview.

I did not do the interview for recognition, nor am I writing this article for recognition. The purpose of both is to show that it is very important if we want to live life to the full to face out fears and test them.

Depression thrives in an environment of fear. So therefore when we remove fear from the environment and replace it with truth, love and honesty then depression withers just like a plant without water.

Feel the fear and do it anyway!!

That is why it is important to talk about depression.

• Next week I am going to write about — Negative ions