FEATURE
“Billions of chemical reactions make up the dynamic system that is responsible for your mood, perceptions, and how you experience life.”
-HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
“There was a palpable paranoia at every company,” says Ross Gilker, a Calgary outplacement transition counsellor. The stress continues at home in such situations, mental health experts say, as income uncertainty shakes up family security. No escape from stress is rarely healthy, because the hormone release of fight-or-flight reactions is supposed to be short term. Robert Olson, a librarian and writer with the Centre for Suicide Prevention, says that he hopes the stigma is fading, both about suicide and mental health generally. One reason for the reduction in suicides in 2016 may be that people are “seeking help more readily than they used to.” But he says that the numbers in Alberta remain too high. Which leads back to the nagging question: is there anything that individuals, as co-workers, family, and friends, can do? And what about society? PROTECT YOURSELF For one thing, you can learn how to look after your own mental health, professionals say.
Alberta’s culture is steeped in stories of the strong and the brave. Our campfire tales are about putting in the hard work and being rewarded with success. We can trick ourselves into tying our value to our status and money. But status and money are not the entire tapestry of a person, mental health professionals say. You’re worth more than your paycheque, so understanding your actual value is important. THE CHEMISTRY OF DEPRESSION Depression is deeper, longer, and uglier than a bad mood or a few hours or days of not being your usual self. Your body gets in on the act, pumping chemicals through your blood that cloud your thinking and keep you low. People who attempt suicide often have all kinds of people in their lives who love them. But because of those depressive chemicals, they may not perceive or believe it. “It is not a simple matter of one chemical being too low and another too high. Rather, many chemicals
SPRING 2018 PEG | 61
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