I spent three years as a carer for my ex girlfriend who suffered from multiple personality disorders, and struggled with self harm.
It took me a long time to underhand, but to her, self harm was a way of showing the world ‘I am here and I hurt.’
To make her inner sadness outwardly visible, so everyone could see her pain.
And I wonder - I think this is, at least in part, what is behind male suicide.
To show the world how they feel. To finally be seen and to say, “I am here”.
And it reminds us, that suicide is not necessarily the result of a psychological disfunction or chemical imbalance in men.
But perhaps a sign of our failure as a society?
Our failure to see, or to flat out ignore, men’s distress until its too late.
What do you think?
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Image by kelly-sikkema and steven-skerritt from Unsplah