Celebrity suicides are too depressing...

I was just thinking about Kurt Cobain. If tremendous wealth and world-wide adoration and acclaim can’t even solve your problems, what will?

Finding joy in what you have rather than yearning for that which you don’t. But that’s just my opinion.

. . . And never, ever, marry Courtney Love.

pizzabrat writes: “If tremendous wealth and world-wide adoration and acclaim can’t even solve your problems, what will?”

I don’t know. Maybe those orange Andes Candies.

To be honest, pizzabrat, it’s the idea that world wide adoration and tremendous wealth are supposed to be the answer to your problems that I find depressing.

Apparently it depressed Kurt, too.
But what I find really depressing is when someone with talent and passion actually manages to articulate that talent and passion to the world and then lets silly things like too much adoration and wealth cause him to kill himself.

I mean, I bet John Lennon felt the same way in 1964. But he didn’t kill himself.

And I really miss hearing what Kurt would be doing now.

So what I’m saying is, nothing will solve your problems but making great music should ( I wish) be enough to sustain you even if your cursed with world-wide acclaim and tremendous wealth.

Ever see Andy Rooney’s piece on Kurt Cobain’s death? Fucking old bastard. “We lived through the depression, world wars, this young man writes little ditties and kills himself 'cause it all hurts so.”

it’s been what 9 years and it still pisses me off.

Well,

I have clinical depression and have seriously thought about suicide in the past. (Note, I am on meds now and everything is back up to happy and good) Depression hits people no matter what their social status is. In fact my worst episode of depression came shortly after I got a promotion, a huge raise and moved to a different city. [#1]

Depression is a nasty thing. In fact the only reason I got on the right track is because my Mom went through it and my parents knew when I was going downhill. Note, Clinical depression appears to be hereditary.

I’d bet that Kurt was suffering from severe depression. Money and fame will not cure depression. Drugs and therapy will.

Slee

#1. I got a great job, a raise and went nuts. Somehow I made it to work for a while (9 months) but I’d come home and lock the door, turn off the lights, unplug the phone and hide in my closet. I was a basket case. I did this for a while then things went from bad to worse. I quit going to my job, wouldn’t answer the door and sent out for smokes and food. I spent most of my time sleeping or thinking about painless ways to off myself. My parents showed up (a 2000 mile trip) and got me the help I needed. To this day, even with the meds, I still battle depression. It is a nasty thing.

Correct me if I’m wrong, cause I’m no Cobain expert, but I think he was suffering from some kind of severe stomach pain that doctors couldn’t help. He self-medicated with heroin for awhile, and eventually the heroin addiction coupled with the stomach pain (and I’d imagine there was some clinical depression in there somewhere) caused him to believe his only option was to commit suicide.

He certainly wasn’t thrilled with being a “teen icon” and hated how many of his fans were the same people that had tormented him when he was growing up. But I don’t think that caused him to kill himself.

I still haven’t gotten over River Phoenix and Pete Duel. (Pete Duel goes back a while, but he did this great western, “Alias Smith and Jones”, that still occasionally is seen on TVLand.)

I was kind of interested in Kurt Cobain’s case because of my own bouts with depression and because he might even have had the same stomach problem that I did (although his was never diagnosed so we’ll never know for sure–and I’m not going to make any assumptions because surgery helped me).

One of the biggest obstacles in treating depression is the patient’s own attitude toward it, which the OP kind of hints at. A common problem is that people think “how can I be depressed? It’s not like I’m broke and living in the gutter.” Doctors often say that people are afraid to seek treatment for depression because they feel guilty about it–like they are just being whiny or selfish and need to forget that they have this problem, rather than seeking help for it. I don’t know the facts, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Kurt thought, “Wow, I’m a rich and famous and popular musician, what on earth could I possibly have to be depressed about?” and thus avoided seeking treatment.

Heck, even I’ve been there and I’m not remotely famous or important.

I’d argue that they aren’t depressing so much as they are sobering. I remember reading in a sociology textbook that many people were surprised at the almost complete lack of copycat suicides after Cobain’s death, and that to the contrary, it seemed to raise awareness for clinical depression.

Not a problem.

Well, I’m going to take the other tact.

There are millions of people, apparently, that are living with depression. It’s hard, I know, because both my mother and my girlfriend suffer from it.

However, most of them don’t kill themselves.

I don’t care how bad you have it, suicide is the most shallow, cowardly thing to do (note: euthenasia is different… but that’s another thread…).

My girls first fiance killed himself. She still deals with the mental stress of trying to figure out why her happy and healthy fiance ate a bullet.

Kurt Cobain had just had a child. He apparently felt he had writers block. Mayhaps the solution for him should have been to retire, or to take a nice long sabbatical. Instead, he got into heroin and then shot himself.

Overall, no big loss. It’s shame we don’t have more music from him… he was a gifted artist. But overall, I consider suicide to be Clorox for the gene pool.

</rant>

dons flamesuit

Alright, alright… I’ll call her and tell her the wedding is off!

(applause!) Tristan…you have been voted Mr. Compassion 2003! (applause!) Take a fuckin’ bow!

I hate it when people say how shallow it is to kill yourself. That is what depression is - a prison in your head filled with narcissicsm, self-absorption, and a relentless feeling of dread and sadness. Most depressives rightly admit this. Many people are terribly ignorant about depression and think people should not have it if your life is seemingly going well. It’s like saying someone with cancer should “just get over it”… geez people!! It is a horrible mental disease that is overbearing, it’s not like he kiled himself because he was having a “bad day”…

Ummm…Nevermind.

Cobain was mentally ill. Also, he never wanted to be rich and famous, so it never “made” him happy. I believe he had never been happy. So many artists live and die this way, it’s sad, but it’s never really a surprise.

People say: “Gee - you got what you wanted (promotion, getting published, award, world record), why are you depressed?”

Because depression warps judgement.

It can work like this: You say to yourself “if I lost weight (let’s say), I’d be happy.” And you work, and work, and work, and don’t lose any weight. “Ah - that’s the reason I’m not happy. I’ll just keep trying.” Then you get what you wanted - and still feel depressed. Or if you had used 10 medical treatments out of 11 possible treatments, you could still hope that the last one could work. But once you try it, if it doesn’t work, then that’s it.

Depression whispers in your ear: “You’ll never feel better. You’ll never find medications that will work. Things are bad, have always been bad, will always be bad.”

Cobain’s problem was drugs, not fame or money.


Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.

I wasn’t depressed by Kurt’s death. I was disappointed and I was angry. I got over the anger, but not the disappointment. he had friends and peers who tried to help who were willing to help. Micheal Stipe from REM was one of them. a pity he was so screwed up by drugs and depression that he was unable to live through it like so many of his friends did. What a waste of talent and promise. What a terrible waste.