Warning: This article is about suicide and may be distressing for some readers.
The Herald has asked a lot of its readers over the past six weeks. Youth suicide and mental depression are not easy subjects to read and think about at the length and intensity of the attention we have given it. But Olivia Carville's searching and sensitive work has provided insights to the suffering of those suicidally depressed and the anguish of their families, as well as challenging the official code of silence around the subject in this country.
The code has not prevented New Zealand having the worst teenage suicide in the developed world and might have contributed to it. No reader of our series could fail to have been struck by how much sufferers from depression, past and present, want to talk about it. They need to know they are not alone, not rare or exceptional, particularly if they cannot point to an external reason for their depression. It is a condition that appears in all bands of income, occupations and social situations.
But it's teenagers who are particularly vulnerable, the most self-conscious and often uncertain phase of life, when relationships fail and decisions must be made that seem more fateful than they really are. We can only hope the discussion on our pages and digital platforms over the past six weeks has helped some of those at risk and even saved some lives. We know, though, at least three young people, two 12-year-olds and a teen at high school, have died by suspected suicides over those six weeks.
