The Misunderstood Illness.

Welcome everyone to the third instalment of my blog. Today my entry will consist of a different nature, a rather hypocritically journalistic article. The blog is meant to be about my thoughts etc, which isn't strictly incorrect, as today, like most football and sport fans in general, my thoughts are with Gary Speed's family. To those of you who don't know, former footballer and Wales manager Gary Speed was found hanging this morning in his house, with police not suspecting suspicious circumstances. Which can only mean suicide. Which brings about the point of my blog. Why would a man aged 42 with a considerable life ahead of him do such a thing?

Whenever I hear the saying "money can't buy you happiness", I instantly respond "tell that to the man with millions in the bank and a gorgeous wife and family waiting for him at his mansion." But I'm not really that naive, I am fully aware that money doesn't always buy happiness. But what could cause a happily married, model pro to do such a thing? Although no official reason has been given, it can only be assumed that depression is the reason.

So what is depression? There seems to be a common misconception amongst people that depression is caused by a trigger event, for example the loss of a family member etc. But depression is worse than this, can arise from nothing and leads to feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and perhaps worst, worthlessness. The latter would explain the alarming levels of depression-related suicides.

"But how would the man with millions in the bank and happily married contract such feelings?" Are people really so naive to believe that footballers etc have such a happy life? Put yourself in Gary Speed's position, manager of the Welsh football side, and although not the biggest country in the world, having 70,000 passionate football fans who have paid £50 or thereabouts each to watch your team, screaming at you everytime you put a foot wrong. And that isn't mentioning the expectancy of the remaining nation at home. Put that into context with the pressures of your job, and suddenly being a footballer/manager doesn't seem like such a great job after all does it?

But people don't realise this. Depression in sport is too rife, but not many people come forward. Look back to the case of Robert Enke, the German goalkeeper who committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. Enke first suffered depression in 2003 whilst playing for Barcelona. While at Barcelona, Enke suffered the tragedy of his daughter being born with a severe disability, and later dying, and this played a contributory factor in his depression. But when he suffered from depression again later in his life, there was no trigger. No-one knows how or why it came about, it just did. Why didn't he come forward? Or actively seek help? Even talk about it to his wife, who happened to be a psychiatrist? It was revealed by a close friend who released a biography, that Enke intended to collaborate with, that he was too scared to admit to them because of the stigma that is attached to doing so. Which when you think about it isn't such an illogical thing. Who would expect the general public to understand that someone earning thousands of pounds a week could possibly be depressed? A few sportsmen of late; Stan Collymore, Mike Yardy, Marcus Trescothick etc have successfully battled against depression, and decided to speak out about it in order to raise awareness and make other people suffering not feel so bad about admitting their problems.

But if depression was the reason for Gary Speed's untimely death, the sporting world has lost a fine man because awareness still isn't high enough, and I'm sure there are plenty of others suffering from it scared to admit their problems. But hopefully, in light of the circumstances, maybe more people will be able to accept their problems. If anyone watched the minutes silence in the Swansea v Aston Villa match today, they will have seen Shay Given, a close friend of Speed's reduced to tears, and such emotion on a football field nearly had me in tears too. I can't even begin to imagine how Speed's wife and children must be feeling right now, to lose a husband and a father. But awareness of depression in sport must be acknowledged, and raised, as it can happen to any one of us for no apparent reason.

Thanks for reading,

Thomas.