Rypien a Lesson to Everyone

The announcement of Rick Rypien’s tragic and premature death yesterday was a shock to most of us because the last we had seen of him he appeared to be in a good state as he was embarking on a new journey with a new team run by a number of trusted friends. The people who were closer to him seemed to be even more surprised. Everyone who’s been quoted in regards to recent meetings with Rypien all felt positive about the place he was at. This helps to show just how serious depression is because no one but the person themselves really knows what’s going on with them.

Depression is a very real disease with very real and serious consequences. While we don’t know for certain the cause of death in this case, we do know he was battling this illness and had been seeking help for it for some time. Depression is not something you can be cured of. Someone with a predisposition to being depressed can make progress in dealing with their mood with the help of meds and counseling but you cannot make it go away. Depression is a case, like any mental illness, of a person’s brain just not functioning in the ideal way. Chemical imbalances can cause potentially destructive thought patterns to form and repeat over and over again.

People still tend to look at depression or mental illness in general as not real because it’s not as tangible as other illnesses or injuries. You still hear people say things like ‘it’s all in his head’ (as if this means it doesn’t count) or refer to someone as ‘crazy’. What goes on in someone’s brain is still very much a physical process just like in any other part of our bodies. Attitudes dismissing this kind of problem are especially common in the macho world of sports where no one wants to show anything that could be interpreted as a weakness.

Most people find it very hard to accept the existence of something they themselves cannot relate to. I read postings online after Rypien’s death where people wondered why a guy with such talent and money, someone who seemed to have everything going his way could possibly be depressed. They don’t understand that’s exactly the point. Money, possessions, power, sometimes even a positive personal life doesn’t matter. A person may have had a bad period of depression triggered by an event, but they’re not depressed because of it. They don’t really need a real reason to be depressed. They’re depressed because they are. They’re depressed because that’s who they are. All they can do is get the help and treatment to make them more self-aware and to help break the endless cycle of negative thoughts. All we can do is support them and understand the battle they’re waging inside their own heads.