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October 5, 2020
Rene Del Prado
San Francisco
I was literally stunned and delighted after reading Father Ron Rolheiser’s truly powerful opinion piece titled “Suicide and melancholy” in the Aug. 20 issue of Catholic San Francisco. He masterfully explains the nature of melancholy and how it is intertwined with suicide. He delves into history to give us a perspective as to what melancholy truly is: a force that resides in the soul and overwhelms an individual to incredible creative heights or to utter despair and grief that leads to suicide.
The example of Leo Tolstoy (which I did not know) was truly powerful. This is exactly how I feel: a force that is so strong that it is leading me to the opposite direction of life itself. It is not depression. He convincingly explains that neither drugs nor therapy can cure melancholy because it is a profound sadness that emanates from deep within the soul itself. People in ancient times understood this much better as he so convincingly explains it.
Suicide is a very complex issue as he explains it and we cannot as a society continue to judge people in the manner that we have been doing for a very long time now. I completely agree with his analysis that people in this category are the new “lepers” and we as a society must change our attitudes about this.
I owe Father Rolheiser a deep gratitude for this opinion piece. This piece should be read by every mental health professional and all of the myriad of social organizations, charities and hotlines that deal with mental health.
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