Radio Australia Today Editorial

The Suicide of a Star. A Depression Untreated.

29 August 2008

He seemed to have everything.

Mark Priestley was an actor in a television series, All Saints, here in Australia. Only a few days ago his character got married, and the episode earned 1.7 million viewers.

Mark was good looking, very talented, both on TV and on stage, and was a joker kind of person, the kind that endears you. His is the kind that makes the working environment, especially a heavy work environment like a TV production house, much easier. As his former teacher at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney said overnight, Mark glowed as a person.

But he carried this illness with him for years. Depression is an illness. It is not being sooky; it is not beiong spoiled; it is not being weak; it is not just feeling a bit blue. It is a disease.

Not everyone who has untreated depression takes their own life, but their lives are hard. The great comic Spike Milligan would go to bed for days at a time, lying in the dark until the demons left him. Wittiness and exhuberance is no insurance against this disease. Fitness is no insurance either. Noted joker and rugby league star Peter jackson killed himself in a lonely way in a motel room some years ago. He was fit, funny, generous and with a great career, future and young family. All the things that look to the rest of us like a great life.

It just doesn’t make sense why someone would do this.

It doesn’t make sense because it is a disease, and diseases don’t make sense. They need to be treated, just like a fever or the mumps. In Australia there is one suicide every three hours. Depression is prevalent. I have family members with it. One didn’t treat the disease properly for some years, and lost a chunk out of his life while those around him thought he was just lazy and he thought he wasn’t worth anything. Now he’s been treated, he functions properly and leads a bloody fantastic life.

It should be a fantastic life. If depression is stopping this, it’s not your fault. Get it sorted eh?
– Phil

got married Sadder news on the front of many Australian papers today with the suicide of a young Australian actor who jumped from the balcony of a Sydney hotel. just a few days ago. It’s believed he suffered from depression for a long time. Depression workers say people often don’t take the disease seriously and should always seek treatment. You don’t have to deal with it alone. It’s too hard.