Why we need to talk about depression | Kevin Breel

Translator: Nana Ginnerup Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

For a long time in my life,

I en stor del af mit liv

I felt like I'd been living two different lives.

har jeg følt, at jeg har levet to forskellige liv.

There's the life that everyone sees,

Der er livet, alle ser,

and then there's the life that only I see.

og så er der livet, kun jeg ser.

And in the life that everyone sees,

Og livet, alle ser;

who I am is a friend,

hvem jeg er, er en ven,

a son, a brother,

en søn, en bror,

a stand-up comedian and a teenager.

en stand-up-komiker og en teenager.

That's the life everyone sees.

Der er livet, alle ser.

If you were to ask my friends and family to describe me,

Bad man mine nærmeste beskrive mig,

that's what they would tell you.

så er det hvad, de ville fortælle.

And that's a huge part of me. That is who I am.

Det er en stor del af mig. Det er mig.

And if you were to ask me to describe myself,

Bad du mig om at beskrive mig selv,

I'd probably say some of those same things.

ville jeg højst sandsynligt sige nogle af de samme ting.

And I wouldn't be lying,

Og det ville ikke være løgn,

but I wouldn't totally be telling you the truth, either,

men det ville heller ikke være hele sandheden,

because the truth is,

for sandheden er,

that's just the life everyone else sees.

at det kun er det liv, som alle ser.

In the life that only I see, who I am,

I livet, som kun jeg ser, er hvem, jeg er,

who I really am,

hvem jeg virkelig er,

is someone who struggles intensely with depression.

en, der intenst kæmper med depression.

I have for the last six years of my life,

Det har jeg de sidste seks år af mit liv,

and I continue to every day.

og det fortsætter jeg med at gøre hver eneste dag.

Now, for someone who has never experienced depression

Nogen, der aldrig har oplevet depression -

or doesn't really know what that means,

ikke ved, hvad det betyder -

that might surprise them to hear,

vil måske være overraskede,

because there's this pretty popular misconception

for der er en ret populær misforståelse,

that depression is just being sad

at depression bare er, at være ked af det,

when something in your life goes wrong,

når noget i ens liv går galt,

when you break up with your girlfriend,

når man slår op med sin kæreste,

when you lose a loved one,

når man mister en elsket,

when you don't get the job you wanted.

når man ikke får det job, man ønskede.

But that's sadness. That's a natural thing.

Men det er sorg. Det er en naturlig ting.

That's a natural human emotion.

Det er en naturlig menneskelig følelse.

Real depression isn't being sad

Rigtig depression er ikke at være ked af det,

when something in your life goes wrong.

når noget i ens liv går galt.

Real depression is being sad

Rigtig depression er at være ked af det,

when everything in your life is going right.

når alt i ens liv går som det skal.

That's real depression, and that's what I suffer from.

Det er rigtig depression, og det er, hvad jeg lider af.

And to be totally honest,

Og for at være helt ærlig,

that's hard for me to stand up here and say.

er det svært for mig at stå heroppe og sige.

It's hard for me to talk about,

Det er svært for mig at tale om,

and it seems to be hard for everyone to talk about,

og det virker til at være svært for alle at tale om,

so much so that no one's talking about it.

i sådan en grad at ingen taler om det.

And no one's talking about depression, but we need to be,

Og ingen taler om depression, men det skal vi,

because right now it's a massive problem.

for lige nu er det et massivt problem.

It's a massive problem.

Det er et massivt problem.

But we don't see it on social media, right?

Vi ser det ikke på sociale medier, vel?

We don't see it on Facebook. We don't see it on Twitter.

Vi ser det ikke på Facebook eller Twitter.

We don't see it on the news, because it's not happy,

Vi ser det ikke i nyhederne.

it's not fun, it's not light.

Det er ikke sjovt, ikke lyst.

And so because we don't see it, we don't see the severity of it.

Og fordi vi ikke ser det, ser vi alvoren af det.

But the severity of it and the seriousness of it is this:

Men alvoren og seriøsiteten af det er det her:

every 30 seconds,

Hver 30. sekund,

every 30 seconds, somewhere,

hver 30. sekund et eller andet sted

someone in the world takes their own life

tager nogen i verden deres eget liv

because of depression,

på grund af depression.

and it might be two blocks away, it might be two countries away,

Og det er måske to gader væk; to lande væk;

it might be two continents away, but it's happening,

to kontinenter væk, men det sker,

and it's happening every single day.

og det sker hver evig eneste dag.

And we have a tendency, as a society,

Og vi som samfund har tendens til

to look at that and go, "So what?"

at kigge på det og sige: "Og hvad så?"

So what? We look at that, and we go, "That's your problem.

Og hvad så? Vi kigger på det og siger: "Det er dit problem.

That's their problem."

Det er deres problem."

We say we're sad and we say we're sorry,

Vi siger, at vi er kede af det,

but we also say, "So what?"

men vi siger også: "Og hvad så?"

Well, two years ago it was my problem,

For to år siden var det mit problem,

because I sat on the edge of my bed

for jeg sad på kanten af min seng,

where I'd sat a million times before

hvor jeg havde siddet en million gange før,

and I was suicidal.

og jeg havde selvmordstanker.

I was suicidal, and if you were to look at my life on the surface,

Jeg havde selvmordstanker, og kiggede man på mit liv på overfladen,

you wouldn't see a kid who was suicidal.

ville man ikke se et barn med selvmordstanker.

You'd see a kid who was the captain of his basketball team,

Man ville se et barn, der var holdkaptajn,

the drama and theater student of the year,

årets drama- og teaterelev,

the English student of the year,

årets engelskelev,

someone who was consistently on the honor roll

en æresstuderende,

and consistently at every party.

der altid var til alle festerne.

So you would say I wasn't depressed, you would say

Man ville ikke tro, jeg var deprimeret,

I wasn't suicidal, but you would be wrong.

at jeg havde selvmordstanker, men man ville tage fejl.

You would be wrong. So I sat there that night

Man ville tage fejl.

beside a bottle of pills with a pen and paper in my hand

Så jeg sad ved siden af en flaske piller med papir og blyant i hånden

and I thought about taking my own life

og overvejede at tage mit eget liv,

and I came this close to doing it.

og jeg var så tæt på at gøre det.

I came this close to doing it.

Jeg var så tæt på at gøre det.

And I didn't, so that makes me one of the lucky ones,

Og jeg gjorde det ikke, så det gør mig til en af de heldige,

one of the people who gets to step out on the ledge

en af dem, der træder hen til afsatsen

and look down but not jump,

og kigger ned, men lader være med at springe.

one of the lucky ones who survives.

En af de heldige, der overlever.

Well, I survived, and that just leaves me with my story,

Jeg overlevede, og nu har jeg bare min historie,

and my story is this:

og min historie er denne:

In four simple words, I suffer from depression.

Med fire simple ord: Jeg lider af depression.

I suffer from depression,

Jeg lider af depression,

and for a long time, I think,

og i lang tid, tror jeg,

I was living two totally different lives,

jeg levede to vidt forskellige liv,

where one person was always afraid of the other.

hvor den ene var bange for den anden.

I was afraid that people would see me for who I really was,

Jeg var bange for, at folk så mig for hvem, jeg var,

that I wasn't the perfect, popular kid in high school everyone thought I was,

at jeg ikke var den perfekte, populære dreng, alle troede, jeg var.

that beneath my smile, there was struggle,

At bag mit smil var en kamp,

and beneath my light, there was dark,

og bag mit lys var der mørke,

and beneath my big personality just hid even bigger pain.

og under min store personlighed gemte jeg endnu større smerte.

See, some people might fear girls not liking them back.

Nogle folk frygter at piger ikke også kan lide dem.

Some people might fear sharks. Some people might fear death.

Nogle frygter hajer. Nogle frygter døden.

But for me, for a large part of my life, I feared myself.

Men jeg, i en stor del af mit liv, frygtede mig selv.

I feared my truth, I feared my honesty, I feared my vulnerability,

Jeg frygtede min sandhed, min ærlighed, min svaghed,

and that fear made me feel

og den frygt fik mig til at føle,

like I was forced into a corner,

at jeg var tvunget i et hjørne.

like I was forced into a corner and there was only one way out,

At jeg var tvunget i et hjørne, og der var kun én vej ud,

and so I thought about that way every single day.

og det tænkte jeg på hver evig eneste dag.

I thought about it every single day,

Jeg tænkte på det hver eneste dag,

and if I'm being totally honest, standing here

og er jeg helt ærlig,

I've thought about it again since, because that's the sickness,

har jeg tænkt på det igen senere hen, for det er sygdommen,

that's the struggle, that's depression,

det er kampen, det er depression,

and depression isn't chicken pox.

og depression er ikke skoldkopper.

You don't beat it once and it's gone forever.

Du overvinder det ikke én gang.

It's something you live with. It's something you live in.

Det er noget, du lever med. Det er noget, du lever i.

It's the roommate you can't kick out. It's the voice you can't ignore.

Det er roomien, du ikke kan smide ud. Det er stemmen, du ikke kan ignorere.

It's the feelings you can't seem to escape,

Det er følelserne, du ikke kan undslippe.

the scariest part is that after a while,

For en tid er det mest skræmmende,

you become numb to it. It becomes normal for you,

at man bliver følelsesløs over for det. Det bliver normalt,

and what you really fear the most

og hvad, man faktisk frygter mest,

isn't the suffering inside of you.

er ikke lidelserne inde i en.

It's the stigma inside of others,

Det er andres stigmatisering,

it's the shame, it's the embarrassment,

det er skammen, det er forlegenheden,

it's the disapproving look on a friend's face,

det er det misbilligende blik fra en vens ansigt,

it's the whispers in the hallway that you're weak,

det er hvisken fra gangen, der siger, du er svag,

it's the comments that you're crazy.

kommentarerne om, at du er skør.

That's what keeps you from getting help.

Det er det, der forhindrer en i at søge hjælp.

That's what makes you hold it in and hide it.

Det er hvad, der får en til at holde det inde og skjule det.

It's the stigma. So you hold it in and you hide it,

Det er stigmatiseringen. Så man skjuler det,

and you hold it in and you hide it,

og man holder det inde og skjuler det,

and even though it's keeping you in bed every day

og selvom det holder en i sengen

and it's making your life feel empty no matter how much you try and fill it,

og får ens liv til at føles tomt lige meget hvad man gør,

you hide it, because the stigma in our society

skjuler man det, for stigmatiseringen

around depression is very real.

omkring depression er meget virkelig.

It's very real, and if you think that it isn't, ask yourself this:

Den er meget virkelig, og tror du, den ikke er, spørg dig selv dette:

Would you rather make your next Facebook status

Ville du foretrække din næste status

say you're having a tough time getting out of bed

siger, at du ikke kan forlade sengen,

because you hurt your back

fordi du er kommet til skade med ryggen,

or you're having a tough time getting out of bed every morning

eller du ikke kan forlade sengen hver dag,

because you're depressed?

fordi du er deprimeret?

That's the stigma, because unfortunately,

Det er stigmatiseringen, for desværre

we live in a world where if you break your arm,

lever vi i en verden, hvor, hvis du brækker armen,

everyone runs over to sign your cast,

kommer alle hen for at skrive på gipsen,

but if you tell people you're depressed, everyone runs the other way.

men er du deprimeret, løber alle den anden vej.

That's the stigma.

Det er stigmatiseringen.

We are so, so, so accepting of any body part breaking down

Vi er accepterende over for at hvilken som helst kropsdel går i stykker

other than our brains. And that's ignorance.

udover vores hjerne. Og det er uvidenhed.

That's pure ignorance, and that ignorance has created

Det er ren og skær uvidenhed, der har skabt

a world that doesn't understand depression,

en verden, der ikke forstår depression,

that doesn't understand mental health.

der ikke forstår mentalt helbred.

And that's ironic to me, because depression

Og det virker ironisk, for depression

is one of the best documented problems we have in the world,

er en af de mest dokumenterede problemer i verden,

yet it's one of the least discussed.

og alligevel en af de mindst diskuterede.

We just push it aside and put it in a corner

Vi skubber det til side og ind i et hjørne

and pretend it's not there and hope it'll fix itself.

og lader som om, det ikke er der i håb om, at det ordner sig selv.

Well, it won't. It hasn't, and it's not going to,

Men det gør det ikke. Det har det ikke, og det kommer det ikke til,

because that's wishful thinking,

for det er ønsketænkning,

and wishful thinking isn't a game plan, it's procrastination,

og ønsketænkning er ikke en plan, men en overspringshandling,

and we can't procrastinate on something this important.

og vi kan ikke trække tiden ud over noget så vigtigt.

The first step in solving any problem

Første skridt mod at løse ethvert problem

is recognizing there is one.

er at indse, at der er et.

Well, we haven't done that, so we can't really expect

Det har vi ikke gjort, så vi kan ikke forvente

to find an answer when we're still afraid of the question.

at finde et svar, når vi stadig er bange for spørgsmålet.

And I don't know what the solution is.

Og jeg ved ikke, hvad løsningen er.

I wish I did, but I don't -- but I think,

Jeg ville ønske, jeg gjorde - men jeg tror,

I think it has to start here.

jeg tror at det skal starte her.

It has to start with me, it has to start with you,

Det bliver nødt til at starte med mig og med jer,

it has to start with the people who are suffering,

starte med de folk, der lider,

the ones who are hidden in the shadows.

dem der er gemt i skyggerne.

We need to speak up and shatter the silence.

Vi bliver nødt til at råbe op.

We need to be the ones who are brave for what we believe in,

Vi skal være modige for det, vi tror på,

because if there's one thing that I've come to realize,

for er der én ting, jeg har indset,

if there's one thing that I see as the biggest problem,

er der én ting, jeg ser som værende det største problem,

it's not in building a world

så er det ikke at bygge en verden,

where we eliminate the ignorance of others.

hvor vi eliminerer andres uvidenhed.

It's in building a world where we teach the acceptance of ourselves,

Det er at bygge en verden, hvor vi lærer at acceptere os selv,

where we're okay with who we are,

og er okay med os selv,

because when we get honest,

for når vi er ærlige,

we see that we all struggle and we all suffer.

ser vi, at vi alle kæmper og vi alle lider.

Whether it's with this, whether it's with something else,

Om det er med det ene eller det andet,

we all know what it is to hurt.

ved vi alle hvordan det føles at være såret.

We all know what it is to have pain in our heart,

Vi kender alle til smerter i hjertet,

and we all know how important it is to heal.

og ved alle hvor vigtigt det er at hele.

But right now, depression is society's deep cut

Men lige nu er depression samfundets dybe flænge,

that we're content to put a Band-Aid over and pretend it's not there.

som vi er okay med at putte et plaster på og ignorere.

Well, it is there. It is there, and you know what? It's okay.

Men det er der. Og ved I hvad? Det er okay.

Depression is okay. If you're going through it, know that you're okay.

Depression er okay. Hvis du går igennem det, vær klar over, at du er okay.

And know that you're sick, you're not weak,

Vid at du er syg - du er ikke svag,

and it's an issue, not an identity,

og det er et problem, ikke en identitet,

because when you get past the fear and the ridicule

for når man kommer forbi frygten og latterliggørelsen,

and the judgment and the stigma of others,

og dommene og stigmaet fra andre,

you can see depression for what it really is,

kan man se depression for hvad, det virkelig er,

and that's just a part of life,

og det er bare en del af livet,

just a part of life, and as much as I hate,

bare en del af livet. Og så meget som jeg hader,

as much as I hate some of the places,

så meget som jeg hader nogle af de steder,

some of the parts of my life depression has dragged me down to,

nogle af de dele af mit liv, depression har ført mig til,

in a lot of ways I'm grateful for it.

er jeg på mange måder taknemmelig for det.

Because yeah, it's put me in the valleys,

For ja, det har taget mig i dale,

but only to show me there's peaks,

men kun for at vise mig toppene.

and yeah it's dragged me through the dark

Og ja, det har slæbt mig gennem mørke,

but only to remind me there is light.

men kun for at minde mig om, at der er lys.

My pain, more than anything in 19 years on this planet,

Mere end alt andet i mit 19-år lange liv har mine kvaler

has given me perspective, and my hurt,

givet mig perspektiv, og min smerte,

my hurt has forced me to have hope,

min smerte har tvunget mig til at have håb,

have hope and to have faith, faith in myself,

have håb og tro, tro på mig selv,

faith in others, faith that it can get better,

troen på andre, tro på at det kan blive bedre,

that we can change this, that we can speak up

at vi kan ændre det her, at vi kan råbe op

and speak out and fight back against ignorance,

og kæmpe tilbage mod uvidenhed,

fight back against intolerance,

kæmpe tilbage mod uvidenhed,

and more than anything,

og mere end alt andet

learn to love ourselves,

lære at elske os selv,

learn to accept ourselves for who we are,

lære at acceptere os selv for hvem vi er,

the people we are, not the people the world wants us to be.

personerne vi er, ikke personerne verden vil have os til at være.

Because the world I believe in is one

For verden, jeg tror på, er en,

where embracing your light doesn't mean ignoring your dark.

hvor omfavnelse af sit lys ikke betyder ignorering af sit mørke.

The world I believe in is one where we're measured

Verden, jeg tror på, er en, hvor vi måles

by our ability to overcome adversities, not avoid them.

på vores evne til at overkomme modgang - ikke undgå dem.

The world I believe in is one where I can look someone in the eye

Verden, jeg tror på, er en, hvor jeg kan kigge nogen i øjnene

and say, "I'm going through hell,"

og sige: "Jeg går gennem helvede,"

and they can look back at me and go, "Me too," and that's okay,

og de kan kigge tilbage på mig og sige: "Også mig," og det er okay.

and it's okay because depression is okay. We're people.

Og det er okay, fordi depression er okay. Vi er mennesker.

We're people, and we struggle and we suffer

Vi er mennesker, og vi lider, og vi kæmper,

and we bleed and we cry, and if you think that true strength

og vi bløder, og vi græder. Og hvis man tror, ægte styrke

means never showing any weakness, then I'm here

betyder aldrig at vise svaghed, så er jeg her

to tell you you're wrong.

for at fortælle, at man tager fejl.

You're wrong, because it's the opposite.

Man tager fejl, for det er det modsatte.

We're people, and we have problems.

Vi er mennesker, og vi har problemer.

We're not perfect, and that's okay.

Vi er ikke perfekte, og det er okay.

So we need to stop the ignorance,

Så vi bliver nødt til at stoppe uvidenheden,

stop the intolerance, stop the stigma,

stoppe intolerancen, stoppe stigmaet,

and stop the silence, and we need to take away the taboos,

og stoppe stilheden, og vi bliver nødt til at fjerne tabuerne,

take a look at the truth, and start talking,

se på sandheden, og begynde at snakke,

because the only way we're going to beat a problem

for den eneste måde, vi kan overvinde et problem,

that people are battling alone

folk kæmper mod alene,

is by standing strong together,

er ved at stå sammen.

by standing strong together.

Ved at stå stærkt sammen.

And I believe that we can.

Og jeg tror på, at vi kan gøre det.

I believe that we can. Thank you guys so much.

Jeg tror på, vi kan gøre det. Tusind tak, allesammen.

This is a dream come true. Thank you. (Applause)

Det her er en drøm, der bliver til virkelighed. Tak

Thank you. (Applause)

Tak.