My favorite episode of Doctor Who is “Vincent and the Doctor.”
The titular Doctor, along with companion Amy Pond, finds himself in the past... sharing the company of artist Vincent Van Gogh.
Vincent suffers what today we would recognize as mental illness, displaying symptoms such as severe depression and hallucinations. He is ostracized from society. He and his contemporaries believe his paintings to be worthless, even after the Doctor and Amy show complete admiration for his work.
Nothing either of them says can convince him otherwise.
Eventually forming a friendship with the troubled artist, the Doctor and Amy decide to bring Vincent to the present, to show him the impact his art has had on a more appreciative society.
In a heart-wrenching scene, Vincent stands in the midst of a gallery filled with his paintings, each piece crowded with admirers. The Doctor pulls a nearby docent aside to explain the importance of Vincent Van Gogh.
“To my mind,” the docent enthuses, “that strange wild man who roamed the fields of Provence, was not only the world’s greatest artist but also one of the greatest men who ever lived.” Standing within earshot, Vincent—and the audience—begins to weep.
Vincent is soon restored to his own time. Amy can’t wait to return to the art gallery, believing they must have changed the outcome of Vincent’s life. She expects to find hundreds of new paintings, but instead discovers that history remains unaltered: Vincent Van Gogh took his life mere days after their shared adventure.
Doctor Who is, of course, a work of fiction. As far as we know, Van Gogh never knew the impact his art would have on future generations.
Would that knowledge have made a difference? We will never know, but that wasn’t the point of the episode. If you have never watched it, I encourage you to seek it out.
Depression wasn’t only an issue in Van Gogh’s time. According to the CDC, suicide is currently the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.
As it so happens, May is Mental Health Month. Like the subjects of other awareness months, Mental Health is a vital discussion we should have more often than a handful of weeks out of the year.
To give you a little of my own backstory, my mom was diagnosed Bipolar with Schizoaffective Disorder when she was a young adult. That means in addition to unpredictable mood swings, she occasionally has psychotic episodes where she has to be hospitalized. That used to terrify me when I was a kid, but then I learned about neurochemical imbalances in the brain. They are more common than I realized!
I personally have had issues with depression and anxiety throughout my life. It is a part of the psychological landscape I navigate every day. Writing about it has been an important part of my own therapy.
Fortunately, unlike poor Vincent, we exist in a world that encourages open discussion of mental health. There are treatments, such as therapy and medications. While modern mental health care is far from perfect, it has come a long way from its troubled beginnings, when it was considered a taboo subject never to be discussed in polite company.
While there are resources available, it comes with a catch: you have to be aware. Not only of yourself but also those around you. Are you no longer enjoying things you once did? Does your anxiety sometimes get so bad it keeps you awake at night? Has a friend suddenly become withdrawn?
Depression isn’t a weakness; anxiety isn’t a flaw. Even more severe mental conditions, like Schizophrenia, don’t mean you are broken. Sometimes, they’re simply a result of chemical imbalances in the brain, which can be regulated with medication and doctor supervision. (A real one, not the fictional hero.)
Other times, treatment can be as simple as talking with someone.
No matter the case, it begins with communication. We are all in this together.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
(800) 273-8255
BetterHelp Professional Counseling Services
Centers for Disease Control Mental Health Information
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/index.htm
National Institute of Mental Health
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