Dave Navarro speaks out on his battles with depression and suicidal thoughts
In the last couple of months, we have seen many celebrities such as Swedish DJ Avicii, designer Kate Spade, and chef Anthony Bourdain take their own lives. A persistent cause behind the dire action all three celebrities took is reportedly depression.
Their deaths have inspired many to speak up about their own struggles with mental diseases, including Jane's Addiction guitarist, Dave Navarro. He is offering solace to everyone suffering from similar issues, saying there's always a way out.
Navarro took to Instagram on Sunday, June 9, and shared a lengthy Instagram post with a link to the Suicide Prevention Hotline (suicidepreventionlifeline.org), wherein he opened up about his own battles with mental illnesses like depression and suicidal thoughts.
"I can’t speak to anyone else’s thoughts or actions but I can speak from my own experience. I have been there, written 'the note,' had the plan, the stockpile of meds, how to disperse my property among my family," wrote Navarro.
The musician who has been quite frank about his issues with drug abuse in the past further shared, "I was ready to go. Luckily, as a last ditched effort, I reached out. I spoke to my closest friends and loved ones. I sought therapy and at times, psychiatry, alternative medicines, even hospitalization. Whatever it took."
"What I learned is that through the process, circumstances and feelings shift. As the tide comes in and rolls out, the universe takes many shapes and constantly evolves," wrote Navarro.
"We are made of the same stuff. We are constantly changing and evolving and flowing... sometimes scary, sometimes beautiful, sometimes lonely, sometimes supported. Hang in there to allow the process and the shapes to change. I can tell you 100% that they do. Please reach out if you find yourself in the darkness. There is no darkness without light. Try to be willing to let it find you."
However, Navarro isn't the only celebrity speaking up about mental health issues and how it culminates in suicide. Fleet Foxes singer Robin Pecknold also took to Instagram to write about his own dark times where he found himself "actively" suicidal.
"During a period a few years ago when I was dangerously and actively suicidal, my respect for my loved ones and my knowledge of the pain I would cause them was, truly and with no overstatement, the only effective thought I had at my disposal to prevent myself from acting," he wrote.
"When artists are made legends through suicide, I know that some segment of the impressionable population internalizes this as justification for the act. I know this because I have overcome this exact delusion... I am definitely unqualified to discuss the mental health of others, but it follows that so too is anyone else unqualified to judge my psychic reality and assume that this has not been an unwelcome and pernicious facet of my own lived experience, one that I’ve devoted much effort and resources towards addressing. I can say I took a break between albums to 'go back to school' in interviews, but that isn’t the whole story..."
Meanwhile, a recent study released by the CDC reported that suicide rate in the US had shot up by almost 30 per cent in almost every state since 1999.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).