One thing that Egypt is notorious for is the complete lack of mental health awareness. No matter how many depression or suicide awareness campaigns we come across, almost everyone links suicide and depression to religion.
Just last month, Egyptian Youtuber, Shady Srour, went public with his suicide tendencies and depression, yet the feedback was ruthless. Most commenters joked that he doesn’t have what it takes to kill himself, that it’s a case of attention seeking, and accused him of atheism. While Srour is still on social media hiatus, another Egyptian young man lost his life to the silent disease that is called depression.
Neuropsychiatrist Resident at Damanhour Medical National Institute, Ibrahim Ahmed Nasra, sadly took his life after constant pleas on social media. “Give me strength to go on…”, Nasra wrote as one of his last Facebook posts. Last night, the doctor’s friends and family heard the sad news after Nasra allegedly jumped to his death from the ninth floor. Everyone is sharing a memory or an incident that might have changed current events.
Facebook user, Sarah Kamel, shared multiple screenshots of Nasra’s posts on Egyptian Misery Beach House (EMBH) Facebook page that were filled with suicide talk. It is obvious that he was fighting depression with every cell in his body.
Nevertheless, some commenters still had to make it about religion and prayer. If only people spend five minutes a day reading scientific facts about depression, they wouldn’t ignorantly send false messages that might be read by people going through the same thing.
Every day we come across posts by friends on social media, hinting about inner pain and needing help. We need to start taking these posts seriously. Not every man who wants to end his life has lost his faith. The same incident happened last year with Sherif Qamar, who constantly wrote about depression and suicide. People only realized how serious the situation was when he ended his life.
Depression has nothing to do with religion. It’s a pure mental disorder with chemical disturbances that affect your body. If you feel someone in your life is suffering, get him medical help!