Translator Sun Zhongxu passed away due to depression (August 28, 2014), and I didn't intend to write anything. Because I've written enough about depression, I really don't have anything new to say.

However, in the past two days, I have seen some articles on the Internet that miss Sun Zhongxu's suicide due to depression, some take it for granted, some don't know how to pretend to understand, some are specious, and some are pretending. In short, the language is more perverse. I have to share my views on some misrepresentations.

"Several friends who know him say that he loves life, food, translation, and talk so much, how can he be depressed?"

What does depression do? If you don't love life, food, or talk, you will get depression? According to this, Sun Zhongxu makes you feel that you love life, love food, and love to talk, is it pretending?

In fact, the causes of depression are quite complex, and the world's most cutting-edge research has not been able to give a positive answer to the causes of depression. It is generally believed that depression may be related to genes, personality, environment, and malignant stress events. But this is only empirical speculation, not a conclusive conclusion.

Anyone can get depression. Depression can happen at any time. Depression is a specific disorder that varies from patient to patient. People who are not depressed are depressed, distorted, depressed, and do not love life. Don't label people with depression indiscriminately.

"This night is destined to be difficult. Because of your death. Isn't it harder to live than to die? Shouldn't you choose the hard things to do instead of the easy ones? ”

This old man has a deep affection for Sun Zhongxu. It's a pity to be wrong. Depressed people commit suicide, not because they are not strong. Would you lament that a patient with advanced cancer is "not strong" to commit suicide?

In fact, the depressed sufferer, due to the imbalance of the internal chemical elements in the brain, suffers a double blow of physical and mental uncontrollable personal will, which is a real pain that is deeper than cancer. Many patients say, "Life is better than death", which is not an exaggeration. It is unscientific and unfair for outsiders to stand on the moral high ground and sympathize, enlighten or accuse them condescendingly or even with a hint of superiority.

Please don't take it for granted that people with depression are "vulnerable" and subconsciously show their superiority!

When Faulkner learned that Hemingway had committed suicide, he said something that made his heart tremble. He said: I don't like a person who takes a shortcut home. Brother Zhong Xu, this is also what I want to tell you. It's not that I don't like you, I just don't like you to leave in such a decisive way. But I know that no one has the right to judge you. Your world is unsearchable. ”

Is suicide a "shortcut"? If Faulkner really said that about Hemingway, I regret it; Although you say, "No one has the right to criticize you," there is a clear implicit accusation in your words. You may not understand depression, and you may not understand the physical and mental pain of depressed patients, so it is too light to make such a judgment on "heart fluttering"?

"A reader and writer said privately on WeChat that because of his similar literary taste, he often interacted with Sun Zhongxu on the Internet, and all the exchanges on Weibo felt that he could not suffer from depression."

Diagnosing depression is a very complex professional clinical technique, how can it be judged by Weibo communication?

Due to the contempt of public opinion for the patient, and even the self-contempt of the patient himself, he will subconsciously cover up his illness, use the greatest willpower to maintain his daily life, and is unwilling to give up his "dignity" and confide in others, thus entering a vicious circle. Forced laughter in front of people and crying behind their backs has a clinical term called "smiling depression".

"One of his fellow translators said, 'He said he would invite me to eat offal when I went to Guangzhou!' ”

Ditto.

"Probably the more introspective people live, the more miserable their lives are, but the books you translated and the words you wrote will remain."

Indeed, according to experience, people who are sensitive, self-respecting, self-denying, and introspective are prone to depression. But this is not a scientific conclusion. Moreover, people who are good at introspection are not necessarily so painful. Please don't talk about Sun Zhongxu's life as miserable, he doesn't need sympathy.

"In early August, when Sun Zhongxu returned to Guangzhou from a four-month official trip in Cameroon, he called a few friends and said that there might be something wrong with his mental condition."

I don't know if this friend's paraphrase is complete. Whether this is Sun Zhongxu's original words, or there are slight discrepancies, it is not accurate.

It is important to know that depression is only a mood disorder, with a significant and persistent depressed mood as the main clinical feature. The "depressed mood" mentioned here may be depressed, or it may be grief-stricken, or even pessimistic and misanthropic, but it is not "something is wrong with the mental state". People with depression rarely experience psychotic symptoms, and most of the time they are rational.

Therefore, it is an important statement to say that depression is a mental condition.

"Since the first two years, his state has not been very good, his life used to be more stable, he was relatively simple, and now he is a little uncomfortable with such an environment."

This sentence seems to imply a layer of meaning: a person who has a change in life, a bad situation, and does not adapt to the environment will suffer from depression.

It's not that simple. People with depression are not synonymous with fragile and "not adapting to the environment".

"Thank you for translating so many great works by Salinger and Woody Allen. I asked you for a manuscript, and you were polite and polite. Why are you depressed? ”

There is no direct correlation between politeness, politeness, and depression.

"At this time, it may no longer make sense to ask why Sun Zhongxu has depression and chooses to withdraw from this world on his own initiative."

Half of this statement is true. All that should be correct should be: not only "at this time", but at any time, do not ask the patient about the cause of the disease. You don't have that power, and it's hard for you to come to the right conclusions. Can you really go deep into a person's heart? Ten thousand steps back, even if the conclusion is correct, is of limited significance.

What's more, such a question actually constitutes a moral judgment of the depressed person, satisfying your desire to peep. This can make the patient feel inferior, blame, and alienated from the crowd. This is another serious injury to the patient.

Of course, from a clinical point of view, finding the cause may have a certain reference value for the treatment of depression. But this value is limited. In a short period of time, it is impossible to trigger depression by just a few triggers. Sometimes, there really is no cause. Moreover, once the disease has broken out, the cause no longer matters. It's as if you lit a firecracker with a match, and the firecracker has exploded, and you pursue the match again, to no avail.

"Sun Zhongxu worked as a shipping legal counsel before his death, and the hardships of part-time translation and the disproportionate income return also made people deeply worried about the current living conditions of translators."

It is certainly a fact that the translator is in a difficult state of existence. But here is a play on the topic, "borrowing other people's wine glasses and pouring the blocks in your heart". It's better to discuss the problem.

The deceased is gone. To mourn the deceased, please understand him first. To express affection, please respect him first. Don't take it for granted, don't take it for granted; You don't have to pretend to be emotional. After a glance, words and deeds are dead; Boredom, false confidant. How!

Don't "label" people with depression.