These crochet mandalas are from Bergey (@bergeyh on Instagram, @berghaft on Facebook) who is a 40-something from Reykjavik, Iceland who writes,
“We have dark and cold winters here in Iceland and very bright summers with daylight all night. The weather has a lot of impact on the mood of the Icelandic people.
Here in Iceland there is awareness now going on about young men taking their lives.
“I’m not working because I can’t and being able to crochet has made my life so much better. Depression is something I know well because it is something I have experienced. My son is sometimes depressed. Depression is something you can hide and when you think everything is okay, it isn’t. When my son was eight years old he said, “the only thing I want to do is go up to God”. Now he is 20 and feeling much better. My daughter (22) is very sensitive and suffers from mild anxiety. Earlier this year, two girls I know well have tried to take their own lives. Depression awareness is something that is very necessary.”
I can’t say that I knew Wink, but what I have read about her makes me wish I did. I read about this project on Icelandic blog Handerverkskunst and felt that I wanted to join. Thank you for this and for letting me be able to participate in this project.
To Wink’s family, I want to say:
even though I didn’t know Wink, she has touched my heart and will be remembered there.”
Iceland has been found in recent years to have the highest rate of antidepressant use, which of course is only one solution to the diagnosis of depression. Increased awareness about depression may be one cause of the increase in meds, which is a good thing if it means that the people who need help are getting it. That said, the country still has a slightly higher suicide rate than the United States so continued awareness raising is important.
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