“Goodbye. Don’t cry anymore”. These are the words accompanying the solid black square Taiwanese actor Patrick Shih posted on Instagram today. With no explanation given for the frankly very alarming post, fans are naturally very worried about the state of the actor’s mental health.
As of late, Patrick has been sharing images many fans think are hinting at his depression. On January 2, the actor posted a somber photo of a wooden ceiling with the words “people are lonely after all and they learn how to get along with themselves”. As if that wasn’t unsettling enough, his next post on January 5 came with a caption that read “It’s been a long time since I was so innocent and so happy”. The actor was wearing a huge grin on his face in the accompanying photo.
When the media reached out to his staff to ask about his social media update, they explained that the weather is cold at the place where Patrick Shih is shooting his next project, what’s more, with shooting about to end soon, he was very reluctant to say goodbye to his character which made him feel down and frustrated.
Patrick Shih rose in popularity after his breakout role in the drama Someday or One Day 想見你. It’s reported that when filming for the series first began, the actor put himself under a lot of pressure and just couldn’t relax. As soon as filming ended for the day, he would shut himself in the closet to hide from everyone. One time his co-star Greg Hsu carried him out and rebuked him with a “why are you doing this?!” as did Ko Chia-yen who also tried to talk to him.
This actually isn’t the first time Patrick’s Instagram posts scared his fans. Back in September, he updated his profile photo and changed in to a solid black. Fans concerned about his emotions tried to reach out to him. At the time, his agency Yilin Entertainment responded to media inquiries by saying “Patrick Shih has been working in the mainland recently and the pressure is indeed relatively high. His Instagram account is managed personally by himself. Once filming wraps up for the day, the company will try to get to the bottom of the situation. Thank you to fan’s concern. And apologies for worrying everyone.”
Yamapisukii
Good thing his fans are on top of these things. Celebrity suicides have been too prevalent in the industry as of late. We don’t want to lose another star to depression. ?
unicorn
If they do not have or cannot develop the mental toughness and resilience to stay in this industry, they should leave and do something else more aligned to their personalities.
Trinity
But depression doesn’t always have to do with their profession. Sometimes depression can hit for no reason at all. It’s a mental illness not a “get over it or be stronger” type of thing. His profession for all we know is what gives him happiness and could possibly prevent him from spiraling more.
I hope he is ok though.
Yamapisukii
Well said. People don’t just up and choose to be depressed. They can be doing the one thing they love and still have depression hit. This is why mental health is so taboo in the community. Because some people just think the people who go through it are weak and not fit to do what ever role they’ve chosen. ?
unicorn
But neither is depression a virus you catch out of the blue. A person’s lifestyle choices, life experiences, the kind of relationships they had, their outlook on life, their personalities all contribute to the risk. It builds up. And this celebrity profession which puts a person on public display and discussion is definitely a very high risk factor. It can be a very lonely place despite all the fame & glam. It is entirely possible for a person to recognize that they cannot handle it and get help, rather than sink into full depression, which is very difficult to get out of.
VesperLynd
I agree with Unicorn. Depression most of the time creeps up on you, but usually with early warning signs. Mental health is sadly still an uncomfortable subject for many cultures. But hasn’t the entertainment industry learned from the cases of suicide even just in the past year? The bosses should provide their employees mental health care, and maybe have them do a monthly psych eval.