There Be Demons

Anxiety and depression are rife, lending weight to the need for the inquiry into mental health.

- Marc Wilson

What a day. Over the Rimutaka Hill from Wellington to the Wairarapa to talk about teen self-injury, then a rain-spattered white-knuckle drive over the Akatarawas to the Kapiti Coast for another talk. Then a stop-start drive home and a bite to eat before heading into the city to see Imagine Dragons.

With tickets bought through a third-party scalper – I mean “reseller” – there was the added excitement of not knowing if we’d be let in to see the show. I even had a backup plan for the family if the tickets proved to be forgeries.

They were fine. And it was a fantastic concert. About half-way through, lead singer Dan Reynolds paused and gave a brief monologue. Standing on a large stage, he said, is a privilege.

He chose to use the stage to ask for more public discussion about mental health, and specifically anxiety and depression, and spoke briefly about his own diagnoses. He gave a shout-out to those in the audience who, he said, he knew from statistics were there and experiencing both conditions.