“The only reason depression and suicide are such pervasive problems is because we don’t know how to talk about them.”

A woman in Minnesota has written a heartbreakingly honest obituary for her 31-year-old sister, who committed suicide.

Eleni Pinnow

"My sister was the kindest most awesome person you will ever meet who advocated for everyone but herself," she said.

Aletha had so many great qualities, and was incredibly beloved, but Pinnow said her sister struggled for years to see those qualities in herself.

"My sister was lied to by her depression," she said.

When Aletha tragically took her own life on Feb. 20, Pinnow said she felt she couldn't write her sister an obituary that didn't feel true to who she was.

Eleni and Aletha.

Eleni Pinnow

"It didn't seem right to have the platitudes and meaningless stuff," she said.

The silence around depression and suicide is "destructive," and contributes to a harmful stigma about mental illness, Pinnow said.

"It seems like the only reason depression and suicide are such pervasive problems is because we don't know how to talk about them," she added.

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