Daily Times

American entrepreneur, Kate Spade, the founder and former co-owner of fashion design house Kate Spade New York, died last month. Her body was found by the housekeeper the following day, hanging, a suicide note lying on the side addressed to her 13-year-old daughter, Frances, explaining that her mother’s death was not the young one’s fault. Kate was only 55.

The reports that have emerged afterwards explain how the business mogul battled depression and struggled with self-esteem throughout her life, a battle that she eventually succumbed to, a struggle that took her life. Spade’s net worth at the time of her death is estimated to be between $150-200 million. So, the inability to provide food, shelter, clothing or education to her family — the three most common projected reasons for taking such a drastic step in our society — can be excluded as contributing factors. Then what happened? How can she be so rich and still be depressed?

Firstly, see how the Americans understand her life and through that her untimely, unnatural death and then take the opportunity to compare their reaction to our own. Had someone like Kate Spade committed suicide in Pakistan, how do you think the nation would have responded to such a tragedy? Divided for sure, but which way? In support of her or promoting her personal transgressions?

Appreciating her services to the fashion industry and revolutionising the teenage girls’ fashion, they talk about the beauty she brought into this world. Popular figures are reminiscing the time they first bought their Kate Spade bag years ago when they were young or how they cherished their first bag when it came to them as a gift from their grandmothers couple of decades ago.

The sceptic in me who has not yet seen a crack in the narrative thought that sooner or later, once they are done with the superficial niceties, their real response will show up. Somehow, they will blame her for her own suffering. Her lack of religiosity will become a topic of discussion. Someone will write a story about how she fired a fictional mother of six whose children suffered and cursed her because of the loss of income. Stories about her ruthless business practices will appear. I was in fact expecting that a business executive from a rival group will write a column declaring all her designs were plagiarised from his company. But nothing of that sort happened. The nation stuck together in putting forward a united message, a big surprise!

Let us now deal with the deeper question. Does any association between money and psychological wellbeing really exist? Are there any studies to establish such a connection? I believe unless we preach asceticism, we cannot deny their association.

The data in the US shows that the two are correlated up to a limit coming to a head at an average annual salary of $75,000 or roughly four $4,000 a month after taxes and insurances. Once that threshold is crossed, money can buy more material objects but not happiness. In other words, if wealth is used to ensure basic necessities, it can contribute positively to both physical and psychological health, but once those goals are met, it loses its utility.

Better cars, top of the line gadgets, branded clothes, vacation homes and exorbitant jewellery pieces bring short-term excitement,of course; they come at the cost of wanting something even more expensive though, a vicious cycle that never ends causing more problems than it solves. In the absence of formal and reliable research in Pakistan, it is harder to put an exact number, but I am sure the association with money and happiness here will also culminate at a point after which they will break apart.

If a person like Kate Spade had killed herself in this country, how do you think the Pakistani people would have responded to such a tragedy? Would the nation have made gestures of support or empathy, or would she be blamed for what happened?

The second question which might be swirling in your mind too is: whether religion protects against depression or not? Studies have shown conflicting results, but overall, they lean towards some role of religion in fending off depression. If the image of God is built as a punitive, pedantic and a possessive creator, then the religion can play a counterproductive role against depression. Similarly, if it focuses on instilling guilt rather than providing hope and optimism, then again it can cause problems. On the other hand, meditation, which may or may not be considered a religious activity as it does not bind you to believe in a deity or dogma has shown to bring anatomical changes in the brain which resist depression.

These trials are conducted in the West and mostly are related to Christianity,not Islam. Muslim countries have done some research, but usually, the data in their publications have to be taken with a grain of salt.

I, therefore, have avoided to quote them. For sure, more research needs to be done in the Muslim world to establish how (and if) Islam can help people suffering from mental illnesses with and without medications or cognitive behavioural therapy; to see what kind of image of God we should create in children to help them fight depression as they grow up, a merciful one or the strict one; and to know if the society will become more or less depressed with increasing religiosity since it can bring more repression, the kind of culture we have noted in Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia under different regimes.

Meanwhile, let us pray for Kate Spade, her family and anyone who has mental illness without blaming, shaming or calling him/her names.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, July 3^rd 2018.