Avicii’s Father Speaks Out On Suicide Prevention & Mental Health

Avicii‘s father, Klas Bergling is speaking out about suicide prevention and hoping to raise mental health awareness with a foundation established in his son’s honor.

In a new interview with CNN, Klas opens up about his relationship Tim Bergling, better known to the world as Avicii. He says his son showed no warning signs of planning his suicide, though they often had deep, meaningful conversations.

When he was in a bad situation he always used to call me. We talked a lot (about) his thoughts about life, his thoughts about meditation, love … we had long talks, often one hour or so, over the ocean.

Over a year after his passing, Klas compares the tragedy to a “traffic accident,” in its spontaneous nature. He believes Tim was generally happy before he took his own life, which is what made it so difficult to identify the problem.

If you are very happy or extremely happy, it’s not so far to be unhappy … small things can make you sad or move your balance and I think this is what happened.

Now, he’s calling on policymakers to make mental health a priority, before it’s too late.

The problem is what are they doing in the society to handle problems like this? The most important thing (is) trying to catch the problem earlier. It’s really a political question that has to be solved, not talked about for 10 more years.

Avicii’s first posthumous release, “SOS,” in many ways sounds like a call for help. The producer’s album TIM seeks to raise money for mental health causes and Klas has set the same intentions with the Tim Bergling Foundation.

If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

Source: CNN | Photo: Sean Eriksson