One of Germany's greatest goalkeepers, Robert Enke had his first bout of depression in 2003, when a critical error during a match led to Novelda's 3-2 victory on Barça (The Telegraph, 2009 ). Since then, Robert felt fear every time a shot was taken towards his goal (The New York Times, 2009). His depression was further exacerbated when his daughter died from a debilitating illness (The Guardian, 2009). Enke and his wife adopted a little girl, Leila, but Enke was afraid that she would be taken away from him if his illness was revealed to the world (The Guardian, 2009). The fear of being discovered only made his condition worse. Tragically he committed suicide on 10 November 2009 (The Guardian, 2009). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Theory Crook (2008) suggested that mental illness is often the cause of suicide and suicide was the growing choice among young adults. People who have suicidal thoughts often feel that no one seems to be able to solve their problem (Huddle & Schleifer, 2012) like Robert Enke. Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance is best used to explain the case of Robert Enke. As we can see, Enke was simply trying to express himself on the pitch. Meanwhile, he can't get out of the sadness and the shadow, which he certainly made a mistake during the match between Barça and Novelda. Subsequently, he suffered from fear of failure and completely lost confidence in catching the ball. According to Cooper (2007), cognitive dissonance is the inconsistency between one's expectations and experience. This statement argues that Enke may suffer from cognitive dissonance because he simultaneously possesses two contradictory cognitions. Furthermore, a person will encounter an invisible psychological tension whenever he or she experiences cognitive dissonance (Chatzisarantis et al., 2008). As previously mentioned, Enke's daughter Lara died of heart disease when she was two (The Guardian, 2009). Enke had done his best to accept the fact. However, he can't get over his daughter's death and can't stop thinking about her. He can detect that Enke's inner side was struggling as his attitude and behavior clashed. Enke's case is in line with Cooper's (2007) assertion that cognitive dissonance will cause psychological distress (as cited in Stalder & Anderson, 2014). Enke never tried to hide the fact that he suffered from severe depression. However, their adopted child, Leila, would have been taken away from him if her illness was discovered (The Scotsman, 2009). He was afraid of losing his second daughter. So Enke was trying to hide the fact. This is in line with the statement suggested by Festinger that the greater the discomfort, the greater the desire to reduce the inconsistency between two cognitive elements (Mills & Harmon-Jones, 2009). This may explain why he cannot manage his cognitive dissonance well and why his depression goes from bad to worse. A person experiencing failure in an important task can lead to depression (Petersen, Compas, Brooks-Gunn, Stemmler, Grant, 1993). Furthermore, a depressed person may be more susceptible to the dissonance effect (Stalder and Anderson, 2014). Therefore Enke's case serves as an example based on these statements. In Enke's case, cognitive dissonance may be the cause of his depression. To make matters worse, his severe depression triggered his eventual suicide. When you apply Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance to Enke's case, you can see that there is a.
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