Breaking the silence

Award-winning film about schizophrenia: 'People say I'm crazy'

By Lyn Jenkins

JOHN CADIGAN made People Say I'm Crazy with the help of his sister, filmmaker Katie Cadigan, and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, Ira Wohl.

By filming his life for more than 10 years—from when he had his first psychotic episode at age 21 until he was well into recovery a decade later, he managed to record his story despite the cognitive and emotional difficulties created by his disease.

John says:

Looking after Fred: Caring for a partner in mental distress

CARERS' feelings can often go unseen and unconsidered when the person they love is in mental distress.

Carers all over the world, most with no training, no previous experience of dealing with mental distress and no time off, face situations on a daily basis that mental health professionals would find challenging.

This honest post illustrates a common dilemma for carers - how can we balance our love for those who want our help, the risk of our relationship falling apart and the stress that caring puts on our own mental wellbeing?

Deepest thanks to our anonymous writer...

When I contacted Lyn I had no idea how I was going to share my story and even now I've started I still don't. Hopefully the words will come as I type.  

Is mental illness funny?

A THOUGHT-provoking video - do you think it makes a valid point?

A survivor shares her story of living in fear

THIS post has been reproduced with permission from the writer after being first published on Sleep is for the Weak.

THE terrible unfolding events of a gun massacre in Cumbria have made some very unsettling feelings resurface for me, and I feel the need to get something down in writing – some sort of catharsis is needed. 

It doesn’t matter if you think you know who I am, or can work out my identity at the end of this piece.  That matters little to me, because I know that my ex-husband will never read this and that makes it safe to write without fear of retribution. It also means I can talk about a part of my past that I was ashamed of, and have tried to push to the back of my mind but every so often – especially at times like this – it resurfaces.

Someone once told me: 'You'll be on these indefinitely'

I SPOKE up about depression for the Someone Once Told Me website around two years ago now.

My audio interview can be found in an earlier post.

Now I've found this video from a young woman who's talking frankly about accepting she has clinical depression and that this is a major illness needing treatment.

Thanks to her for sharing her story and thanks to Mario for helping tell it.

Who's your mental health champion?

NATIONAL charity Mind has announced its shortlist for the Champion Award 2010, writes Lyn Jenkins.

The award "celebrates the work of people who have made an outstanding contribution to increasing understanding of mental health and championing the rights of people with mental distress."

The shortlist includes:

• Dr Miriam Stoppard - nominated for her work with the Daily Mirror and the help she gives through her problem pages and columns

• Ruby Wax - nominated for Ruby's Room, part of the BBC's Headroom project  and her comedy tour which focused on her own experiences of mental distress

• Mark Brown - nominated for developing and managing the excellent One in Four magazine

Would you take a pill that erased your painful memories?

 RESEARCHERS have successfully tested a new medication on rats that removes the fear caused by painful memories, as reported in The Independent. 

The medication interacts with a chemical in the brain that is involved in learning and memory. During testing the researchers found that by injecting the medication directly into a part of the brain central linked to forgetting memories they could take away the fear that a painful memory caused. The original memory itself was not lost though and if another similar painful situation was faced, the fear could regenerate. 

Jessie Close -- and her sister Glenn -- speaking up about bipolar disorder

I FOUND this video at Coming out of the dark, a blog highlighted by Frances at Brighter Futures Counselling.

Breaking the Silence blog update

LYN and I met before half term to talk about the future of this blog with an aim of planning upcoming content.

That plan will soon be under way.

In the coming weeks we'll start to make some tweaks to ensure it's serving the purpose we hope it can and continuing to provide a platform for people to speak up about their experiences of mental illness.

Thank you to everyone who has posted on, commented on or read our blog so far. It's hard to describe how it feels when someone tells you that something you have written or published has helped them.

But this is happening regularly with this blog and we are very touched by the feedback.

That's why we want to continue.

Why do we call a mass killer a psycho?

YESTERDAY I wept as I listened to a mum on the radio news telling how her children would miss their grandad, shot dead by Derrick Bird.

The carnage and grief laid bare by this shocking tragedy is too much to comprehend.

Of course the media have examined the events closely, with time-lines of the shootings, comparisons with Hungerford and Dunblane and reports about the killer's home life, history and money worries.

According to reports, it has emerged that Bird had been self-harming for years and that mental health workers are helping police understand any connection with his murderous spree.