Breaking the Silence carnival of mental illness blog posts, August 19

HELLO and thank you so much for reading our blog. Thank you for all the messages you have sent in the last few days saying how much you appreciate the chance to speak up about mental illness and thank you for sharing links to your posts 'behind the scenes.'

We thought it would be a good idea to have a monthly carnival of blog posts about mental illness and now seemed as good a time as any to start.

So, this is how it will work.

1. If you would like to enter a post you have already written into the carnival, please leave a comment here on this post before Tuesday, August 17 which includes a link to your post and a reason why you would like to flag it up.

2. Or if you would prefer, of course you can write a new post. Perhaps you would like to think about when you have been ill, and how you recovered or how you are finding your way on a path to recovery, or perhaps share your frustrations, that, well you don't feel you are on a path to recovery.

Perhaps you are caring for a loved one and would like to write about that.

Perhaps there's something completely different you want to write about. Check out some of our earlier posts or some of the blogs in our blogroll if you would like any inspiration. (We can't promise you'll find it but there are some brilliant blogs out there.)

Your contribution can be a blog post, a poem, an image, a video or a podcast.

We're interested in any aspect of mental health you want to write about and hope we can help inform our readers about a number of conditions and help contributors find some comfort in shared experience, empathy and support.

While this blog was set up out of a desire to help break down stigma, we are aware that some people who have mental health conditions believe more emphasis should be placed on fighting for better related health services. I hope our carnival will reflect diverse views and may report on healthy (see what I did there) debate.

If your post is new and written specially for this carnival, please also add a link in the comments on this post or email me at the address included below.

3. Please feel free to use the blog badge included in this post. You can grab the code that is on the right hand side of this blog, in the sidebar to accompany your post. This isn't obligatory of course (um, what is in blogging, eh?) but one of the reasons we had the badge and code designed by the wonderful Liz at Violet Posy is to help direct people to this blog and show them that we are speaking up.

4. While we aim to speak up and to break down stigma or taboos, we fully understand that some contributors will want to remain anonymous. We hope that the resulting carnival will be a mix of posts where some writers are named while others aren't, for their own reasons. We will not name any writers who include personal information about someone close to them if they haven't got permission from that third person to be identified.

5. On Thursday, August 19, we will publish the carnival, please come and read it.

Please comment and please visit contributors' blogs. We hope you will find new blogs and even perhaps find people who understand what you have gone through and who may even become friends. Stranger things have happened. Yes I do mean real friends for anyone who doesn't think that's possible through a computer screen!

6. We hope that the carnival can then move on to another blog, and another after that. Please also include in your comment, or add another one, if you would be interested in hosting the Breaking the Silence/Speaking up carnival on your blog. Hopefully we can sort out a schedule for the coming months.

7. If you would rather email than comment publicly, please send a link to your post to lindajonespassionatemedia[at]googlemail.com -- yes I know it's a mouthful, it's a 'home' email.

8. Please note that if you want to write about suicide or suicidal feelings, we have read and made note of guidelines for reporters writing about suicide by the charity, Mediawise. You can read the points on the Mediawise website. We have also read the most recent report about suicide reporting published by the Samaritans, which includes an excellent rundown of myths about suicide and mental health. You can read a PDF of the guidelines.

9. Perhaps in future carnivals we could have a theme and a McLinky widget, who knows? But for now, we'll 'just' do a carnival if that's okay.

10. Um, that's it I think. Thanks for reading. I look forward to your posts and links. I'm away from a computer a fair bit over the next week or so, so please forgive me if I'm unable to come back to you straight away if you do get in touch or comment.

Thank you.

Did I say thank you enough?

Comments

[TheMadHouse]

http://musingsfronthemadhouse.blogspot.com/2010/07/depression-i-am-not-my-mother.html

[Jo Beaufoix]

I'd like to highlight this post because it's one where I came back fighting. That doesn't always happen.

http://www.jobeaufoix.com/2010/05/24/pmdd-is-not-all-of-me/

Thanks

Jo

[Helen Davis]

Hi Linda
I have reposted a post from my sister written a few years back about our dad, I would love you to include it in the carnival if you can!
http://enoughonourplate.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-dad-had-alzheimers-disease.html

[Linda]

Thanks everyone for your comments and links so far, I have a lot to add. I will read all of the posts carefully, thank you for helping speak up about this stuff.

[Lisa]

Hi Linda,

If possible, I'd like to add The Filing Cabinet http://wp.me/pSAx7-6p because it represents a pinnacle of depression for me and a time when I finally dealt with it and, so far, haven't been affected again since.

Lovely idea for a carnival - hope it helps people. Lisa x

[Deer Baby]

Hi Linda

Mine is a story from my childhood. However, I need to include in there somewhere, perhaps in a preface, that my mum lost her daughter and is also a lost daughter herself, otherwise the message is obscured. If it's too off the wall, please let me know. I have others, more directly about depression.

http://deerbaby.blogspot.com/2010/08/sarah.html

[Deer Baby]

Actually, I think this one may be better!

http://deerbaby.blogspot.com/2010/06/long-game.html

Thanks, Linda.

Great idea.

[RebaMc]

Hi Linda, can I submit my post about finally admitting to myself that I needed to do something about my depression: http://tillyandjas.blogspot.com/2010/04/here-comes-rain-again.html
Thanks, Rebecca

[Linda]

Thank you everyone who has been in touch or added links here, I know how difficult it can be to draw attention to this so thanks a million.

[Frontlinedepression.wordpress.com]

Can I please submit this post: http://frontlinedepression.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/the-mask/

Thanks.

[ella]

Hi Linda, I've written quite a bit about ante-natal depression. Here's one of the posts: http://notesfromhome.com/2008/01/10/twenty-seven-weeks-seven-months-pregnant-ante-partum-depression/

If it's not suitable for inclusion though I won't be offended as I'm not sure that ante-natal depression is all that common x

[Linda]

Thank you Ella and FLD.
And it's v common you know! Possibly not reported enough though. xx

[Hayley Glenister]

Can I submit this post about respecting my tablets more if I havent already submitted one?! http://www.singlemummy.net/2010/08/hardest-pill-to-swallow.html

[UK Hotels]

Sounds a good idea in principle, however many may question how wide a scope and depth of information would be made available for public scrutiny. A seamless feedback system would be required to maintain quick responses to enquiries from public and bodies representing legal institutions, not to mention the media who would be keen to exploit and challenge any new data made available to them. On a local level, such enquiries could place further demands on public services.