Breaking the silence

Why are we scared of other people's prejudice?

One in Four magazine’s Summer 2010 issue includes cover article ‘Why are we so scared?’ by  Breaking the Silence’s Lyn Jenkins.

The article looks at how social and experiential learning relate to the stigma and discrimination that those who have experienced, or are experiencing, mental distress can face and absorb into their daily lives.

These experiences are not restricted to people with experience of mental distress by any means though… if you can remember a time when someone made you feel that you were not able to do something, until you found yourself not even willing to try, then this article could help you break free.

By thinking about how we learn within ourselves and how we learn from others, we can begin to identify ways of breaking free from old thought patterns that hold us back.

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.

Overcoming thoughts of self harm

THE following story comes from an anonymous contributor who wants to help break taboos and speak up about her thoughts of self harm, writes Linda Jones.

She says she isn't ready to be named as people aren't aware of how low she got. As her story also involves her husband, this is another reason for her name to be withheld.

Reading this account of how ill she was and how she sought help for the sake of her children will strike a chord with other parents. I'd like to say thank you to our contributor for speaking up and I hope your recovery continues to a point where you feel completely at ease. I also hope that confirming you are not alone, through comments left on this blog post will help you draw comfort from the fact so many others have been where you have and come out the other side too.

Our contributor writes:

THIS time last year I was not in a good place.

As we embarked upon the school holidays my partner was in the process of being made redundant and was on gardening leave.

For him it was a period of limbo, uncertainty, anger, rejection and a whole host of other unpleasant emotions. But I don’t think anything could have prepared us for the dramatic effect this single event would have on us as a family.

Photo by mischiru on flickr.

'Talking really does help' by Suzi Shaw from Dealing with Depression

A COUPLE of years ago when I first started to try and make sense of having depression and also felt bewildered and scared by facing up to others' mental illness, I discovered the forum Dealing with Depression. I will be eternally grateful for the help and support it gave me.

So how wonderful it is to welcome founding member (and now owner) Suzi Shaw as a guest blogger on Breaking the Silence.

She writes:

My name is Suzi from Dealing with Depression, known as DWD, a forum for people with mental health illness, specifically depression, their friends and family. Although none of us are professionals, we all have experience of depression.