Breaking the silence

An insight into mental health provision, what resources would you add?

HAVE you read many accounts from people who have experienced mental health services first hand? I haven't.

My impressions of mental health provision were based for a long time almost entirely on ignorance.  As a fan of so many TV detectives I sometimes whimsically imagined that mental health treatment only happened at fresh-lawned stately homes with personal trainers jogging merrily about and affable academics and psychiatrists at every turn.

Then there's the other images of psychiatric hospitals portrayed so often in our media, from the desperation of olden days asylums on Who do you think you are? to the bullying oppression of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

So never mind these oudated cliches, what of the reality?

The reality is this:

Mark talked about one man who had walked out of the ward at the end of his stay to nothing, with no contacts, not introductions.  He said he wasn’t surprised to hear how the man had got himself back by standing in the middle of the road, directing traffic.

What are your mental health hopes for this year?

IT'S not often you'll find me featured in the same space as Alistair Campbell, but in the current issue of One in Four magazine, we are two of the readers sharing our hopes for mental health treatment and awareness this year.

Here's what I said:

I hope that as soon as I recognise I'm headed for a bout of depression that I can continue to look after myself and face up to the fact that this is not my fault, that I deserve help, sympathy and love, instead of thinking I am letting people down for being ill.

Shortlisted for a blogging award, thank you

THIS isn't a blog you will see topping any lists compiled by marketing agencies or consultants to highlight 'mum blogs' or that's read by thousands of people a day.

But it is a blog that (forgive the cliche) I'm passionate about so when someone tells me they have appreciated something written here, or that it has helped them, to say it makes my day is a bit of an understatement.

Where do you go for support? To friends or strangers?

HOW confident are you about speaking up about mental health?
 
Chances are you’re clued up about stigma-busting campaigns, where to find helpful resources and may encourage others to share their experiences.
 
But what about you?
 
If you’re anything like me, that’s a whole different kettle of fish.
 
Sometimes I find it easier to seek the kindness of strangers than address the difficulties I find myself in with those closest to me.

Like many other people, I turn to blogs, forums or online support groups.

Sopranos actor stomps the stigma of mental illness

MY partner loved The Sopranos. I think I'd love it too but I've never got round to watching the set of DVDs. So forgive me, I wasn't all that familiar with actor, director and producer's Joe Pantoliano's work.

But like Glenn Close, 'Joey Pants' is a US actor using his celebrity to shine a light on mental illness.

His No kidding, Me Too! charity has gathered massive support in America, with the likes of Harrison Ford also speaking up and Robert Kennedy Jnr dubbing him a Martin Luther King of the movement.

I found this trio of videos interesting and inspirational so thought I'd include them here. Pantoliano is also the producer of Canvas, a film I'd love to see.

Is mental illness funny?

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

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.

Don't Mind Me

 Thanks to Judith Haire for taking the time to share her story with us here and tell us about the book she has written about her experiences...

I'm 54 and at the age of 37 I experienced an acute psychotic episode which saw me hospitalised for six months. I was catatonic, mute and refused all food and drink for the first eleven days so I had to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. 

The consultant told my parents he was saving my life rather than my sanity. I had six treatments of electro-convulsive therapy while sectioned. 

I'd grown up in a dysfunctional family and at the age of fourteen my grandmother died and I was not allowed to go to her funeral. I became depressed and, as a grief response, started to hear voices.

Without my knowledge, my mother arranged an appointment for me at the Child Guidance Clinic and one morning, when I thought my father was driving me to school, I was taken there against my will.

I was too frightened to reveal what was really going on at home and so was my mother so I was medicated and labelled a psychiatric case.

Paranoia and post-natal depression

THIS post was sent to us by an anonymous writer who wanted to share their experiences of feeling paranoia and the effect it had on relationships with family members. Many thanks to them for their courage in sharing their experience with us. 

Now, over to our anonymous writer:

THIS was me - a year and a half ago:

I am fat.

No, I am a fat, useless person who has no-one who I can trust. And I am a terrible mother. My children will one day stand before me and tell me that I am a useless fat mother who they hate. I know it. They are babies now, oh yeah, they don't have a choice, but one day, you mark my words, no matter what anyone says, they will hate me. No matter what HE says.  

Wanted: Mental health blogs

IN the far right column of this blog, scroll down a bit and you will see a pretty sparse list of mental health blogs.

Here are some blogs, however recently I discovered them, that have drawn me back:

Pole to Polar: Secret Life of a Manic Depressive

Cage without a key

Reluctant Memsahib

Schizophrenia, a carer's journal

Mental Nurse

But I want to update the list in the hope of helping find more.

Please leave the name of your blog, if you would like to be included, or any others that you would like to recommend in the comments on this post.

Thank you.