Depression Society MKVI

I'm glad I did call them the other day and it helped, I may do so tomorrow morning, going to try and get through the night. Thanks

Do you have to flirt with every noob

Just the special ones. Obviously.

I think it would depend on the politician themselves and on the particular illness. There is no doubt in my mind that any politician declaring themself to have a history of psychosis, for example, would be committing, as you say, political suicide, but there may be more lee-way with other types.

If George Osborne published an article in The Telegraph tomorrow revealing that he has OCD, I don't think many people would have a problem with it. Or if Harriet Harman said that she had suffered from anorexia.

The real issue at the heart of the stigma is the often mistaken assumption that those with mental illness are incapable of rational thought, or cannot be relied upon, and bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders carry these stigmas in particular, I feel.

I've long considered a career in politics myself, and if I were to get anywhere with that I would be honest and open about my mental illness, simply because that's the type of person that I am. I feel it is a big part of my life and has opened my mind up to the suffering of others and increased my empathy in a way that perhaps those who have not been touched by mental illness, either personally or in the case of a friend or family member, has not.

Take the example of doctors - statistically doctors have a higher rate of mental illness than the general public. I'd have no problem at all with being treated by a psychiatrist with a history of mental illness, providing that at the time of treating me they are fit to practice, and therein lies the problem: the public are not trusting of mental illness, they do not fully understand it, as you rightly point out.

I think something does need to be done to put the wheels in motion though: the breakdown of the ignorance and stigma needs to start somewhere. Ideally, I'd say, with former ministers and MPs coming forward and saying "Hey, I was mentally ill when I was in this job and nothing went wrong", and as acceptance and understanding slowly spreads, current politicians might be able to do the same.

In some ways mental illness in the public eye is treated as a novelty or glamorised. The 'tortured genius' of Stephen Fry, Sylvia Plath, Robbie Williams. They are seen as people who have achieved in spite of their illness, not as people for whom without 'mental illness' and it's accompanying insights and experiences might not have achieved anything.

It annoys me no end the number of people who still think schizophrenia means a split personality, not a split from reality, as is the actual origin of the name. It pained me when my mum told me not to keep in touch with anyone from the psychiatric hospital because they 'might be dangerous'. I don't want people crossing the street to get away from me, and I will never treat another person with mental illness in such a way.

The entire issue of stigma around mental illness needs to smashed to pieces because it is quite frankly sickening.

Sorry, bit of an essay there, but it's something that I'm really passionate about.

I was joking, chill

I think that came over as more grumpy than intended

Yes

Are you taking it for depression, or anxiety (if you don't mind my asking)? I'm glad it seems to be working for you

And my mum knows I'm taking it, but I'm moving back to Italy on Thursday so she can't really keep an eye on me. I don't know if I'm close enough to any of my friends in Italy to tell them, and they don't live with me anyway so it would be hard for them to keep an eye.

If it is for anxiety sometimes they use lower does i think I am right in saying, are you starting on 10 or 20mg?

Both, but mainly for depression.

Hrm that's difficult. Can you Skype with her daily?

Hope you're ok. Report on progress later

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16870802

Don't know about you guys, but I think these people are completely wrong. In my experience of dealing with people, I've encountered a hell of a lot of stigma attached to mental illness, even to depression, I think it would be absolute political suicide for an MP to "come out", I mean who is going to vote for them? In an ideal world of course it wouldn't affect anything, but I don't think we live in an ideal world I think people would view him/her as weak minded and incompetent which is a real shame.

Hmmm, some interesting thoughts, I agree with you too, it does depend a bit on the illness in question. Like Churchill for example had depression but is still seen as the greatest PM Britain has ever had in spite of it. But he didn't come out at the time and say it and I think that's important. Alastair Campbell is another one, I'm not so sure when he "came out" though, I just read on wikipedia that he spent 5 days in a psychiatric hospital which really surprises me given his place in the New Labour government. You're right that it helps when people who formerly had position of power come out, it's a shame more people don't. Then again, perhaps KMN is correct and MPs really do suffer from lower rates of mental illness or maybe they just want to keep the money rolling in from doing speeches - then again they could do motivational speeches about mental illness and probably find a decent niche there.

It sounds really good that you'd be so open about it, but you do have, like you've sort of hinted at, one of the "cooler" mental illnesses at least at the moment (please don't take that the wrong way). Like the whole tortured genius thing with Stephen Fry so perhaps it wouldn't harm your career that much. Although I'm not so sure how well bipolar would be seen in politics, I suppose if you had any sort of power people might be a bit iffy about it. I mean Stephen Fry can step back when he feels really bad or he can do things with far less consequences than a politician might have which, to the public, is why it's ok. Whereas trusting someone "unstable" with anything of value wouldn't be ok, despite their protests about their stability. Or I might be talking crap now, hopefully I've explained that right.
I feel you've chosen a difficult field if you do follow that path.

Yeah I agree with this. The one in 4 is massively different, it could be depression which lasts 2 weeks verses say bipolar with recurrent episodes lasting the person's entire life. So I don't think it's all that useful a way of looking at things necessarily.

I also agree with you about the MPs backgrounds, I hadn't considered it but now you mention it I do agree.

I can imagine the person getting absolutely hounded by the media, what was that headline? "bonkers bruno locked up". Like if they ever made any tiny mistake it would be massively scrutinized and of course put down to their mental illness every time.



I would tend towards agreeing that you're being naive but it might be construed as being slightly rude.

I didn't used to know anyone.

I agree with you. It would be nice if everyone could be honest, and maybe coming out would reduce stigma, but it would probably just be political suicide for them.

I think it would depend on the politician themselves and on the particular illness. There is no doubt in my mind that any politician declaring themself to have a history of psychosis, for example, would be committing, as you say, political suicide, but there may be more lee-way with other types.

If George Osborne published an article in The Telegraph tomorrow revealing that he has OCD, I don't think many people would have a problem with it. Or if Harriet Harman said that she had suffered from anorexia.

The real issue at the heart of the stigma is the often mistaken assumption that those with mental illness are incapable of rational thought, or cannot be relied upon, and bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders carry these stigmas in particular, I feel.

I've long considered a career in politics myself, and if I were to get anywhere with that I would be honest and open about my mental illness, simply because that's the type of person that I am. I feel it is a big part of my life and has opened my mind up to the suffering of others and increased my empathy in a way that perhaps those who have not been touched by mental illness, either personally or in the case of a friend or family member, has not.

Take the example of doctors - statistically doctors have a higher rate of mental illness than the general public. I'd have no problem at all with being treated by a psychiatrist with a history of mental illness, providing that at the time of treating me they are fit to practice, and therein lies the problem: the public are not trusting of mental illness, they do not fully understand it, as you rightly point out.

I think something does need to be done to put the wheels in motion though: the breakdown of the ignorance and stigma needs to start somewhere. Ideally, I'd say, with former ministers and MPs coming forward and saying "Hey, I was mentally ill when I was in this job and nothing went wrong", and as acceptance and understanding slowly spreads, current politicians might be able to do the same.

In some ways mental illness in the public eye is treated as a novelty or glamorised. The 'tortured genius' of Stephen Fry, Sylvia Plath, Robbie Williams. They are seen as people who have achieved in spite of their illness, not as people for whom without 'mental illness' and it's accompanying insights and experiences might not have achieved anything.

It annoys me no end the number of people who still think schizophrenia means a split personality, not a split from reality, as is the actual origin of the name. It pained me when my mum told me not to keep in touch with anyone from the psychiatric hospital because they 'might be dangerous'. I don't want people crossing the street to get away from me, and I will never treat another person with mental illness in such a way.

The entire issue of stigma around mental illness needs to smashed to pieces because it is quite frankly sickening.

Sorry, bit of an essay there, but it's something that I'm really passionate about.

I have achieved nothing. They were meant to call me back 45minutes later.....2hours ago.

Just woke up from a nap, started TSR, saw this, and I read the whole thing!

I noticed that there are some politicians that admitted having depression, and still could just continue with life (and work) gracefully. I wonder how they achieved that?

I wonder as well, since we're talking about MH & Politics, how PMs such as Margaret Thatcher, that had faced a lot of criticism, scrutiny and even attempted assassination, still would be able to wake-up from bed, and did her (their) job as she (they) did?

Is this because of a good supporting spouse/partner? Good supporting family? Self-determination? Strong personality? Others?

Sowweeee.

I don't think that I can do this for much longer. I either feel empty or sad, I can't improve anything, there's just nothing to live for. No one would notice if I was gone anyway. There is seriously no other.way out, but I'm too much of a coward anyway. I have nothing more to give

oh okay. So I always have that to fall back on

Wouldn't it be great if the whole of depsoc ran off and started our own little colony? We'd probably be high/stoned/drunk 80% of the time and life would be _awesome_.

It's not just the missing it, it's the fact I'm fat, need to lose weight, need to get better at hockey, need to make friends with the guys there, need to do something other than sit on tsr constantly

But thanks for the hugs and kind words, I appreciate it

How're you this evening?

Did you get a call back?

You are nowhere near as fat as you think you are. It is muscle, it is the only way you got lucky against me (wrestling)! Getting better at hockey and being friends with them can happen when you are well enough to go Hockey.

Hi

over the past month or so i've begun to believe that i am suffering with depression, i've looked at all the symptoms and nearly all of them i can say i've had within the past couple of weeks (every day in most cases) and i've done a few tests online (which i know by no means can be classed as a diagnosis) and these tests have all suggested i have severe depression but I don't know what to do now. I haven't been going to college for a couple of weeks or taking care of myself much, small things such as getting out of bed or even having a shower seem like the biggest effort and I don't have any family nearby or any friends I can talk to. If you have any advice at all, I'd really appreciate it.

You could start by seeing a doctor? Don't be afraid of them just explain what you've said here, it's clearly impacting on your life so you should reach out for help.

Hmmm, some interesting thoughts, I agree with you too, it does depend a bit on the illness in question. Like Churchill for example had depression but is still seen as the greatest PM Britain has ever had in spite of it. But he didn't come out at the time and say it and I think that's important. Alastair Campbell is another one, I'm not so sure when he "came out" though, I just read on wikipedia that he spent 5 days in a psychiatric hospital which really surprises me given his place in the New Labour government. You're right that it helps when people who formerly had position of power come out, it's a shame more people don't. Then again, perhaps KMN is correct and MPs really do suffer from lower rates of mental illness or maybe they just want to keep the money rolling in from doing speeches - then again they could do motivational speeches about mental illness and probably find a decent niche there.

It sounds really good that you'd be so open about it, but you do have, like you've sort of hinted at, one of the "cooler" mental illnesses at least at the moment (please don't take that the wrong way). Like the whole tortured genius thing with Stephen Fry so perhaps it wouldn't harm your career that much. Although I'm not so sure how well bipolar would be seen in politics, I suppose if you had any sort of power people might be a bit iffy about it. I mean Stephen Fry can step back when he feels really bad or he can do things with far less consequences than a politician might have which, to the public, is why it's ok. Whereas trusting someone "unstable" with anything of value wouldn't be ok, despite their protests about their stability. Or I might be talking crap now, hopefully I've explained that right.
I feel you've chosen a difficult field if you do follow that path.