Article #1: Mental Health

Despite the efforts to bring our nation up to the ‘politically correct’ and well-informed standard that we wish, I feel that we still have a problem when it comes to the issue of mental health.
Whether it is calling Pete Doherty a waster, describing Anorexia as a ‘phase’ or believing that those with Depression can ‘snap out of it’, on the whole we just don’t seem to grasp the reality of mental illness.

Mental health is an extremely complex, broad, wide-ranging issue with more factors to it than one could consider listing. Despite the daunting breadth of this subject, it seems we could all be better informed.

Depression and stress-related illness is one of the things that people most often seek help from their Doctors for. In fact, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives. It affects most people directly or indirectly and can be just as life altering as any physical ailment. Yet it is still a taboo. With the affects being as far reaching as they are, you would think that mental health charities such as Mind are well supported; sadly, this is not the case. Mental health patients still have to struggle with issues of advocacy, waiting lists, social taboos, discrimination and this is on top of the often debilitating problem itself.

I recently watched a programme about ‘The 8 year old Anorexic’. The programme was, of course, devastating and bought up reams of questions about our society, the media and our values. It also spoke to me in another way: The family affected by this tragic case were quite obviously completely lost in the face of such unprecedented difficulty. Although they were able to get their daughter into a specialist centre, where she seemed to make a recovery, there didn’t appear to be any further support available to them. Within the rehabilitation centre the awareness was excellent and there were many professionals doing a great job; unfortunately, this help only went so far. Her family seemed to understand the generic symptoms/causes of her illness but they still struggled with many other aspects of it. At the end of the programme, after all they had been through, they still thought of it as a ‘blip’ in her childhood, a very serious one, but a ‘blip’ all the same.

Mental illness is not a blip, a phase, a hiccup or something you can shrug off. Like heart disease or diabetes, mental illness can be long-term and serious. Although there are varying degrees of severity, its consequences and origins run far deeper than most people imagine and it seems to me that people are more comfortable to view it as a temporary difficulty. Just as after a mild stroke one has to alter one’s lifestyle: after a spell of mental illness, one has to do the same. This doesn’t mean you are cursed forever but mental illness is a legitimate illness and if it is not looked after, will have very real consequences.

I think that we need to relax about this issue while realising how serious it can be. We don’t need to talk about it in hushed whispers, nor shout it from the rooftops, but we need to acknowledge and accept it.

Granted, people who have difficulties relating to their mental health can behave badly as a result: this, understandably, makes sympathising harder. For example, a person’s mental state is often publicly discussed when connected to crime and in these cases rarely with compassion. However, I believe it is only through sympathy and understanding that we can really help. Alcoholics or Drug-addicts may be self indulgent and seem to be carelessly destroying themselves and others, but you only have to look a little closer to see that they are having a bloody miserable time doing so. Would you like to be that person?

This need for empathy stems further and to less serious issues. If we accept the reality of mental health and look more closely at the impact it can have, we can begin to understand people’s motivation. Whether it relates to Bipolar Disorder, Alcohol Dependency, Phobias or even issues such as over-eating, we may be less inclined to suggest that an Alcoholic just needs to ‘stop drinking’ or that a ‘fat’ person should simply eat less. Better awareness relating to the issues of others may mean that a younger generation, suffering from such growing problems as Anorexia or Depression, can live in a climate of understanding: and that should make us all feel just a bit better.