A Day in the Life

So it's the Christmas season again, and at the risk of beginning to repeat myself ad infinitum I will state once again my message from last year (and the year before that, and before that...) So here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody's havin' fun, or are they? I guess those of you who read this blog will know my stance on Christmas. I suppose I feel that the real message of Christmas has been lost in a haze of mass consumerism and mindless materialism, and as we all drudge through the shopping malls like drones buying up gifts for others and fully expecting one back in return, it is, I suppose, obvious that some of us will just feel a little alienated from the whole affair. For those who suffer from mental illness such feelings can be acute. More likely to be isolated from society and to be, in some instances, estranged from family and friends, the very thought of Christmas, with its emphasis on family and hearth and home, can be enough to send some into a relapse. For ...

It's been quite a while since my last blog, so I'm sure you're all waiting in eager anticipation for whatever crumbs of wisdom and insight you may pick up from my abundant intellectual table. OK, so maybe I exaggerate. Maybe I even "big myself up" to ludicrous and grandiose proportions, as during my illness I was wont to do. But the theme of time running by has lately been of interest to me as I have just passed my 39th birthday. So, given my propensity for being both mentally and physically unwell, I feel it is good to bear in mind that, to use that over-used phrase, "time waits for no man". In consideration of that, here is yet another blog for your delectation. As this is a blog primarily about mental health, then, it is fitting that my subject be, erm, mental health. And, as you may have gleaned from the somewhat sober title, it is about the link between social and economic deprivation and mental ill health. Being from Stoke-on-Trent, we at the Pat...