A Day in the Life

Not so long ago, Prince William, already an advocate for the promotion of better mental health, gave a warning to others in an interview, stating that "keeping a stiff upper lip" should not be "at the expense of your health." Indeed, with the death of their mother, Princess Diana, in 1997, both William and his brother, Prince Harry, seem not to be strangers to the swinging scale that mental health can sometimes be. Harry has said that he went for counselling after repressing his grief over his mother's death, a bottling-up of emotion which ended, he remarked, in two years of anger, anxiety and "total chaos." Indeed, it might be said that Diana's funeral was not only a turning point for her children, but for the nation as a whole. The massive outpouring of grief shown on that day by the usually restrained British public perhaps marked the end of the era of the British stiff upper lip. As grown men cried in the streets, all notions of British reserve...

It was recently reported that a former contestant on "Love Island", Sophie Gradon, aged only 32, tragically took her own life. After finding her body, her boyfriend, Aaron Armstrong, even younger at only 25, also later took the drastic action of ending his life. According to reports, only two weeks before her death, Sophie was said to have been in "good spirits", and there seemed to have been no cause for concern about her welfare. It was, then, a massive shock to her family and friends when her suicide was revealed. Indeed, Sophie, in any purely outward assessment, would appear to have had a pretty good life. Blessed with good looks and a burgeoning career as a reality TV star, on the surface everything would have seemed rosy. However, she had been on the receiving end of many hurtful and unsavoury remarks from online trolls, and indeed, had spoken about bouts of anxiety and depression. All was not, then, as it may have first seemed through the happy glare of tel...

"... in terms of opportunity, this would mean mental health professionals perhaps becoming involved in helping people achieve a life beyond mental health services by, for example, aiding them in gaining some form of employment or just engaging them in some form of meaningful activity. This may also have implications in terms of stigma and discrimination, a major barrier to opportunity, as service users would, perhaps, be able to rely on psychiatrists and others of professional capacity to join the fight against stigma." From my blog post, "Dave's Progress. Chapter 100: The Road to Recovery." Looking over my blog the other day, I came across the above, now apparently rather optimistic comment, and I was struck by just how much things have changed since I wrote those words. The post concentrated on the transition in mental health services to a more recovery oriented model, where the social rehabilitation of a service user would be seen as perhaps just as ...

I don't know about anyone else with enduring mental health problems, but my own have resulted in me having an excessive amount of time on my hands. As I wake relatively early, I often fill this time in the mornings watching TV, and during more recent times I seem to have developed a liking for "The Wright Stuff", Channel 5's morning talk show where various celebrity panelists discuss the day's issues alongside host Matthew Wright. At least it keeps me away from Jeremy Kyle on ITV! However, while this programme may provide a mild distraction from other more prurient fare, it does often discuss problems which I find relevant and of interest, and the other day the subject of mental health was raised. In the first instance, a young woman rang into the programme saying that she'd read an article in the "Daily Mail" which dealt with the recent flood of accusations of sexual misconduct, which began with revelations about movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The a...

"Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables. I remember a conversation I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money, they are just a burden to themselves and to others. Isn't it best for all concerned if they are taken out of the middle [of society]? Only then did the church as such take note. Then we started talking, until our voices were again silenced in public. Can we say, we aren't guilty/responsible?" Martin Niemoller, in his speech for the Confessing Church, Frankfurt, Germany, 6th January 1946. The German Lutheran Pastor, Martin Niemoller, (please forgive the absence of an umlaut over the "o"), from whom the above quote is taken, is perhaps most famous for his poem, "First They Came...", which deals with the rise of the Nazis and the apparent lack of protest against their evil policies. The poem's main theme, then, is how per...

Some years ago now I wrote a blog entitled, "Domestic Disturbance", which examined the role of the family in mental illness. As I remember, I quoted from R.D. Laing's book, "The Politics of Experience", alluding to the so-called "double bind", a situation in which a person receives contradictory or conflicting messages, thus placing them in a position where no matter what their response, they will always in some way be wrong. Some would say that an example of a double bind can be found in Joseph Heller's World War II novel, "Catch 22", which examines the sometime sheer craziness of bureaucracy. Heller creates a situation where those who are deemed insane should be judged not fit to fly missions, but the very fact that they declare their insanity shows a rational concern for their own safety. This contradiction means that anyone judged insane is still sane enough to fly. This edict is referred to as Catch 22, and as the main character John...

"Do you ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten). When I was under the care of secondary mental health services, I think that you could safely say that one of their main objectives was for me to become capable of living independently. Indeed, when one is in the throes of a psychotic episode it is more than likely that one's life becomes chaotic. I remember quite clearly from my own experience that I was so bound up in a delusional frame of mind, that managing money, paying bills and attending appointments all became problematic. When help came, therefore, it was understood that I would first need support in carrying out such practicalities of daily living. Indeed, I remember being allotted a care worker who was there specifically to help me back on the road to eventually having the capability of doing such seemingly everyday tasks independently. However, as time has gone on and a saner frame of mind has taken th...